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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2015

Dustin Johnson

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

CHRIS REIMER: Want to welcome nine-time PGA TOUR winner Dustin Johnson here to the media center. Just start with some opening comments about your excitement to play here at this event.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, yeah, this is always one of my favorite events of the year. The golf course is in really good shape this year, probably best it's been in the last few years, so it's exciting. Obviously I've been playing pretty well coming into this event and excited about it.

CHRIS REIMER: We'll take questions.

Q. You're a good Bermudagrass player, you grew up playing on Bermudagrass; do you think that gives you an advantage?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I hope so, but Bermuda's always very tricky, especially the rough. The rough is always tough playing out of Bermuda rough. But growing up playing in it definitely helps.

Q. Any secrets? If you're talking to somebody from up north, the first time they come down and play on Bermuda grass it makes their head explode.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean it's just a grass that you've got to get used to playing on. There's no really secret to it. You've just got to spend some time on it.

Q. Kind of a two-part question: One, are you finding yourself more committed to golf since your return from your break?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't think not any more than I was before, just got a little bit better routine and in the gym a lot more, just a little more committed with everything maybe. So probably just a little bit.

Q. The follow to that would be, now with a child at home, how have you kind of balanced you're trying to be more committed to golf with your regimen, and then how are you trying to balance that and is it difficult maybe wanting to be home more, and how has that changed your schedule, your routine and all that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, it hasn't really changed. I maybe practice more like early in the mornings. I'm in the gym early in the mornings so I can get home in the afternoon and hang out with the little man.

Q. The last four champions here have shot 13-under. Do you look at that as a target score or do you kind of consider that just coincidence?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, this golf course, if you look over the -- I mean in the past few years, I guess 13-under wins it. It always plays tough. So you know you shoot a couple under each day, you know that you're going to have a chance to win it on Sunday. So that's one thing I like about this course is you don't have to go real low; pars are good around here. You need to take advantage of the par-5s and there's a few holes where you can get some wedges in your hand, but you know just shooting a few under every day and you're going to be right there.

Q. Do you generally go into a tournament with any kind of target score, or is it something that maybe you wait until Sunday to see what it's like?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I just try to shoot as low as I can every day. There's no -- I never have a target score. Whatever the lowest I can shoot that day is my target score.

Q. When you sat down you mentioned how this is one of your favorite events of the year. Off of that, could you say what it would mean to you to walk out of here Sunday with the trophy?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: To be THE PLAYERS champion, I think it would be a very big win in my career. It would mean a lot. It's always good to be THE PLAYERS champion. If you look at the champions that have won this tournament, it's a pretty good list of names, and I would like to be associated with that.

Q. What have you and Butch been working on lately? Anything special?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, we work on pretty much the same thing always, which is posture and setup and my takeaway. Other than that, it doesn't really change too much.

Q. So he just tries to keep you in position for those aspects of your game?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Mm-hmm.

Q. You got one round in the 60s here out of 18. Is it the golf course, maybe how you've been playing coming in different years, or how do you explain maybe the lack of success here?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know. I like the golf course a lot, but it's just like I said, it's tough, it's always windy, it plays difficult. I think the greens are tricky. I think putting is a big deal here. You've got to putt it well. I feel like I'm playing a lot more consistent this year. I'm driving it a little bit straighter. I feel like I'm hitting more greens. So that will definitely help around here because if you hit a lot of greens, you're going to shoot a good score around here.

Q. Are there holes out here where you can't hit driver, where you feel like you're a little bit confined to a certain degree, because obviously this is a course that all kind of players have won on. Fred Funk's won here. So is it sometimes you feel a little confined?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean it just depends on the wind, and it's pretty much any hole I could hit driver on, if I wanted to, I think other than No. 10. You kind of run out of room there. But I've hit driver on 10 before when it was into the wind. Just all depends on the wind. There's only a couple holes where it's possible where you just can't hit it. But I don't think it takes driver out of my hand.

Q. Do you feel comfortable on this course or is there, is this a course that nobody ever really feels comfortable on?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I feel comfortable around here. I've played it enough times now where I know the golf course, and when it gets windy I kind of know where to hit it. Around here it's all about driving it straight. Obviously Fred Funk winning here will prove you need to drive it straight, because he drives it down the middle on every hole. But being in the fairway is a big help around here.

Q. So how did it feel to see your brother hit it on the green on 17?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Oh, it was good, because he redeemed himself a little bit from last year. Last year he did not hit a good shot, so I was a little disappointed. But this year he hit a good one. That was nice to see.

Q. How close was he?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was 18 feet or something. He hit it right at it, just came up a hair short.

Q. Did he use a different club this year?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, it was into the wind this year so he hit a nine. Last year I don't know. He might have hit a wedge last year. But he caught it a little off the hosel. (Laughter.)

CHRIS REIMER: All right, good luck this week, Dustin.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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