TULSA, Okla. – Matt Fitzpatrick’s father called earlier this week to ask his son his thoughts on Southern Hills. The review was not glowing.

“When I first saw it, it felt really long and felt like a bit of a slog,” Fitzpatrick said.

But as the hot winds dried the PGA Championship venue, Fitzpatrick’s outlook toward Southern Hills changed.

“I felt like it dried out more, greens became a bit firmer, fairways became much firmer, ball was going a long way,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said what felt like a “slog” during practice rounds quickly grew on him as evidenced by his rounds of 68-69-67 for a share of second place. That left him just three shots off the lead held by Mito Pereira.

“In practice, I spoke to Danny Willett about it before, he always feels like he's almost a club or club and a half shorter in practice come Thursday,” Fitzpatrick said. “No. 7 in practice, we were hitting like 5-irons in, and I think I hit gap wedge and pitching wedge the first two days. That's quite the difference.”