Q. Graham, you got it down to -3; you had to be feeling pretty good at that point. Probably not the way you are feeling right now?
GRAHAM MARSH: No, it wasn't the way that I planned it to turn out. But it got breezy and a little tougher on the backside; on the front side which was our backside. The greens were perfect this morning.
When we started after the rain it was just absolutely perfect. But of course, as the day goes on it gets a little harder, there is no question about that.
I bogeyed 17, but I drove it in the worst place; in the deep trap to the left-hand side of 17 and made bogey there.
But probably where the round came unstuck, if you can say it came unstuck, I had an 8-footer for a birdie at one. Six or eight-footer for a birdie at 2. An eight-footer for a birdie at 3 and I didn't make any one of those three putts.
Then I went bogey; bogey on the two difficult 4's.
Then I had another birdie putt. I hit it in with a 5-wood about 18-foot from the hole at 6 and I didn't make that one.
Then I bogeyed the next, the one back up the hill, and hardly drove it in the rough, a couple of feet in the rough, but horrifically so I got to sand wedge it out.
If I make a couple of those putts early on the back nine, it could have been a little different. But I did drive it into two traps today and once in the rough where I was absolutely stone marvelous dead; I couldn't move it for more than 30 or 40 yards. Hey, that's what the USGA events are all about. It's just my own fault.
Overall I'm still playing well, I wouldn't say that I didn't play well today because as the day goes on you will see, 72 won't be a bad golf score. But with Tom Watson and Lietzke and those guys out there I would suspect that they might get under par this afternoon because the golf course is not as difficult as what it was yesterday.
Q. Were the missed birdie putts maybe a reflection of the greens firming a little bit?
GRAHAM MARSH: I think so. You know, the one at 1 was just a little left-to-right. I just got it outside the hole. I didn't hit that bad a putt.
3, I hit a terrific putt. It was on a slope in the back corner, a nasty spot. Standing to the tee you are happy to take 3. When it gets out there and runs down. I had a great putt there that didn't go in. The other one I thought was a good putt but I just misread it. I made a couple on the front side, eight and ten-footers. They cancel out in the end. That was a fair reflection of how I played all day. I missed a couple of shots and paid the ultimate penalty and made a couple when I needed to early on.
Q. Are you pleased entering the weekend where you are at?
GRAHAM MARSH: I think that's not a bad position. Once this wind gets up -- the wind has changed from where it was yesterday. I don't know whether that's going to stay the whole afternoon. For example, we have been playing that 9th hole downwind with a little left-to-right. Today, when I played a little while ago it was dead into the breeze. So the afternoon players might get a wind out there that they are not familiar with this week and that could put a few questions in their mind. You don't know. It's a gusty sort of breeze, too. You can stand on the tee and you think to yourself, it's coming from there and all of a sudden it comes through the trees and you feel like it's on your back. It's a tricky wind out here. I wouldn't say it's a consistent wind. That puts doubt in your mind. I think it puts doubt in everybody's mind.
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