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WGC MEXICO CHAMPIONSHIP

February 21, 2020

Justin Thomas

Mexico City, Mexico

Q. What is it about this golf course that really floats your boat?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know, it's a lot of wedges and I feel like the wedge game is a strength of mine. You know, the greens are very difficult. They're very bumpy, and I try to keep a positive mindset toward them every year I've played, but yeah, you can just really, really get it going out here.

Q. You've hit quite a few good shots around this golf course. The one on 17 to save par, how difficult is it to dial in with the numbers in these conditions?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's not too bad. We have a good system that we've stuck to, and I don't know, as soon as I hit it, I was like, Jimmy, that might go in. I felt pretty good about it. But it was a very easy pin. I was fortunate my ball kicked out after it hit the tree, and I was glad we could save par there.

Q. This golf course seems quite different to what you face week in, week out on the PGA TOUR. Do you enjoy how much creativity it gives you? Would you like to see more of this?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I love it. I think this -- this couldn't speak any more. With the altitude, it probably plays to, what, 6400 yards, and the best 70 players in the world were 100 over par yesterday. I think that answers your question on lengthening golf courses in itself. You give us firm greens, but they're just very severe. We damn near have wedge into every hole, it's crazy, but because of the severity and how narrow the fairways are, it's a tough test.

Q. Pretty impressive showing. It looked to me like you were going to ride this driver and impose your will on the golf course. Was that the plan for the day?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I feel like this is a course you can play so many different ways, and I think the first year everybody was kind of trying to figure it out, and then people maybe started to play it a little bit more aggressive, but at the end of the day if I wasn't driving it well I wouldn't be hitting driver all the places I am, but I feel pretty confident over it. I feel like I'm swinging well enough where I can use it as I manage.

Q. It's a happy hunting ground for you; what is it about this place?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know, it's a lot of wedges, and I feel like that's a pretty big strength of my game. It's something I work on very hard. It's just all about getting it in play and staying patient out here. I understand you can have a stretch like I did where you're 6-under in five holes, you can do stuff like that out here. I'm pretty disappointed about my finish the last eight holes. I feel like I should have gotten three or four more, but I've got two more days and I'm in a good position.

Q. Assess your position; you're 9-under, got the leaders in your sights. Does the strategy change?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not at all. Just going to keep trying to stay aggressive when we have the opportunity to be aggressive, but if not we play smart and try to make par. I had a couple sloppy bogeys I felt like today and didn't capitalize on a couple of the easier holes, but all in all, my game is in a good spot, I just need to try to continue doing what I'm doing, and hopefully it'll produce some more good scores.

Q. There are boring rounds of golf and then there's your round of golf today. You had everything in there. Tell me about the round.
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was weird. Jimmy and I were just saying, it felt like two rounds. After we had the little break on 1, I just felt like I could never really get in a rhythm again. I felt like I was hitting it exactly how I wanted to. I was hitting it solid. I kind of toed that 5-wood even on 1 and had a good putt, but from then on out, I didn't play very well. I had some great saves, got away with a couple things, and I did hit some good shots, but overall it was very sloppy those last eight holes.

Q. I got the sense the way you were walking up with your dad shaking your head, you got the sense there was more out there for you?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely. I'm pretty ticked off, to be perfectly honest, with the last eight holes. I feel I should have gotten two, three, four more, but I got two days left. It's over with, and I have a lot more positives than I do not playing those last eight holes well.

Q. A lot can happen over the next 36.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely. I feel like I'm playing well, seeing the lines well with my putter. My speed has been good. I feel like that's why I've made some of those putts, but anything can happen out here. Low rounds are out there to be had, and we just hope that we can get one or two of them this weekend.

Q. Can I get your reaction on No. 1? You looked legitimately surprised.
JUSTIN THOMAS: I wasn't surprised. I knew it was going to go six, eight feet past because it kind of all slopes away. But no, I mean, I hit a good putt, I just hit it harder than the speed I had envisioned in my head, but that happens sometimes.

Q. What was the club off the tee?
JUSTIN THOMAS: 5-wood.

Q. How do you feel going into the weekend?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I feel good. I played, I feel like, 10 holes pretty well today. I couldn't really get in a rhythm after that little break we had between nines I felt like. We waited on 1 a little bit. I just wasn't hitting my shots as solid. I still hit some good ones, but consistently my first nine holes I struck it really, really well. Every shot was about how I wanted it. You know, just had a couple loose ones here and there, but for the most part I played really solid, and on my back nine I just was sloppy. I just had some great saves and salvaged what I could, but I definitely felt like I didn't take advantage of some of those holes in that nine.

Q. Did you lose a little momentum?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not really. If it was maybe Saturday for sure, but I've got two days left, and I know --

Q. During the round I meant. Did you feel that momentum kind of leave you?
JUSTIN THOMAS: A little bit. Obviously it was a great shot on 1, but even that I toed it just fractionally. Like it started right and drew, but it was solid, but it wasn't the exact shot that I had in mind, but it went exactly where it needed to. But yeah, it just kind of -- when you're playing well, you want to keep going and keep the ball rolling. You know, I still have no excuse, I just didn't play very well the last eight holes.

Q. What were you trying to do with your drive on 4 in terms of line and how far you needed to go and how it turned out?
JUSTIN THOMAS: There's like a V in the trees that I just try to take it over that, and I try to hit it high. That way if I slightly pull it, it might cover the trees, and if I push it, it lands softer in the fairway and doesn't run through. I feel like I pulled it a little bit yesterday, and I think I got away with it and it went out in the fairway, but it's a driver and a sand wedge, and I mean, I pulled -- I hit that so far off the heel, started so far left. But that was just a terrible pitch-out. I mean, I had a wide-open gap to the green. I hit a tree. I hit it too high. I feel like the miss on that hole is left because you can -- you're at least always going toward the green. When you run through on the right, I feel like you're kind of always hitting away, and you're trying to run it through rough, so I feel like I tried to make my miss left there for the reason today of having a shot at the green, and I kind of botched it from there on out. I didn't hit a good shot into the hole.

Q. (Indiscernible) was saying that the yardages that you're hitting almost feel like video game yardages. Does it feel that way to you or you're just not paying attention to the extra numbers and hitting it more to where you want to be?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I'm trying to hit a number at home. We have exactly our system, everybody's system is probably different, but the one that we have has worked for us, and it's just -- we know that when we have 200 yards here, it's an 8-iron, and it's nothing other than that. I don't know, it's weird because I know everybody has a lot different numbers for how they hit it and the trajectory they hit it, but we feel like we have it pretty dialed in.

Q. You've had three top 5s here. Why does this course suit your game?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know. I feel like my wedges are a strength of my game, and it's a lot of wedges. I mean, you have a wedge on pretty much every hole except for a couple holes. If you look at the altitude, this course plays at about 6400 or 6,500 yards at home, and it's some pretty high scores, but it's a tricky course like that. I think it's fun. You have to be creative. You have to play to angles. If you're hitting it well, you can be aggressive, but if not you kind of have to lay back and play conservative, and I feel like I'm driving it well enough where I can be aggressive off the tee and try and take advantage.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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