MODERATOR:  Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Haas.  68 today, 5 under par for the Championship.

JAY HAAS:  Yeah, that was big.  Kind of a dumb bogey at No. 5 ‑‑ or at 4, excuse me.  And then really a good shot at 6, maybe a couple feet, up one pin way in the back tier back there.  Then I made a nice maybe 18‑footer at 7.  Instead of 1 over, now I'm 1 under, and it's just a total different mindset there.

I actually made a really good bogey at 12.  I hit in the water, then short left in three.  Got it on about 12 feet and made it for bogey and then made about a 14, 15‑footer at the next hole and about the same, 15 feet at 14.  To get those three putts right in a row, it really kept my round going and kept me somewhat in the hunt.

 It's going to take something pretty special tomorrow to catch Bernhard.  It's funny, I birdied 14, and he turned around and doubled 13.  He was a distant memory there for a while.  But picked up three on him there, but he's going to be ‑‑ he's going to be hard to catch.

But I'm playing well, and try to stay away from those water balls tomorrow.

JAY HAAS:  Yeah, I was pretty fortunate today.  I kept it under the hole most of the time.  I didn't have many ‑‑ No. 10, I got above the hole, but I was only about six feet or so.  The rest of the time, I was putting usually from underneath the hole, and that makes a huge difference.  You can kind of take a run at it a little bit from underneath the hole.

But there's quite a bit of slope on them.  So you really need to be in the fairway so you can put your second shot, whatever it may be, under the hole and have an opportunity to take a run at it.

JAY HAAS:  That was big there.  I could have studied that one all day and still not known what I was doing.  I had to go up, and speed was so important there.  I was probably a foot short of my speed going to the right, and it started to break a little bit too soon.  But I was very, very happy with that six‑footer there and to two‑putt.

JAY HAAS:  From what he did today and Tom the first day, getting 7 under through 11 also, it shows that there's the capability of that, certainly.  But obviously, they played very, very well to get to that point.

Bernhard birdieing 10, 11, 12, and that's like an eagle almost.  So it would take an awfully special round to catch him for sure.  He's not one to back up too much.

JAY HAAS:  Anything, each one is valuable for sure.

JAY HAAS:  I think Lance is getting a little bit of a bad rap, or maybe not, just because they're accentuating the fact that he's a caddie or he's been caddying or whatever.  Has anybody looked up how many Tour events he's played in?  He's played in a heck of a lot of events.

JAY HAAS:  So it's not like he just kind of came out of the caddie yard and was the looper at Oakland Hills or something, whatever it might be, and just showed up on the 1st tee and started making birdies.  He's a very accomplished player, and for whatever reason, he didn't sustain out here.

But he's obviously taking care of himself, and he's a straight ball hitter, for sure, and that pays off here.  I watched him.  We were on 15 tee, and we had to wait a little bit, and I watched him tee off on 12.  Maybe the tightest hole in America, and he drove it right down the center of the fairway.  So it plays to his strengths for sure.

Lance can play.  Always could.

JAY HAAS:  The way the conditions, the way they've been, I think, is they've been really nice.  Obviously, they're not so difficult because guys are 11 under, 10 under, 6 under, 5 under.  That's pretty low shooting, a little bit lower than I was expecting here.

JAY HAAS:  If I had my choice, I'd like to hit every fairway and every green and take my chances on the putting.  But as far as firmness or softness, no preference.  If it's soft, that just means the leaders can go that much farther under too.