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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 14, 2018

Michael Kim

Silvis, Illinois

Q. Happy birthday, man.
MICHAEL KIM: Thank you, thank you.

Q. That's a good way celebrate I would say.
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah. You know, coming into the day I kind of told myself, It's your birthday. Just try and have a stress-free day as possible.

Very satisfied with the score I shot today.

Q. How do you have a stress-free day when there is rain delay after rain delay after rain delay? Doesn't cooperate.
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah, I feel like I'm pretty used to rain delays from Web.com. This year has been probably a record of so little rain delays this year.

I'm comfortable going in and going out. I felt good.

Q. You birdied five of the last six holes. You get to sleep in tomorrow. Can you? Will you be able to?
MICHAEL KIM: I think so. Never really had too much of a problem sleeping. It'll be good.

I really like late tee times. I can just relax in the morning, take it easy.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. What's the game plan? More of the same?
MICHAEL KIM: More of the same. You know, I knew coming into the day that par really is going to be good enough, even par is going to be good enough.

So try and stay aggressive; stick to the game plan. It's been working so far.

Q. Michael, what's going right for you that maybe hasn't gone right?
MICHAEL KIM: Everything really. I'm hitting it good, hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, making a lot of putts, and just been a great three days so far.

Q. You look at the scoreboard tomorrow or not?
MICHAEL KIM: At least on the front nine I will try not to. Today I tried not to look at it too much, but it seemed like everywhere I hit it the scoreboard was right next to me. Kind of caught glimpses here and there.

I think front nine probably won't look at it much; maybe on to the back I'll take a peak here and there.

Q. Do you go into the final round feeling like this is your tournament to win when you're in this type of a situation?
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah. I mean, I've got a decent sized lead but a lot can happen in 18 holes, so I'm going to have to stay sharp and keep focused.

Q. Winning is fun, but it seems like this week you've had a lot of fun. Is that fair to say?
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah. You know, just feeling a lot more confident over my tee shots, which have been a problem for me last couple years.

So any time I feel comfortable with my tee shots I'm pretty stress-free and can have a good time out there.

Q. What was the importance of that type of finish to kind of extend your margin here?
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah, it was playing pretty tricky I thought right until that last break with the storm.

After that, the wind kind of really died down. Greens were still soft. I was able to take advantage of no wind and make some birdies.

Q. Late-night birthday party tonight?
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah. In my hotel probably after a quick dinner. By myself, yeah.

Q. You expect 14 hours at a golf course on your birthday?
MICHAEL KIM: You know, I think I've seen it all. I've always had tournaments during my birthday kind of where the timing is. Spent my 21st birthday playing a Monday qualifier in Boise, Idaho. After that it feels pretty spectacular right now.

Q. Got to change your birthday.
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah. I don't know. Do they allow that?

Q. I think you can do whatever you want if you win tomorrow.
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah, we'll see. We'll see about tomorrow. I got a long day tomorrow.

Q. The putting change you made obviously is working quite well.
MICHAEL KIM: Uh-huh.

Q. What did you do?
MICHAEL KIM: You know, it's just a different way of visualizing for me. It wasn't anything physical; it was more mental.

Just get a couple putts to go in and you feel like you can make everything.

Q. What's your favorite birthday memory?
MICHAEL KIM: Favorite birthday memory?

Q. Today is pretty good.
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah.

Q. Before that.
MICHAEL KIM: Today is pretty good. Before this, I don't know. I've had tournaments since I was probably 14, 15 years old on my birthday. This is kind of the norm for me.

Q. You mentioned you would catch inadvertent glimpses of the leaderboard. You know where you are, but how do you kind of just stay locked in on each hole even knowing where you are in the field?
MICHAEL KIM: Yeah, you know, I reminded myself that got a long ways to go. No need to think about anything else other than the shot at hand.

I think I did a pretty good job of that overall today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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