Q. If I had told you on 10 tee on Thursday that you would be in this position, what would you say?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I better really get going or the scores are going to be pretty high.

No, I'm very, very proud of myself to be where I'm at. It's funny, I played with Cantlay the first two rounds of the BMW this year and he had a very similar start. He was off to a very, very sluggish start. He was hitting it really bad and scrambling for pars and bogeys, and on an extremely easy golf course like that, I think he was a couple over around the turn, and we all know what happened that week.

So I kind of remind myself of that because I watched him just stay patient and plod his way along. and I know this is a course, you can get on crazy kinds of runs out here. It feels good to know I haven't really done anything special, but I've just kind of checked the boxes and done a lot of things I need to do and put ourselves in a good spot.

Q. Looks like you're bringing in Bones for reads. How's that relationship coming? What's the comfort level like right now.

JUSTIN THOMAS: It's great. Everybody sees greens differently and different greens differently. Some people see Bermuda better than bent or vice versa. He read them with me the final round of Vegas at Summit and made a pretty good amount of putts, and we read them very similarly. Sometimes just hearing that confirmation can be something that takes it from being pretty confident to really confident. There's definitely been times when we disagree, you're not always going to have the same read, but I felt like I've liked that kind of routine that we've had and it's been nice.

Q. Knowing this is a PGA TOUR event but it's outside the U.S. and you hear all these players talk about wanting to be a global player and win around the world. would it mean a little extra to win outside the U.S. again?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, for sure. For a while I wasn't sure if I was ever going to win in the U.S., seemed to do pretty well everywhere but the continental U.S. at least, with Hawaii as well.

But no, it's great. I've had a lot of success in Mexico with Chapultepec. Obviously these places are very, very different, but still have the same kind of vibes. The fans are great, very supportive and passionate. Hopefully we'll be able to produce a good tournament for them tomorrow.

Q. Seven under par today, specifically how would you kind of assess today's round?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I just did everything pretty well. I'm not doing anything great, I'm not doing anything bad, I'm cleaning up nicely on the greens. I feel like my speed on my lag putting, it's not very good this week. I've had a couple really sloppy three-putts and had a couple nice saves today to prevent that again.

No, it's just I'm definitely making some of the shorter putts I need to, and it feels good because I know I'm not getting everything out of my rounds. I definitely drove it better today than the last two days, so I feel like if I drive it well again tomorrow, I should have a pretty good chance the last couple holes.

Q. To that point, 7 under, but did you feel like you left any out there?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Always, it's golf and we're pretty stubborn, if you will. You could shoot 54 and think that you left a couple out there. I definitely did, but I'm very pleased with the day.

Q. I know you've been tough on yourself for how you grade this year, but if you were to win tomorrow, with THE PLAYERS and then this to finish the year, how would that change the narrative?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know. Hopefully I'll let you know tomorrow. This is a new season, completely different. Especially with Bones, it kind of feels like a fresh start, a new start. I was getting off to a good start for the FedExCup especially and it might take a little bit of pressure off us, but I don't know, I would love to be able to answer that question tomorrow.

Q. They said on the broadcast that Bones has been here since Sunday, is that accurate? He's been here for a while?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I'm not sure. Sounds right. Because he never caddied here, so he always like to see the course before we go play it. I got in Monday afternoon and I think he wanted to get in and check it out on Monday.

Q. Anything he brought to this? I know you played pretty well here last year. Anything he brought that was like, oh, that's different?

JUSTIN THOMAS: No disrespect, not really. It's all very right in front of you. I think even each week, each day he's getting more comfortable with the shots I'm hitting. There's a lot of times for a lot of guys it's a very comfortable 3-wood or 5-wood. If for me, if I'm not feeling fully confident, I like just hitting a little bullet driver or a little punch 3-wood. I think the more rounds we have and the more times that we play and spend time on the golf course, he's getting used to that to where he feels more comfortable maybe stating his opinion, if you will.