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VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2019Dustin JohnsonPalm Harbor, Florida DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome Dustin Johnson to the interview room here at the 2019 Valspar Championship. Word No. 1. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Making your third start here at the Valspar Championship and first since 2010. With that said, just a few comments on the decision to come back and be here this week. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, it was, I had a few tournaments to pick from, I think I got to add one event every year that I hadn't played, and this was, it fit the best in my schedule and out of the courses I had to choose I think I like this one the best. Only if you're playing well, the golf course is tough. But I feel like the game's in good form so it's a good golf course for me. DOUG MILNE: You're coming off a Top-5 finish last week at THE PLAYERS Championship. Are you still kind of -- well you obviously had a great year so far, are you still kind of coming into the week from that success last week. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, it was a really good week last week. I felt like I played really well, didn't -- Sunday I struggled a little bit on the greens, but other than that it was a really solid week and with a great finish. It was my best finish at THE PLAYERS, so I feel like the game's in really good form, I got a lot of confidence in it and this is another good week with a tough golf course, you got to hit really good shots and you don't have to shoot under par too much here. DOUG MILNE: Open it up to questions. Q. So when you win in Mexico and it is your 20th PGA TOUR victory, at what point did you find out you still had to put in 15 years to be a lifetime member and how long did it take you to get over such devastating news? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I found out like that night, so somebody told me afterwards, which it's fine, it's not a big deal. The only thing that I wasn't too fond of was I had to add another tournament to my schedule. Luckily enough it's Valspar. Q. What do you want or need to see from your game between now and Augusta? DUSTIN JOHNSON: The game's in pretty good form, I mean there's a few things I have to tidy up, there's always room for improvement throughout the whole bag. Definitely need to work on the short game a lot going into Augusta, and but I mean I feel like I can get sharper with everything, driving, irons, wedges, but the short game is very important around Augusta. Q. You talk about working on all facets of your game, do you ever look at the numbers, the analytics and study them and kind of try to figure out where your game's at based on those? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't. I mean, I look at some of the stats and just, I mean I know, it tells me what I already know. I know what I need to work on. It's not a -- I'm not there -- I hit all the shots, so. Q. Is there one set in particular that you might look at and say, hey this is what I need to work on based on I'm below the top half on the PGA TOUR or something like that? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I don't know, I couldn't, I don't even know where I stand on all the stats. For me myself I know what I feel like I should work on. Q. What have you done differently these past couple days on the course building up to this championship? Anything at all? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean I didn't get here until yesterday, so I practiced a little bit yesterday and then played nine holes today. It was actually one week where I was hoping I was playing 18 in a pro-am, but nine holes will have to do. Q. I think it's been since 2010 since you played here. Do you have any memories of that long ago or playing here and are you completely different player than then? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely a different player. The memories, I mean I remember the golf course, but I have a hard time remembering last week, much less nine years ago, so but I mean I do remember the golf course, I played here a couple times and it's a really good track, you got to golf your ball around here if you want to shoot a good score and it's a golf course where I feel like it fits my game a little bit better now than it did back then, so I'm looking forward to playing this week. Q. If you had to guess, right now, just ballpark, where do you think you stand in driving, greens in regular and putting. Give us your rank and what you think it is? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Total driving? Q. Yeah. DUSTIN JOHNSON: 10th. Q. Okay. Approach shots? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm pretty good at approach shots. So top-5. Q. Putting? DUSTIN JOHNSON: For the year I putted pretty well, last week wasn't very good, but I would say in the Top-20. I don't know. Am I close? Q. I don't know I'm not sitting at my computer. DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'll see, I can probably pull it up here. Q. You've got the 20 wins, where do you have, do you have all those trophies stored in one, in the same spot and other than the U.S. Open is there one of the trophies that you think looks the coolest as opposed to the tournament it represents? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Right now they're actually all in boxes. I mean there -- my, maybe, there might be a couple of them sitting in the office on the shelf, but. Q. So you don't go out and play with them or anything. DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I mean -- Q. You got a favorite of the actual how they look, because I'm looking at this week's trophy at the Valspar the paint brush is kind of a cool thing. DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'll have to look at it. But they're all cool. There's not one that -- the U.S. Open trophy is probably my favorite, but I like them all. I just, I'm kind of in a, the house I'm in is temporary, so everything's in, my office is a storage unit. Q. Two years ago going into the Masters obviously you were in great form before you were injured. Have you ever gotten back to that and if not how close are you now? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm getting closer, for sure. I feel like the swing's starting to feel a lot better. The shot patterns are starting to get more consistent. So now it's the closest I've been to that. I mean back then that was probably the best form I've ever been in and getting injured it's taken a while to get back to that form. Obviously I played very well in that stretch, but I wasn't as comfortable as I was then kind of throughout the whole bag. But it's getting, it's definitely the closest I've felt to that stage of my career. Q. Was it the injury itself that led to the drop off or was it the layoff because of the injury? Obviously it was a little while before you came back. DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean just, I mean I injured my back, so it wasn't, there was no -- it didn't like tear anything or break anything, but just from the injury, yeah, the time I had to take off after that, it definitely, especially when you're in that good of form, it takes you a little while to get back to it. Q. The way that you struck the ball and putted in Mexico City, Rory made this joke that it was like there were two tournaments, the one you won and then he was the better of the rest of the field. If you play just like you did in Mexico City at the Masters, will that be good enough to win? