What they said: Nicholas Thompson

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Q. You had a terrific round. You were, what, 7-under as you played that hole and pretty much did everything you thought you needed to do to at least give yourself a chance. That's gotta be worth something.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Yeah. You know what, the way I look at it, I was injured for most of the year. I came to the fall finish and fought it out. I mean, I shot one round -- two rounds at par or worse. One of them was at par in all the rounds of golf that we played in the Fall Series.

I mean, I played good golf. My putter let me down, but coming down the stretch it did not. From 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 both elbows were hurting. They were hurting for about six months.

Q. Did you get any extra starts next year at all?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: No, no. No starts next year. No, no. I played through it.

Q. Tendonitis or?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: It's a version of tendonitis, but it's not. It's a golfer's version.

Q. Like a golfer's elbow?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: That's what they call it.

Q. You play every week, so it's probably just from repeating --

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Yeah. That is one of the things. It's from overuse. It's that simple.

Q. These are things they never have on your status.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: No, because the par would have been much better. You know what, hey, yeah, exactly. It could have been a double. Should have never even thought about a double, but hey, I mean, I did. I knew if I missed that I didn't have a chance and I was going to finals. I knew making that at least gave me a chance. So we're going to sit back and watch.

Q. How did you know? I mean did you just have a feeling that that's where you needed to be coming in?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: I knew approximately where the number was going to be. It's going to be somewhere in the 670, 680, 660 range. And I knew I needed to make roughly 100,000, which 100,000 is between 12th and 14th place, somewhere in there. So I know I need to finish there or better to have a chance.

Q. Did the drive that hit the tree drop straight down?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: No. It landed shorter, though, and it was dead on line with it. It must have either gone up to and hit it or hit it on the bounce and it was right there, and then the roots just went under it.

Q. Did you do those calculations last night as far as Money List and all that?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Yeah. I went to Georgia Tech, so I can do them on the fly out there, too.

Q. Is this something you're not supposed to think about when you're coming to a pressure situation?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: It depends on who you are.

Q. You don't mind thinking about it?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: No. I watch leaderboards. I have no problem with that. Certain people it's really bad to do it. Me, I like to know where I stand and what I need.

Q. Catch that pitch shot a little heavy over there off the upslope or?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Well, two things. I mean it was in an absolutely terrible lie, and there was a bunker behind it, which greens -- if I got that ball rolling.

Q. Through the flag?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: With any speed past that flag there was a chance it was going in that bunker and I was going to take myself with a 45-foot two-putt over having to make an up-and-down sand shot.

Q.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Oh, no. I'm going to go get in my car and drive home. However it finishes up, I can't change it one bit right now.

Q. Get on the turnpike and get out of here?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Yeah. I'll get the call from someone on the turnpike, whether it's good news or bad news, 125 or 126. Who knows. But hopefully it's 125 or better.

Q. What were your feelings this morning going into your round?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: You know, I played good golf, so I was feeling really good. I mean my 6-under round today could have been 10 or better. I hit it that good.

I mean, I got maybe two marginal drives that got worse breaks, and those were my two bogeys. Other than that, I mean I had looks at it all day long.

Q. What were you thinking over that bogey putt at 18?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Well, it broke about eight inches and put it six inches down. That's what I thought.

Q. Good playing today. Way to hang.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON: Thank you.