RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 11, 2022

Justin Thomas

St. George's Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Obviously a fantastic round out there. How would you describe your day?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it was very -- it was easy. I mean I just, I played really solid. I didn't do anything great, I just didn't do anything bad. When I got out of the position I felt like I either put it in a spot on the green where I could manage to 2-putt or if I didn't then I put it in a spot where I felt like it was an easy up-and-down.

But I took advantage of some of the opportunities when I had them there in kind of the middle of the course and just stayed patient and waited for my run.

Q. Obviously this tournament hasn't been played for the last two years, but now that you played three rounds here can you speak to the level of buzz that you've been feeling the last couple of days and the fan support for you specifically too?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I don't know, I don't know why it's happening, but I'm very appreciative of the fan support here in Toronto. It's been -- I said to Rory and Conner yesterday, or sorry, Rory and Corey, that it felt like a major a little bit out there. It's bizarre.

Obviously 16 is a very unique and cool experience. It's a hard hole in itself. So it's just, I mean I knew obviously very passionate sports fans up in this part of the world and then having two years away from this tournament, I knew they were going to be ready to go this year.

Q. You said you didn't do anything great, but the shot on 15, the second shot on 15 was pretty darn good. Can you take us through that hole.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, that was kind of a point in the round when the wind just kind of switched. It was weird. It was supposed to be southwest or south pretty much the entire day and for some reason it just, it was kind of southeast all day.

That took us a couple holes to kind of get used to that because when it's steady to kind of 10 to 12 miles hour it's usually very consistent. And it wasn't today.

Then once we got to that hole I felt like it kind of got to that southwest where it was supposed to be. So I was very fortunate to hit the tee shot when it was down wind. And then once we got out there it switched into the wind and it ended up being just a perfect 5-wood.

Q. You talked earlier about the atmosphere, but specifically the Rink hole today and everyone pounding on the boards and roaring and everything.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, the pin today was brutal. It's right on a little crown and that would be a pin that would be tough to get a wedge close to the hole, let alone from I think it was 185 today. We had the wind kind of quartering off the left, off the left and in. You're trying to feather some kind of like high drawing 6-iron into a table-top size portion you're trying to land it. So to walk out of there with 3 was nice.

Q. You hit almost every green out there today. Just in terms of your accuracy what do you feel like helped you be so accurate and precise hitting the greens today?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I drove it a little bit better today but when I didn't I just was trying to make par. This rough is so long that it's not necessarily a place where, when you do get out of position, you can attack and still try to make birdie. I feel like I did that today. I've really done it all week. If you drive it well, you do have a lot of scoring clubs in.

I'm definitely not hitting my wedges as well as I would like. I'm hitting a lot of short irons and wedges kind of that 12 to 15 foot range when I feel like I generally hit them inside of 10 feet, or I at least would like to.

So it's just staying patient because you can have rounds like today out there on this golf course.

Q. Do you feel like you have a good idea of when you can be more aggressive out there approaching the green and where you need to be a little bit more safe based on what you've seen the past three days? Tomorrow's pins are obviously going to be a lot tougher.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I think you truly have to try to take the course and the hole for what it is. You get a hole -- I mean you get a hole like No. 3. The first round that pin was very accessible, with the wind that made the hole play I would think under par, as easy as that hole's probably going to play.

Then you get a wind and a pin like today and all of a sudden now it's like, okay, now we're trying to put it in the middle of the green and make 3 and if you make 2 it's a steal.

So it's really just taking it one shot at a time, one hole at a time and then if you put the ball in play off the tee and have a short club you're able to attack. But if not you just pick your way around.

Q. At one point today I think there were seven players in the top 25 in the World Ranking in the top of the leaderboard, it's moving a little bit. What do you think that says about this tournament and specifically about the PGA TOUR, what it can deliver in terms of entertainment?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it's really cool. Obviously with everything going on -- this week was going to be very special regardless -- but I think it just, I mean it makes, I mean, without sounding cheesy, it makes me pretty happy inside seeing this. There's no other place I would want to be playing and it's just, obviously with a tournament like this and the history that it has and how long it's been played, had a lot of great past champions and venues and drama. And it looks like it has a potential tomorrow to produce a little bit more of that and create some more history.