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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 25, 2018

Bryson DeChambeau

Paramus, New Jersey

EMILY TILLO: Bryson, incredible 8-under 63. You bounced back with a bogey on the 7th hole with four birdies in your next five holes, 63 is your career low on the PGA TOUR. Just talk about what playing well today at THE NORTHERN TRUST meant to you.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I just felt like every time I was able to hit it in the fairway, I was attacking flags. My golf swing was feeling great and my putting, that's been the key this week for me is I've been rolling my rock really, really well, and it's thanks to the sick putter guys, they have been doing a great job for me and just a little bit of a line adjustment, too, for whatever reason, that's been helping me out.

EMILY TILLO: You know how to win on the PGA TOUR. You've done it twice. What would it mean to get a win here in the FedExCup Playoffs and what does that do for the rest of your season and your career?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, FedExCup is what every player out here is looking forward to, hopefully holding up that trophy at the end of the week at East Lake. That would be something pretty special but it all starts here at Ridgewood and at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow. I've got a four-shot lead, and never really been in this spot before but I'm excited because this is a new challenge for me and I always like challenges.

Q. We know you're focused on tomorrow but there's so many implications with The Ryder Cup. Can you talk about going there in 2016, Hazeltine, you went as a fan, right? Can you talk about what went into that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I just wanted to go. I wanted to get an experience, a little bit of an experience of what that would feel like and what that would be like.

Obviously playing the Walker Cup and Palmer Cup and World Team Amateur, there's nothing better than playing for your country.

This is a little different, obviously. It's the Ryder Cup, and wanted to kind of get my feet in the water, you know what I mean. So hopefully I could be prepared coming to 2018, but looking forward to tomorrow, because I've just got to keep focusing on this tournament. If I can play well in the first leg of the FedExCup, I'll hopefully show Captain that I'm worthy.

But as of right now, I'm a man on a mission.

Q. Just as a follow, what did you get out of it there? Were you envisioning yourself on the other side of the ropes and things like that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Absolutely. It was definitely interesting to see all these players, going back and forth, Patrick Reed and Rory, that was exciting to see.

Learned you can rely on your team. It's just different. Every week, we're playing against each other and for one week a year, we're really bonded together as this group that wants to get a job done, you know, and it's pretty special. I think that's unique to itself and I want to experience that.

Being able to have a little bit of experience, even though I didn't play in it at Hazeltine, is very nice I think.

Q. Kind of typical for you to work hard on the range, but you were having another one of your intense sessions on Wednesday. What did you find?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, look, it's half of what I do in my off-weeks. People don't realize how hard I work to try and get a better understanding of my biomechanics. I've never really been super-talented; people would disagree with that, but I've always had to work twice as hard as everybody growing up. I was never as good as a junior, at least when I was 12, 13, 14, 15. Right around 14, 15, I started working really hard and that's kind of what changed my game.

So for whatever reason, that dedication has allowed me to be more consistent. When you come and look at this, it's nothing different than what I would do at home. I'm just a little different cat. That's okay. I like that and appreciate that about myself and that I'm able to stay true to myself. There's a lot of people that change out here sometimes, and that's something that I appreciate is that I've got a lot of great people around me that allow me to be consistent with who I am, and just keep working hard. That's just who I am.

But what I figured out, I'm not going to tell you, because it's my stuff, and I worked hard to get it (chuckles). But it's definitely something that helped me be more consistent.

Q. Two things. A quick, boring one, first. Your shot on 8, which looked pretty good out of the rough. I wonder if you could talk about what club you hit and what you had?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I was debating whether or not to hit a 6-iron or a 5-iron. It was a little out of the -- the wind was off into us and off of the right just a little and I had to hit a cut shot and I thought I might catch a little bit of a jumper out of that lie. I was thinking of hitting a 6-iron but ultimately I just tried to create a smooth angle of attack, not hitting too down on it, with a 5-iron, and just hit a nice little cut off the left edge of that bunker around the trees. Just trying to get to the middle of the green, and luckily it over-cut a little bit and the wind hit it a little bit and bounced and rolled to seven feet.

