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VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2017

Bryson DeChambeau

Palm Harbor, Florida

Q. The wind comes up and the golf course changes dramatically, is that how you found it?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, absolutely. It was pretty difficult. I unfortunately just hit a couple bad shots on the par 5, both par 5s on the front nine. Kind of shot my round out of it. But still in it. A couple back, and ready to go this weekend.

Q. You made a change in your putting; you're comfortable with it or what are you doing these days?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's getting comfortable. It's getting really comfortable. I'm rolling it down my line and seeing a lot of great lines this week and making some putts finally.

Q. What are you going to work on this afternoon?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A little bit of ball-striking. Tee shot on 9, hitting a little draw in that bunker and kind of getting blocked out and not getting up-and-down. Just got kind of unfortunate on both the par 5s. A little bit of luck and a little bit of skill, but I'll be working a little bit on the driver this afternoon.

Q. I know you've been fighting it a little bit on TOUR --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, there's been a lot of things that have been happening lately and I'm finally getting back to playing some good golf and executing some shots under the gun. And that's one thing that I've been looking for this whole year, and it just hasn't happened.

Finally getting back to my college days a little bit with my ball striking and strokes gained on greens, getting back up to plus, three, four, like I used to see it.

Q. Does the fight in your dad inspire you?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, yeah, absolutely. He kind of fed off me when I won the NCAAs and U.S. Amateur, kind of kept him going along, wanting to see the Masters and everything like that. Seeing him get a kidney finally and now I don't have to worry about that, it's been a dream come true.

Q. Have you talked to him since?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Doing fine. He's just groggy. He's got another man's kidney in him, so it's kind of weird if you think about it.

Q. When was the operation?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Wednesday.

Q. Was the last time he watched you play at the Masters last year?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: He has not been able to travel at any point in time other than actually AT&T. He saw me at AT&T. I forgot about that, and the Masters.

Q. Was he there when you were top amateur?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, he was there.

Look, I knew he was going to get a kidney. It was only a matter of time. I wasn't really worried too much about it. It was more just not performing in the golf aspect the past couple months. Just a couple putting issues, and other than that, just kind of is what it is and I'm getting back into form and looking to play some really good golf kind of coming up here. I know I can play with the best of them. I know I can be one of the best in the world at one point in time and I'm looking forward to striving for that.

Q. Are you at Augusta again this year?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, I've got to do something.

Q. What do you have to do?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I have to win.

Q. Win between now and then?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Win or get in the Top-50.

Q. How did all the distractions affect you?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It matured me for sure. Definitely messed up a couple things; I'm 23, I'm going to make mistakes and everybody is going to view me as the villain -- at that point in time, they were viewing me as that way. I wasn't trying to do anything to ruffle any feathers, but as of right now, I'm learning what to say, how to say things, and getting better at doing it.

Q. Have you played here before?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I have. I won the 2014 All-American athletic conference championship, shot 8-under par for three rounds. Played pretty well, got some good memories here and looking forward to making some more.

Q. For fans who are fascinated with your clubs, and for us non-physics majors, can you explain the physics behind the clubs you use?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, if I explain the physics, you wouldn't understand it unfortunately. Layman's terms, they are all the same length. We just exchanged the weight in the head for the length of the club, and those two are force producing properties and we just exchanged them linearly.

So drop the weight a certain amount and there's a certain ratio between length that I needed to increase or decrease and we averaged it out to where they were all the same length and pretty much, all I'm saying is that the head weights are all the same and the lengths are all the same, and it works.

Q. Are surprised most of the other guys don't do this? Are you the only one out there?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it's because it's -- look, everybody, when they are younger, gets taught a certain way and they grew up learning a certain way. So that's one thing you have to keep in mind, as well, is that you learn a certain way for the past 100 years or whatever. Funny note is that Bob Jones, Mr. Jones's clubs, were actually close to one length, as well.

Q. What's your schedule coming up?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, hopefully next week I'll be playing, and then I'm just playing as much as I can till Masters.

Q. If there's a learning curve on the PGA TOUR, how different has your experience been do you think?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: There's a lot of people looking down on me I guess. It's definitely different. A lot of guys, for doing kind of some weird stuff, were looking at me kind of weird. I didn't really mean for that to happen at all and people were looking at me weird. I've got great support, you could see it out there today, I was playing pretty well and I had some guys going, come on, Bryson, so it was great to hear that again. Felt a little bit like Augusta where everybody was cheering me on. So good to get that feeling back into the repertoire is nice.

Q. What do you mean, weird stuff, being side saddle?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That, and the way I kind, the way I play, how I play on the golf course. People just never --

Q. They don't want you to break your wrists --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I don't know.

Q. The side saddle thing --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Sam Snead did.

Q. How many tournaments did you go side saddle?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: One, two, three, four I think. It's a great way to putt. I love putting that way. I made a lot of putts going that way and just unfortunately there was too much -- there's too much change in a short period of time that I couldn't get used to some things that the USGA wanted me to accomplish, and unfortunately couldn't go forward with it and I found a way that's worked pretty well and making some putts.

Q. You were somewhat young and outspoken after that. Do you regret anything you said?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, absolutely. You're always going to. Look, as frustrating as it is for me to not be able to use that way or play that way or putt that way with the putter that I wanted to play with, I respect the USGA.

Q. It's not illegal, is it?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, there's a conformance issue on some things, some groove stuff now, if I were to present them with a groove pattern -- that would take a few weeks and there's just too much going on. I have to get something that's comfortable and they aren't worried about it and just keep moving forward.

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