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes, it would be. Yeah, I mean, I did everything really well. I made one mistake for the week, that was on 10, and really wasn't a mistake, I just got kind of a bad break. Yeah, I mean I played, I just played really solid tee to green and rolled the putter well. Yeah, definitely I would be tough to beat. Q. When do you think you turned the corner in terms of getting your swing close to where it is now? Was there a tournament? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Monday of Mexico. Q. The other thing is, what training aids do you use right now? Trackman. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Trackman. Yes. Q. Do you use anything on the putting green? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Just an alignment stick. Q. And I'm going to assume a video. Phone. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean video and but, yeah, and then with putting I use a little gate too sometimes with my alignment stick, just to make sure I'm starting it straight. Q. If you could only use one, period, what would it be and why? DUSTIN JOHNSON: One? Q. One device. Whether it's -- and that includes the camera for video or anything. Trackman, video, alignment stick, whatever, which one could you not live without and why? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I would probably pick Trackman. Just because I know, I just have the numbers of how the ball should be flying and if I'm doing that correctly, then I feel like the game's in pretty good form. Q. When the numbers are off, or not what you want them to be, what do you do to get them to where you want them to be? Do you look at anything or do you just feel it and keep -- DUSTIN JOHNSON: Just keep hitting it until I get it right. Q. And then keep hitting it more. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. But with that though I know if the shape's right and the distance is right, then I'm swinging well. Q. What's more important, shape or distance? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Shape, because I can obviously add speed or take speed off, the distance isn't -- Q. Just a fun question, if you were to play anywhere in the world with a pairing of your choice, where would you want to play and who would you want to play with? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I would probably pick three people you don't know and I would probably play at Baker's Bay. I'm just, I mean, I could name them, but you wouldn't have any idea who they are. Q. Who are they? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Just some buddies. Yeah. Q. Maybe that group would include your brother. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, probably. Q. He's with you. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes. Q. Today. And he's carrying the bag on his right shoulder. Was he working with you this morning during the pro-am? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Q. Did he have his arm in a sling? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, he's got a cast on his hand. Q. Is he okay? DUSTIN JOHNSON: He had a bit of a run-in with a pair of stairs, kind of like I did on Sunday night. So those stairs, man, they'll get you. So, yeah, he broke his, broke a bone in his hand. Q. Was he wearing socks? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, he was carrying the stuff in the house after TPC on Sunday night. And slipped going up the stairs. Q. You guys need to rent single level ranch houses. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Q. Is there anything in particular about this track that you feel will help you get prepared for Augusta? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean -- Q. The way it sets up or like you talk about kind of the shot shape, of course. DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean, yeah, I mean it's tough and you got to hit the ball where -- you got to hit good shots. So I mean any time you got a very challenging golf course and the grass is pretty similar to what it's going to be up at Augusta, so it's, yeah, I mean it definitely can help you prepare because you got to be focused on all your shots here. Q. Did you feel like playing college golf affected how your career panned out or would your career have panned out the same if you hadn't played college golf? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, college golf played a big, big part of me being on the TOUR. I think it's a -- you get good experiences, it's a good time to develop your game. For me it definitely played a big part in my career. I don't think -- I wouldn't be where I am today I don't think without playing in college. Q. Did you win Q-School? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I did not win. I won first stage. By eight. Just to throw that in there. Q. Curious, when you first -- 2008 was your first year, right? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes. Q. Were you, did you think you were capable of winning the first day you showed up or did that take time? I mean really, really think that. DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I don't think so. After the first week though I finished top-10 I think, so, and didn't -- I just got it around there, but I finished top-10. So after that I knew I definitely had a chance to win. Q. So like, showing up, winning wasn't necessarily on your mind? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Right. No, I was standing there, I was looking down the range and there was a lot of good players standing there. So I didn't know what to expect. Q. What tournament was that? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Sony Open in Hawaii. That wasn't the first. I played, I played Valero Open was my first professional event, TOUR event. Q. How did you get in there? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Sponsors invite. Q. How did they know who you were? DUSTIN JOHNSON: From college golf. Or amateur golf, whatever. However you want to look at it. Q. (No Microphone.) DUSTIN JOHNSON: I did not. DOUG MILNE: And on that note, Dustin thanks for coming in, we appreciate the time. Best of luck this week. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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