What they said: Ryan Moore

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THE MODERATOR: I would like to welcome Ryan Moore to the interview room. Ryan shot 8 under today to move up to 12 under for the tournament. Ryan, a former UNLV golfer. If you will start off and talk about playing in the area that you know well and a little bit about your round today, and we will take some questions.

RYAN MOORE: It's always great coming back here. I obviously played around here quite a bit. I'm very comfortable in this area on this golf course. So it's fun coming back. One of the tournaments that I look forward to most all year. And then today it was just a great day. A great day of which that really allows you to go out and shoot a good score like this. The last two days have been perfect. When it's like that, and the ball is flying a long ways, and making those par-5s have scorable, I'm having a lot of wedges in, you can be very aggressive and that's really what I did. I was able to make a lot of good up and downs, some good par savers today to keep that momentum going the right direction. I think that was the key for me today. Three or four kind of in a row good par savers there on my second 9, just kind of kept the momentum in the right direction. And I chipped in, I forgot about that, that really helped.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Was there a key moment in this round for you where it could have went either way? Where you could have lost that momentum that you were talking about?

RYAN MOORE: You know, I think days like today, on a golf course like this, there is certainly some hard golf holes out here. Every hole is a birdie hole if you can get in position. So even if you do make a bogey or two, you feel like you can bounce back right away and make some birdies. Some tournaments you make a bogey or two, and you feel it's so tough to make birdies, that can really kill you. You know, if there was a moment like that, I birdied making the turn, I birdied the first hole, and then hit it too good of a shot. It pierced a little wind there was, hit it over the green, had a tough chip back kind of awkward and trickled it in perfect. It was one of those I would have been happy if I knocked it to 15 feet and had a 15-footer. It trickled in there and kept that real positive momentum and just kind of kept going from there.

Q. Obviously you are really happy with your round, both of those last two holes you had long putts that barely missed, can you talk about those two?

RYAN MOORE: Yes. I've been rolling it well the first two days. I just feel very comfortable with my putter, probably the most comfortable I felt all year. Working on some simple things, quieting things down and just really trying to stroke the ball. It's been feeling great. Even when I'm getting 35, 40 feet away, I feel like I have a pretty decent chance of making it. That's something I haven't felt in a really long time. On my 17th hole, No. 8 there, I had a 40, 45-footer, I thought I made it when I hit it. It hung on that left edge for the last 8 feet and didn't move somehow. And Chad's, on a very similar line, moved the direction mine should have moved after that. That's golf. That's how it works. I'm just happy that I am correcting holes from those kind of distances again.

Q. I know sometimes you guys don't make a lot of this, but do you think it's cool being in Las Vegas, the first two days, you and Chad in the same group?

RYAN MOORE: Yes, that is kind of fun. That was kind of unexpected. He is a great guy. I love playing with him. He was playing well and making a lot of putts. It's always great to see somebody else even making putts, too. It makes that hole look that much bigger when the other guy is putting in 25, 30 footers. He is playing great golf. I look for him to play well and keep going this weekend.

Q. Are the conditions and the greens holding up pretty well when you are going into your round?

RYAN MOORE: Every tournament, every course, that's the case. I thought they held up really well. The speed stayed really consistent all day. That's really the most important thing is that they are all very consistent. That's what I found out there. They weren't bouncing too much, they were rolling good.

Q. You eagled the 16th, I was wondering by going to UNLV and playing this course before, does that help you some of the more difficult holes here?

RYAN MOORE: Yes, I think that there is a certain amount of comfort on a course that you play a lot of times. I definitely have out here. We didn't play here every other day or something in college. I played here enough. I'm very comfortable on this golf course, and I know some of the holes. The shots play a little shorter or a little longer, stuff like that. It's nice to have that knowledge when you are hitting shots. You are that much more confident and comfortable over your shots.

Q. You are in a great position and playing well?

RYAN MOORE: It's there in front of me, I got to go keep playing golf. That's all I can do. I'm happy with everything. I'm feeling very comfortable, you know, over the golf ball, and I'm excited to go play.