Q. 65‑64, bogey‑free heading into the weekend. How are you feeling about your first two rounds?
BEN JAMES: Yeah, it was a nice first two days. Did everything I needed to do. Hit the fairways, put myself in some good spots from my approaches and made a lot of putts. But really pitched and chipped the ball well. Some of these par 5s, they're maybe gettable with 3‑woods but kind of laying back and giving myself nice leaves, I was relying on my pitching and chipping a lot. I've done that nicely. Kind of just avoided the mistakes and kind of stayed patient.
Q. Any shots stick out in particular?
BEN JAMES: Always nice to start with a birdie on the first. Was going through, I think I made five in a row. Kind of hit a mediocre ‑‑ I birdied 17, kind of a mediocre pitch on 18, made like a 15‑footer so I felt like that was a pretty good momentum putt, and birdied 1, 2 and 3. And 3, hit driver right up to the front of the green and just two‑putted. I would say that putt for birdie on 18 started a nice run.
Q. Like the majority of the season for you, first time you're seeing this course. What are you seeing with the layout here?
BEN JAMES: Yeah, it's pretty cool. The greens are great. I would say yesterday got a little more windy than I thought and just kind of tried to keep the ball below the hole and keep it in the right spots when I missed.
Q. I think this is your 14th round of 65 or better on Tour. Just curious, besides being really good at golf, is there a knack to going low consistently, whether it's a mentality or a mindset that you take?
BEN JAMES: Did you say 14 under 65? 65 and under?
Q. Fourteen rounds of 65 or better.
BEN JAMES: Wow, I need to fact check that, that's unbelievable. I guess good for me. Just playing good, making putts, trying to make as smart decisions as possible out there, it's difficult, but like I said, keep missing in the correct spots and keeping the ball below the hole and give yourself opportunities where you can be aggressive putting.
Q. Have you always been a fearless player who I guess isn't afraid to go low?
BEN JAMES: You know, it's weird, in college I was kind of someone that would shoot 2, 3 under every time out and would have trouble going low, but you adapt to your surroundings just us as humans, so I guess out here that's what you have to do. I've been rolling it well and playing well, so nice to be shooting some low numbers.
Q. What would you say's been the best round you played so far as a pro?
BEN JAMES: Yeah, probably that 61 at Asheville that last day. Watching that back, I didn't really know how close I was to winning that tournament. Bridgeman made some pretty great putts that I wasn't aware of when I was playing. When I made that like 25‑footer on 16, I thought I was going to win the golf tournament. But I would say that was probably my best round and ending that off with like a 10‑footer for par that last day for solo second's pretty good.
Q. You've already had a bunch of good halfway positions in your short time on Tour. Your biggest takeaways or learning from those experiences?
BEN JAMES: Just to keep going. I'm doing everything right but for me I'm just trying to win each shot, just do the best I can for each golf shot and not thinking ahead and just do the best I can, and as I say, winning the shot at hand.
Q. How did you come up with that as your kind of mantra this week?
BEN JAMES: Tim and I talked about it. Obviously football coaches say just win the play or win, whatever, the possession or whatever. I think obviously that translates to golf. You just focus and do the best you can for that one shot each time and that's all you can do. Sometimes you can't control the outcome.
Q. Can you pinpoint when you started feeling comfortable out here?
BEN JAMES: I don't know, I can't pinpoint that. Obviously I would say I improved the more times I played, but I can't pinpoint the time.
Q. How many rounds better than 65 do you feel like you've had this year?
BEN JAMES: Seven or eight, which I would still say that's pretty good. I only played, what, 12 or 13 events so I would say that's pretty good. But 14's pretty good.
Q. Now I'm feeling self conscious, I'm pretty sure.
BEN JAMES: I'll pat myself on the back for that one.
Q. Was there a best shot of the day?
BEN JAMES: Like I said, the putt on 18 after that pitch was a pretty big momentum putt. Kind of hit a decent pitch, not great and to make like a 15‑footer and to have three more birdies after that, that was a pretty big momentum putt after birdieing 17.
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