Ryan Blaum
Q. Ryan, really nice round today, 5 under. Got off to a little bit of a slow start, just 1 under on the front nine, but you started getting it together really nicely on the back.
RYAN BLAUM: I did. I started swinging a little bit better on the back nine. I just didn’t give myself a whole lot of legit opportunities on the front. I hit a lot of greens, but I was 30 feet and just trying to two putt and get out of there and get to the next hole. Luckily, I was able to get it going on the back nine and put myself in a spot where I have a shot.
Q. Absolutely. And looking like with one hole left to go, Charles Howell is just at 16 under, so only 3 back depending on what he does. What are your thoughts heading into tomorrow?
RYAN BLAUM: Well, I mean, obviously it’s going to be a fun day tomorrow, and the weather’s been fantastic today and I think it’s supposed to be pretty good tomorrow. Going to go out there and play my game, do what I’ve been doing all week.
Q. Well, that’s indeed what you can do. There may be a little bit of rain in the forecast, but you never know out here on the Seaside. How have you found the conditions of this golf course?
RYAN BLAUM: The course is mint. They started shaving the areas down around the greens a little bit more, especially walking up to them, and it’s like carpet, it’s so nice.
Q. A lot of short birdie putts. You’ve been hitting your irons that well this week.
RYAN BLAUM: It’s been kind of coming and going in fluxes, like the front nine, I didn’t hit it close at all, and then on the back nine, all of a sudden things started clicking. It’s kind of been that way all three rounds. The first two rounds I was 2 over early on in the round and I was able to kind of get things going and get it rolling.
Q. And you on the back nine this week (inaudible). Do you usually get off to slow starts or is it just happening
RYAN BLAUM: No, it’s just happening this week. I’ll blame my caddie, how about that?
Q. Have you felt a week like this coming in any of your practices or tournaments?
RYAN BLAUM: Yes.
Q. You’ve been trending this way?
RYAN BLAUM: This entire fall I’ve put in a lot of hard work between my last playoff event and beginning of the fall. I’ve been seeing a lot of good things, not necessarily awesome scores, but it’s been trending the right direction and just kind of waiting for myself to put four good rounds together.
Q. Well, 65 is kind of awesome.
RYAN BLAUM: Yeah, it is, it is. Let’s do one more.
Q. What’s your relationship with this course in terms of how much you like, don’t like it?
RYAN BLAUM: I mean, I like it. Any time that I’m by the ocean, I’m comfortable. I’m from Miami, living in Jax Beach, Ponte Vedre Beach. I just love being around the ocean, around the water. It’s a comfort level.
Q. Would you always rather there was a little bit more wind today than
RYAN BLAUM: It honestly doesn’t really matter. I mean, you know, in windy conditions a good round goes a little bit farther, yeah, sure, but honestly, you just you deal with it. Today I thought the wind was actually as much as it laid down compared to the last couple days, it switched like two or three times today and I think that’s when wind could be tricky.
