Media Center Interviews

April 2, 2022

Third Round Interview with J.J. Spaun

Q. J.J., how did you feel about the round you put together today? Overall, what jumped out?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it was good. It was kind of up and down. I got off to a nice start through the first three, four holes, five holes, six holes. Actually, yeah, six holes. Just like a lazy double on nine, so seems like my game's fitting pretty good for this course and I'm confident, so I'm overall pretty happy with today.

Q. What happened on nine?

J.J. SPAUN: I just pulled my drive into the trees. Had a shot and I had this huge rock right in front of my ball and I don't know if that made the ball draw or not, but it drew left of the hole, which is the last place you want to be. And then I tried to bump it into the hill and that went over the green on the other side. Then I kind of left like a pretty straightforward chip like 15 feet short and just like an easy double. Yeah, it was just one of those holes where it could have been a lot better, but ended up being a lot worse.

Q. You come back on 13 and you had a really strong shot there to finish that one off. What did you see on that shot in particular?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I was kind of thinking I was going to chip it in the whole time when I was like standing over it and reading it. It just kind of fit my eye. I had a really good lie, the wind kind of into me, so I was able to be aggressive so I was able to put a little spin on it. It was hanging in there right there on the right edge and just fell right in the last couple feet, so it was nice.

Q. Was it important to hit that shot in that stage of the round? You were coming off a bogey the hole before and still trying to bounce back from nine.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, that definitely like lit a fire for a little late-round rally. Yeah, that's kind of what happened on Thursday on eight, like I holed out for eagle and that turned into a 5 under. I was 1 over at that point. So kind of when these miracle shots happen or something that you're not expecting happens in a good way, it kind of fires me up. So hopefully that can happen tomorrow, too.

Q. J.J., a couple frustrating finishes the last couple days, but if I told you coming into this tournament you would be 10 under and top of the leaderboard going into Sunday, I'm sure you'd be pretty happy with that. What's your mindset like and how are you feeling going into Sunday?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I'm feeling good. I think I'm tied for the lead. I mean, a one-shot lead is nothing really at all, especially out here. At a course like this, you can make a double or even worst super quickly. So I'm feeling good. If you told me this Tuesday like, hey, you're going to be tied for the lead going into Sunday, I would totally take it. Yeah, bogey on the last hole, but I think it could have been worse. So I'm not too bummed out about that, just something hopefully I can learn from for tomorrow.