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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 5, 2019

Dustin Johnson

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

MARK WILLIAMS: We welcome defending champion, Dustin Johnson, to the RBC Canadian Open.

Dustin, you're back at a new golf course and you managed to play nine holes. Thoughts on the golf course and what you see out there today.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I like the front nine. It's the only nine I've seen, but yeah, I like the golf course. You need to hit it in the fairway. The rough's pretty deep, but you know, it's not overly long. Good par 3s from what I see. The par 3s are pretty tough. But yeah, I mean, it's kind of an old school golf course. Got to hit it straight. But I like it so far, what I've seen. I haven't seen the back nine, but see it tomorrow morning.

MARK WILLIAMS: What's your plan? Obviously AJ is caddying for you. He probably has some scoop on the back nine. Will you take a look later?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: He went out Tuesday and kind of looked at it. He's good enough now where he can got a pretty good beat on the course. But yeah, if I have time, I might try to walk it later this afternoon or something.

MARK WILLIAMS: Before we take some questions, maybe thoughts on the state of your game, your season so far. Feels like it's in pretty good shape, I'm sure.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I felt like I'm playing pretty solid. I feel like the game's in good form. Obviously had a pretty good week at the PGA a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, it feels pretty similar to that. Yeah, I felt like I played really well at the PGA. You know, four good shots on 16, and made a 5, kind of hurt.

But that's golf, golf course is tough. But I put myself in a position to have a chance, which coming from that far behind, you know, on a really tough golf course, it's hard to do.

Q. A lot's been made about how the field is more competitive this year. How tough will it be for you to defend your championship?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, it's a really good field. It's a golf course I haven't played. That definitely adds a little bit more difficulty to it, just because I don't know the golf course as well as I know Glen Abbey, which I played a lot of Opens there. That obviously makes it a little bit more difficult.

Yeah, the field is a lot stronger this year. I think RBC moving to the week before the U.S. Open, is a great move for them and it's a great week to get a lot of really good players, because they like to play the week before the U.S. Open.

Q. Just wondering what it's like for to you play in front of the Canadian fans. Every year they seem to have adopted you as their own, but what's it like to be inside the ropes and hear all the Canadian fans cheering you on?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I love coming up here and playing. I've played maybe the last five RBC Canadian Opens. I've enjoyed it, yeah, ever since the first time I came up here, they have always been very good to me, and so it's a lot of fun to come out here and have a lot of support.

Q. How closely do you want to see the course conditions mirror what you might see next week? You mentioned the rough.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't think that's as big of a deal. Obviously around here the fairways are fairly narrow so you've just got to hit shots. Doesn't matter what the conditions are, no matter where you play. If you are not hitting the shots, it doesn't really matter.

It's more about if you're hitting the shots, if you're hitting your numbers, because week-in, week-out, no matter what course you play, where you're playing, you've still got to hit good golf shots. You know, Pebble is going to be a lot of the same. You've got to -- it's going to be a lot like this, because a lot of slopey greens and you've got to fly it to a certain point. That's how it's going to be next week. Obviously if your game is sharp this week, that's a good thing going into next week.

Q. After such a grueling week at Bethpage Black, physically, emotionally, coming up short, what did the time off do to re-energize with the last couple majors coming up and obviously this week, as well?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Bethpage Black, it was a good week. I played well. I just was a little too far behind starting on Sunday. It wasn't -- you know, I didn't feel like there wasn't anything to be upset about, or frustrated with, or anything like that. It was a good, solid week. I played well. I played really good the first couple days. Looking back on the week, I miss quite a few putts from inside ten-foot range, that you know, probably should have made, but it's just golf and those greens at Bethpage are tough to putt -- not tough to putt. They are just really tough to read.

So you know, I don't think I was the only one that was struggling. But you know, but I was happy with the way I performed. But the last two weeks were nice to have off and kind of just chilled at home.

Q. Did you play at all?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: A little bit. I practiced a little bit last week.

Q. When you look back at what Tiger did in 2000 at the U.S. Open, winning by 15 shots, what goes through your minds when you think about that performance?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously it's very impressive what he did. Yeah, that would be a tough one to ever -- to ever compete with I think.

But it's Pebble. If -- even in 2010 where I had a good -- a really good chance, I had about a three-shot lead or something going into Sunday, you know, it's a golf course where if you play solid for four days, I mean, it's tough enough depending on the conditions, where you know, you -- I feel like if I played really well for four days, you could win by a lot -- I'd love to say yes, but I think that's a bit of a stretch. Just because right now in the game, I feel like there's just so many really good players, and they are all playing really well; that it would be hard to win any tournament by 15.

Q. Just wonder if you could talk about your coaching change and who you're going to be working with moving forward?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I really haven't had a coaching change. I've always worked with Coach Terrell, I've always worked with Butch and Claude. So it's not really a change.

Q. You're no longer working with Claude though, correct?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, so it's not really a change.

Q. With the latter half of the season, what are your personal goals as we rip through the last couple months, in your mind, that would make it a successful end of the year?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I feel like my game is in good form. I haven't seen Portrush, so I don't know the golf course but yeah, I'm looking for a strong finish to the season. I feel like I'm rested. I'm mentally sharp, and you know, kind of ready to go for the last push through the end of the year. Got a lot of really big tournaments coming up, and for me, you know, just putting myself into position to have a chance to win.

Q. For different guys, a strong finish could mean different things. What would that be for you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't -- I don't like the -- I don't know. I mean, obviously I approach every week with the mentality that, you know, to win and I prepare like that. But I'm not a big, like, I don't really like to set goals where I'm going to win this week.

I just want to go through the process. You know, play as best as I can, and see what happens.

MARK WILLIAMS: Dustin, we appreciate your time. Thanks for coming in. Good luck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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