Q. Knowing how this course has allowed scoring with the right shots and what's around you, at any point are you surprised to be leading by four? The fact that no one kept up with you, basically.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Look, this is a difficult golf course. If you barely get off out here, you're penalized. I mean, 7, I barely missed it right. Literally, a foot into the rough and I couldn't even advance it to the green. I could have advanced it but it would have been rolling like crazy past the hole and then I would have had an even more difficult shot past the flag.

You know, it's just diabolical. If you hit it in the fairway and you're consistent with doing that and you hit a lot of greens, you can score. But if you hit it in the rough, you're going to be penalized.

Q. But if you look at the flow of most PGA TOUR events with so much talent out here, it's really rare --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's a testament to the golf course how great this golf course is. Ridgewood is a unique test for us out here. You have to ball-strike it well. If you don't, you're not going to have chances to make putts, and then you have to putt well out here because the greens are slopey. It's an interesting dynamic and I like it.

Reminds me a little bit of Canterbury, the Web there, the first leg of the Web finals, and then Olympia Fields a little bit. I've played well there, too.

Q. You've had a chance to spend a lot of time or a good amount of time with Tiger Woods. What have you learned from him?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: How good he is. I mean, I never realized the immense talent he has in regards to the feel in his hands and his ability to control the golf ball and do things that I've never seen before.

You know, so it's been nice to ask him questions like, "How are you doing that?" You know, he never answers that or whatever (laughter) because look, everybody has their own secrets, right, and you want it to be beneficial to what you do.

It's been fun to talk with him a little bit and get his take on a few things, on putting greens. It's definitely helped this year. I appreciate it.

Q. You speak a little bit different language than a lot of guys when it comes to the golf swing. Does he speak the same language?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: At times. And at times he tells me to shut up and hit the ball. It is what it is. (Laughing). It's fun. I like to joke with him a little bit. It's been great.

Q. I know as you said earlier, you've focused on these next three weeks, but how do you feel after the announcement on Monday, the confirmation of the eight team players for The Ryder Cup and what you've done so far this week, could that be extra motivation to get a pick from Jim?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, again, I knew once I missed the cut, I was not going to have a chance to make the top eight. That was really disappointing. Especially with the way it happened. I knew that I'm good enough, especially after playing so well this year, to be on that team.

I can't look at it as that anymore. I've just got to look at it as each week is unique, and yeah, I can't focus on having -- how this affects The Ryder Cup. Each week is unique and I've got to play my best each and every week, and if I play well in the FedExCup Playoffs, the rest will speak for itself. That's all you can do.

Q. What's the mind-set going into tomorrow? How do you stay consistent?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: This is the first time I've had a four-shot lead in a PGA TOUR event in the final round. For me, it's just going to be doing the same thing I've always done my whole entire life. Like my coach has said to me, fairways and greens. Just if you hit all fairways and all greens and you 2-putt, maybe make a couple putts, it's going to be tough to beat.

So just don't make any mistakes tomorrow, and when I do, you know, try and limit the mistakes and hit it back on the green or be a little safe sometimes.

Q. There are obviously a lot of accomplished guys at the top of the leaderboard starting today. What does it tell you about yourself that you're the guy that established that four-shot lead?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, well, the first thing is, there's still tomorrow, and it's not over. For whatever reason, the way things played out, I've got a four-shot lead which is fantastic and I hope to capitalize on that tomorrow. If I can do that, and be extremely focused on accomplishing each and every shot at hand and making sure that I hit the fairways and I hit the greens, the rest is going to speak for itself.

You know, in regards to the question, I was so focused on my game today that I didn't even worry about anything else. And so you just get in the zone every once in a while and block everything out and I really didn't notice anybody else, actually. It was just -- it's a great feeling to have and I hope to bring it tomorrow.

