	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

DELL TECHNOLOGIES CHAMPIONSHIP

August 30, 2018

Dustin Johnson

Boston, Massachusetts

MARK WILLIAMS: We'd like to welcome Dustin Johnson to the interview room in the Dell Technologies Championship. Thanks for joining us, Dustin.

You're coming in here No. 2 in the FedExCup playoffs, after Bryson DeChambeau won the first playoff event. You led the FedExCup for ten weeks in a row. What does it feel like to be No. 2? What are your thoughts on the golf course, and how do you assess the state your game is in leading into this event?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Golf course, I feel like the golf course is good. I like the change on No. 12, they got rid of the bunker, I think that was a good move. I feel like my game is in good form. Last week I felt like I played well. I didn't drive it very good, but I worked on the driver the past few days, and felt like I'm definitely driving it much better. And I forget the other questions you were asking me.

MARK WILLIAMS: Being No. 2 in the FedExCup.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm in a very good spot. I feel like it's obviously the playoffs there's a lot of points at stake. So winning one you're going to jump everybody.

But being No. 2, yeah, it's fine, as long as I can is hold my position or I'd like to be No. 1 going into Atlanta. As long as I can stay in the top five I'll be happy in Atlanta.

Q. New England connections, just competing here in Boston, such a great sports city. Do you have any connections here?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Not really. I've been coming up here every year to play this event, and buddies with a few of the guys on the Patriots. But not really any connections up here.

Q. What do you think about the crowds here? There is such a passion for sports here. For golf, you know, what do you like about the crowds?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think this event draws great crowds. I get a lot of followers up here that come out and give me a lot of support. So it's always a fun event for me.

Q. You just said you've been working on your driving, because last week it wasn't very good. Why you were not driving it good last week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: If I knew that I would have drove it better. But, yeah, I got it fixed. I don't even know why I'm driving it a little better now.

Q. Can you just speak to the report of next year's Tour Championship change, whether it be staggered?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think that the Tour and the FedEx they do a great job with everything they do. So if that's the way it goes, and that's how they change it, I like it. I support it. I think it definitely would make things a lot clearer. And you kind of know where you stand. So it would definitely be a lot more fun to watch on the telecast, I think.

Q. If you think back to winning your first tournament at Turning Stone, right?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes, that was the first one.

Q. And then Pebble when you won that first year was rained out?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Three rounds, yeah.

Q. So can you recall the first time you ever played before a really, really big crowd and what it was like? I can't imagine you would have had big crowds at Turning Stone, would you, not like you have here?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, it wasn't that big. Probably been Augusta, after I won Pebble. Pebble you get big crowds, though. But that Monday it was -- or Sunday it was rained out. Probably the first time I had really big crowds was the first year I played Augusta.

Q. Is that fun or does it take some getting used to?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I like it. I've always -- I like the big crowds. I think it gives you a little more energy and it's more fun to play when you have a lot of people, especially if they're cheering for you.

Q. You weren't playing with Tiger that day?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I wasn't.

Q. Can you talk about Tiger in general, just how long he's been doing it. And then specifically the year that he's having this year and how good it is for golf?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, yeah, Tiger is great for golf. Great for me. Great for everybody out here. It's good for the game. So I'm definitely glad to see him doing well. And the better he does, the better for me.

Q. Can I ask you, there's a policy of course of you're allowed to wear shorts on Pro Am days and practice days on European Tour. You did it a couple of weeks ago in St. Louis. Why is the PGA Tour not allowing you to wear shorts in temperatures like this, and what can you do about it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You'd have to ask them, I have no idea. And I don't really care. I didn't even wear shorts in St. Louis.

Q. It doesn't bother you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm used to it by now. It doesn't really bother me.

Q. These four days, what's the key for you to succeeding on this course?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: This golf course, especially softer this year, is playing fairly long. So pretty much every week is the same. If I drive it well generally I'm going to play it well. I need to drive it well, I feel like I'm hitting my irons and wedges, putting good. Focusing key for me is driving it in the fairway. Because the rough is fairly long, little bit longer than it has been in years past.

Q. Are there specific holes that you plan on being a little bit more aggressive on on this course? There's been some low scores posted here year after year winning this championship. Do you aim at certain spots on the golf course?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I try to get a target on every hole to where I want the ball to go. It just all depends on winds. But there's not really any holes where I can be more aggressive than anyone else. It's just the golf course is pretty much right in front of you. It gives you the spot where you need to hit it and that's where you've got to try to hit it.

Q. You mentioned the early part of your career before, but kind of going back before that, when you were growing up did you play other sports other than golf, and did any of those kind of compete with golf or your time, I guess?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, as a kid I played basketball, baseball and soccer. They kind of all got the same amount of time growing up. Once I was -- got to middle school I kind of just went to golf, starting from about 7th grade on.

Q. Last week you had a couple of big numbers, you said a few mental errors. At the end of a long season how do you guard against those mental errors?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was mainly driving is the reason I made the big numbers. Other than the one I made on No. 1, the second round. But that was -- it wasn't really a mental error, just kind of a fluke, really. I misjudged a few lies in the rough, missed a short putt for 6.

Q. To us it looks like you're never busted. Can you physically inside yourself know when you've switched on and switched off inside a round? Is there a trigger for you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I try not to get too flustered. Obviously I didn't get too flustered after I made a 7 on that first hole, because I played 7-under from there into the house.

Q. How did you do that, I guess?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: How? I can't give away all my secrets (laughter).

Q. What drives you the most?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Being the best, that what drives me the most, being the best, winning.

Q. You and Brooks, No. 1 and 2 in the Ryder Cup standings right now. Can you talk about the possibility of you guys playing together, what you're looking forward to?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, Ryder Cup is one of my favorite events we play. I'm definitely looking forward to hopefully or possibly partnering up with Brooks. I think we'd make a pretty good team. And I feel bad for anyone who would have to play us.

Q. You were left off one team, '13, wasn't it, Presidents Cup?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Uh-huh.

Q. Can you relate to what some of the other players might be going through when qualifying is over and you're having to wait and see if you're going to be picked, they say they don't worry about it, do they or is it hard not to?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: For me it was. I wanted to be on the team. I played in the few previous. And I was inside the top 12 in the points and then didn't get a pick. So it was -- I was pissed. I was. I can't really speak for the other guys. But it's not fun being on the outside or trying to wait for a phone call.

Q. Piggyback off that, how much pressure did you put on yourself in those couple of weeks leading up to it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: To what?

Q. To in '13 when you were waiting on a captain's pick?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean definitely -- you definitely put a little more pressure on yourself because you want to play well, because you want to make the team.

Q. What putter is in the bag?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: The same as last week. It's in the bag for good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297