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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 26, 2017

Paul Casey

Old Westbury, New York

Q. Just a quick overview of your round. You put yourself back in position. Good chance to win tomorrow.
PAUL CASEY: Yeah, really good. I said to a couple other interviews a minute ago, a quick lesson with Peter Kostis on the range this morning. He said I was a little too far away from the golf ball. Just moved in about an inch or so closer to it, and the ball-striking was really, really good today. Wonderful stuff. I think that's the key why the scores, or at least I made more birdies today than I have so far this week in previous rounds.

I'm getting more comfortable with the golf course and I like it a lot. So you know, good stuff. I've clearly got two guys ahead of me who are tough (chuckles).

But I'm in a great position. So I'd like to go out there tomorrow and tear it up and maybe do something better than I did today and we'll see what happens.

Q. When you look at your ball-striking stats, you just mentioned, off the charts the last couple of days, does it aggravate you at all? Do you reach a point where you want to make more putts? Is there a tipping point?
PAUL CASEY: I think I'm fifth in one of the putting stats this week. Strokes gained, I'm not the highest. I don't necessarily understand all the stats (shrugging shoulders) par my putting has been good since probably May. Worked really hard on it after just struggling at the beginning of the year, and since May, it's been strong. I think if you look at from Colonial onwards, the weeks I've played well, I've putted well. I feel good about that.

It's clearly not as good as somebody like a Jordan Spieth. Everybody talks about his putting but I don't think he gets enough credit for his long game, either. He's a great driver of the golf ball.

What was the question? I've rambled on.

Q. I'll change the question since you sort of answered it. Is there anything to Jordan Spieth -- you played in the height of the Tiger Woods era, as well. Does he have even a little bit like what Tiger had when he gets a lead like this?
PAUL CASEY: Putting-wise, yes. Tiger was -- they are, you know, you're comparing different sort of animals. Tiger was just pure dominance. We all saw freaky stuff with the golf ball, do amazing things, percentage of putts holed on 18 was off the charts. But the all-around game was just mind-blowing.

You didn't see Tiger hitting it off the practice ground at an Open Championship and making errors, and then amazing come backs. You didn't see that. You just so you a dominance. He took off and you never saw him again.

Jordan's got something very special. What he did at The Open Championship was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, after the start. It wasn't a disastrous start but it was just a couple of weird shots in there. He has something. He's got something very, very special.

Ask me again in another decade to define it and maybe I'll have a better grasp of it.

Q. Does this course have enough volatility to catch it tomorrow?
PAUL CASEY: I don't know. That's a good question. It's a very good golf course. You're a little bit limited on pin locations because the greens are so fast and firm, and they have got a lot of pitch to them. You're a little bit limited, so they are having to put the pins in places where you have to put them. You can't be too crazy with them. I think that might limit scores or the volatility of the scores. Most of the difficulty comes out of the rough when you miss the fairways. I'm not sure.

Q. You've been in this position before, with two guys like Jordan and Dustin in front of you, and two guys also in line for Player of the Year, you must be excited about your own prospects going into this last round?
PAUL CASEY: Very much so. I clearly need them to falter, both of them to falter tomorrow. When I say falter, that would mean kind of them shooting a level par or something or 1- or 2-under. I don't see that happening. That's not my concern, and I don't -- you never wish that, anyway, on anybody. I'd rather take care of my own game.

I personally need to produce my best round of the week. I need to produce a 5- or 6-under I think.

Q. Sure it's in the bag.
PAUL CASEY: Yeah, I feel good about the game. Have to make sure I don't press too hard right from the beginning. Basically, play today's round of golf, eliminate the blemishes and I've got myself a 6-under, so that's what I need to do. But I feel good about it, though.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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