Q. Obviously you're still pretty young and everything is a learning experience for you. I wonder what you took out of Germany, and are any of those things that you can use tomorrow to combat anything?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, my golf swing was in a different place. So you know, if somehow something breaks down, I think I'll have a better understanding of how to bring it back, and that's really what I've learned from that situation.

It was unfortunate the way everything played out, but same point in time, it was actually a great learning experience all in all, all things considered. Just look back on it and try and do better the next time. That's what I'm doing right now, so if something was to happen tomorrow, in regards to my golf swing, I think I'll know how to get it back.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the Hazeltine visit a couple years ago. What was your mind-set at the time about where your career was going?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No clue. Seriously.

Q. But yet you had the confidence to say, hey, I might be here some day?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Absolutely. I wanted to experience that. At the same time, I didn't have the same ball-striking capabilities, wedging capabilities, putting capabilities as I do today, but I did want to get that experience because I knew two years was a long time and you could do some good stuff in two years; or could you do some bad, but I was fortunate enough to go the right way and make a positive impact on my game and on my life.

Q. Did you have a chance to see any of the guys that week or talk to any of them or were you just totally a fan and on the outside?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, a few guys were able to take care of me a little bit. Notah Begay was nice enough to bring me in a couple times, and just seeing the camaraderie between everyone on the team was fantastic. It was great to experience. I hope to have that here in a few weeks. 245 would be nice.

Q. You talked about focus, being in the zone. Do you think if sometime on the golf course, someone called your name or like today, Tiger Woods, somebody ask him if he was okay, he did this, like thumb up, is this distraction or --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I get -- I get your question. I think that for me, I respect when people are positive about what I'm doing. If they are saying, "Bryson, great job, hey, keep it going," I'm very appreciative of that.

When it's time to execute the shots, laser focus. Can't let anything distract me from executing that shot. That's kind of the approach I take.

Q. What was your club on 11, the par 3?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I hit a nice 8-iron in there. I tried to roast an 8-iron.

Q. Okay.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: And what was the other one?

Q. The other one, on 12, the pitch up the hill, how would you describe that shot? Stock?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, you know, I've had that shot before, and really, you try and play like an explosion shot, a bunker shot, and I was 17 yards and I played about 7 yards with a 7-degree upslope and a couple yards because it's uphill.

And then I opened the face a little bit and knew how much the rough was kind of going to affect the ball, the ball's velocity out of it. I just effectively hit a shot that was playing about 35 yards with my open face.

Q. Lastly, said a minute ago, made me think of this. If you go back to SMU looking back all the way through, have you found yourself learning more from winning, or losing?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: From losing. For sure.

Q. Do you learning anything from winning?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, you do. You gain a lot of confidence, especially when you make putts to win that are not easy and you're able to do that in style, that gives you a lot of confidence.

But from the losses, the missed cuts or whatever, at least initially, there was a lot of learning, but as I've started to make more cuts and not finish off strong and on the weekends or whatnot, I've had to learn about how to finish off strong on the weekend.

So it's just they are different learning experiences at different points in your career about different things, and so right now, you know, I'm learning how to consistently be up on the top of the leaderboard, and learning how to get the job done still.

That's kind of where I'm at right now.

Q. It wouldn't be official if we didn't ask you about this, but when you play in Pro-Ams and do youth clinics, what do people say about your irons and do they ask you about them and do they want to follow that lead?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think a lot of people are interested about it. If they have played golf for a while and they are used to make variable-length clubs, that's kind of the route they take. But if it makes sense to them and they want to try it, usually when they do try, it they are like, oh, my gosh, this makes a lot of sense, and I'm playing with them and I'm playing a lot better with them.

Just because, first off, from a physics perspective, it makes a lot of sense and from a biomechanics perspective it makes a lot of sense.

Second off, we've gotten the clubs to work and they work for anybody in any swing in any way. So when people do have an open mind and they do try it, it usually works out really, really well for them.

So from a clinic perspective, there's a lot of people that ask questions, but they don't really follow through with going and getting them, but that's probably the No. 1 question I've been asked.

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