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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

March 28, 2017

D.A. Points

Humble, Texas

Q. D.A., first of all, congratulations on your win last week at the Puerto Rico Open. Just get some comments on getting win No. 3 on Tour.
D.A. POINTS: Yeah, you know, it was cool. I wasn't -- I was showing good form at home in practice but certainly wasn't expecting a win, you know. You never know when you get there.

And the first day, I holed a bunker shot on the first hole and after kind of a couple squirrely shots and then played really great the rest of the day and shot 8-under and then just really solid on the next two days, didn't hole a lot of putts but played really nice and then finally Sunday I made a bunch of birdies, kind of finish with a flourish and was able to win.

Q. You got to be pretty excited now to come back to a place where you've won in the past as well. Just talk a little bit about this week in Houston.
D.A. POINTS: Yeah. This golf course is always so in such immaculate shape and it's a really -- you know, it's a pretty layout. There's a lot of nice holes.

And, depending on the weather, it can be pretty getable or it can be really, really difficult. I'm excited to be here, the City of Houston is a wonderful town and the fans are always great and they come out in big numbers.

Q. What do you remember about that win back in 2013 here?
D.A. POINTS: I remember holding -- the first time I ever really holed a putt on the last hole to win, you know, that I absolutely had to have and how meaningful that was to know that I could step up when I really needed -- when I needed the putt and to hole it was a really cool feeling.

Q. What was the difference last week because you did speak afterwards about how tough it had been the last couple of years.
What did you find last week in your game?

D.A. POINTS: Well, a lot of it had to do with putting. You know, I think all of us on Tour would attest to the fact when you're putting well it makes the game a little bit simpler, and I switched putters, I switched to a left hand low putting grip I've never done.

But I felt like when I did that I felt like my impact in the ball was really solid and consistent and you know, I just -- when you're making putts, you don't feel like you got to hit it to two feet every time.

You know, you're a little bit easier on yourself on your long game. When you allow yourself to be easier on your long game you end up hitting it well.

Q. Is that the first tournament you had gone left hand low?
D.A. POINTS: Ever, yeah.

Q. Probably never do that again.
D.A. POINTS: Well, at least this week I'll give it another shot. You know, it's funny, I was at home and I played -- I'm a member at Isleworth and I was playing in like what I call our Scratch Game on Friday and gosh, I didn't play that well but I kind of was fooling around with the left hand low thing and I was like well, you know, okay, I'll give it a try. It felt all right then. So I kept kind of practicing with it. You know, this is feeling pretty good. It worked out.

Q. On Twitter you thanked a lot of people, I think it was yesterday you went on there and thanked your sponsors and one Tweet sort of made me laugh, you thanked your family for sticking with you despite the fact that I've been sucking.
D.A. POINTS: Right. You know, I have been.

It's hard to hide bad golf and, you know, lot of it was after 2013 and I won here and I finished 2nd in New Orleans and I made my first ever TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, you know, finished Top 30 in the FedExCup, I only had four good weeks and I had 25 kind of crappy ones, and I was like man, I got to figure out how to get better and so I sought a new swing instructor, new mental coach and just decided okay, these are some of the guys that know a lot about a lot of stuff and they're going to help make me more consistent and it just went the exact opposite direction.

And, you know, it wasn't that the information they were giving me was wrong, it was just maybe wrong for me. And it was a lot of information.

When you kind of go through stuff like that your head gets all jumbled and it took me two years to kind of sort it out and kind of get things a little more simple.

Q. What year was it that you tried to get better and started getting worse?
D.A. POINTS: '14.

Q. At the beginning of the year?
D.A. POINTS: Yeah. Pretty much -- I went -- I went and played in Sun City, South Africa and right before that I had started working with a new guy and started working on some stuff and, you know, like I said, everything he was telling me was right, it just wasn't really right for me and I stuck with it for ten months, which is probably about 8, 9 months longer than I should have, and, you know, then I kind of -- kind of took awhile to find my way out of that.

Q. Did you get back to who you were at Illinois and who you were when you won Peeble Beach with Bill Murray?
D.A. POINTS: Yeah, a little bit. I'm just trying to not -- you know, originally I went to see some different people to try to get better and you know, I thought oh, if I could just do this in my swing and do this with my chipping and putting and whatever, I'll be -- I'll go to another level.

It really wasn't the case. It was just, you know, I just got to be better at what I'm good at and just be who I am and, unfortunately, it took a mighty big downturn for awhile before I really got to the bottom of it and kind of figured it out.

Q. What are you good at? How would you describe your strengths?
D.A. POINTS: It's funny, people ask me that all the time. I honestly kind -- I truly believe I don't have any real weaknesses, you know. I mean I would say that I'm kind of -- I'm pretty good at a lot of stuff, you know, I drive it pretty good, hit my irons pretty good, I chip and putt prettier good.

I think completeness of me is really what should -- what helps keep me going but I will say that when my putting is good, that's when I win golf tournaments and when I won here in 2013, I putted amazing. Last week you know, my ball-striking was really great but I also putted really great, too.

Q. You mentioned 2013 and making the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP. Never too early to start looking at the FedExCup Standings and you made a big jump the other day.
Talk a little built about that and how you would love to get back to Atlanta this year.

D.A. POINTS: I mean my wife and I -- three days ago, four days ago I was thinking about, man, if I could play well in Houston, somehow get into more events, trying to move my number up in the reshuffle on the Web Finals category and now here I am, I can kind of pick and choose where I want to play.

And, my wife and I have to sit down with my manager, Brad, and really figure out what's the best schedule for me to give myself the best opportunity to the get back the Atlanta and the finish in the Top 30 in the FedExCup.

If you can do that there's -- I was talking to Jimmy Walker and Butch Harmon. Two tournaments you always want to know you're in, East Lake because you know you've had a culmination of a great year and one is the tournament in Maui, the Tournament Champions in Maui because that means you won.

If you did those two things you -- you know, you did well and you had a great year and so I'm glad I'm already set to go to Hawaii next year. Now I got work to getting back to East Lake.

Q. What do you like about Maui, what do you like to do there?
D.A. POINTS: My gosh, you know what, I really like to -- I really like to go whale watching.

We took my daughter the last time we went and we took my parents, it was really special. They had never been to Hawaii. That was really cool to take my parents.

This next go'round we'll have my son who is 2 and he'll be almost 3 when we go next year. It will be really cool to see him out there trying to, you know, whale watch. We love some of the restaurants and just the beautiful things.

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