NBC Sports Notable Quotes
BMW Championship
Third Round
Medinah Country Club
Medinah, Ill.
Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019
BMW Championship Third Round Leaderboard
Justin Thomas -21 (Course record 11-under 61 on Saturday)
Patrick Cantlay -15
Tony Finau -15
Rory Sabbatini -14
Jon Rahm -13
On Justin Thomas, leader at 21-under par, 11-under par 61 on Saturday (Course Record)
Paul Azinger – “This is an epic, historic round today by Thomas. I thought Matsuyama’s 63 yesterday at Medinah was going to be untouchable, but not the case.”
Azinger – “What a day this was. When are swinging the ball that good, you don’t have any tweener yardage. You can hit the ball any distance you want, and that is what Justin Thomas did today.”
Azinger – “One of the best ball-striking rounds I have ever seen, especially with the irons.”
Dan Hicks – “What we saw today is one of the most memorable days we have ever seen at Medinah. Spectacular stuff by Justin Thomas to grab this BMW Championship by the throat.”
Hicks – “Thomas brings Medinah’s Course No. 3 to its knees.”
Azinger – “He just looks at peace. He looks tranquil. He is leading the golf tournament and he keeps hitting one great shot after another.”
Jim “Bones” Mackay – “He has an extremely high golf IQ that he carries with him all of the time. He makes great decisions out here.”
David Feherty (on his chip-in birdie on 14) – “That’s exactly how you do it. He’s a human highlight reel.”
Justin Thomas speaking with NBC’s Steve Sands following his round
Justin Thomas – “I just hope the trend doesn’t break and somebody else breaks it tomorrow. It is one of those freaky days where you get in a zone. I hit the ball pretty unbelievable. It is not like I made any long putts. I hit it close to the hole and took advantage of some opportunities when I had them and I got a couple of good breaks. That is stuff that happens when you shoot 11-under.”
Thomas – “I just try to get the lead to 7 as fast as I can. If I get to 7, then I try to get it to 8. I’m trying to win by as many as I possibly can. I know that this course is going to be very getable tomorrow and guys have the potential to go do what I did today. But if I just keep playing how I’ve been playing, I feel like I can shoot another good round and see if we can break some history.”
Thomas – “I’ve had leads at places like Kapalua and Sony where you can get going pretty good. It is the same thing. You have to try to get the ball in the fairway off the tee and still pick your spots. I’m not going out there tomorrow to try to par every hole…there are going to be scenarios like today, one of those days where I had so many good numbers. It was a lot of stock shots. I’m just going to have to take whatever the golf course and the day gives me and just stay in my own little world.”
On Patrick Cantlay, T2 at 15-under par (4-under 68 on Saturday)
Feherty – “He is making it look easy. Relaxed, not much going on there except shooting low.”
On Tony Finau, T2 at 15-under par (4-under 68 on Saturday)
Gary Koch – “He is smiling and laughing at the fact that he is just trying to keep within shouting distance of Thomas.”
On Tiger Woods, T31 at 7-under par (5-under 67 on Saturday)
Azinger – “I feel like the guys that have played majors here, they had no idea that the scores would be this low. Par is always a great score on any hold here at Medinah, but not this week. If you are making pars this weekend, you’re getting lapped. We’ll see if Tiger can handle a different kind of pressure tomorrow.”
Tiger Woods speaking with NBC’s Steve Sands following his round
Tiger Woods – “What is crazy is that there is only one person is over par for the entire field. It is hard to fathom that we are all scoring as well as we are on this golf course. That is one of the more difficult golf courses. We don’t have ball in hand but we’re still able to shoot low scores.”
-NBC Sports Group-