PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2020

Bryson DeChambeau

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

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JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Pleased to be joined by Bryson DeChambeau. Bryson posted a second-round 70. He is currently 2-under here at the 36-hole mark of the championship. Lots of ups and downs today.

Could you kind of sum up the round in its totality, the good and the bad?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I didn't feel like I hit it that bad to be honest with you. There were just a couple holes out there where I misjudged the wind off the tee shot, and consequently the ball went a little off the beaten path. It's just a good test of golf out there to be honest with you. The wind -- it's a major championship. Chris today was saying it's like the final Boston in a video game. You've got to get after it and do some things, you're going to get some weird stuff happening to you, but you've got to do some things that are pretty special to win this tournament. I've got to do something special this weekend. I think I can. I think I've got the firepower to do that. I've just got to hit some fairways. If I get that done, I feel like I'll be in better shape.

Q. Birdies, bogeys, you had a bunch of lip-outs out there. What are the emotions in a tug-of-war like this?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's tough, but I think I'm doing a lot better job of controlling my emotion and really keeping my head high, no matter the situation.

Yeah, there are times where it's like, oh, man, I wish I would have had that, but at the end of the day it's just golf and I'm doing my best to play my best.

Today wasn't my best but hopefully the weekend will bring something different. I'm just glad to make it and it's a lot of fun competing for a major championship.

Q. How did you take on 16 today on that tee?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, I hit hybrid. I hit a hybrid there. I knew if I just hit it a little left, the wind would bring it back, and I knew it wouldn't go into the water. I knew I couldn't fly a hybrid over the bunkers. I knew worst case it would be there and a little chip up to the green and was able to do that and make a nice birdie.

Q. Guys have been talking all week long about how the rough isn't consistent. You can end up with a terrible lie or a not so bad lie. Do you feel like you got a lot of terrible lies today?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, look, they're just lies, and they are what they are. I don't want to say I got unlucky at all. That's not what it is. I hit it in the rough. And that's what you should expect when you hit it in the rough. On 4, I hit a great drive, and just about a yard in, and could barely advance the ball. I should have hit it in the fairway still. That's my fault, and take full responsibility for that.

Sometimes, yeah, you're going to get some good breaks. I got a really good break on 13, hit an 8-iron out there to five feet and able to make birdie. You're going to get good ones and bad ones. Again, I've got to hit more fairways. I keep saying that, but it's the truth.

Q. Maybe a better way to ask it, I read earlier in the week that you had a three-pronged system for how you judged a lie this week. How many bad, bad lies did you have this week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, I have to go through it. Quickly off the top of my head, one, two, three -- three? Yeah, just three.

Q. And when you get a bad, bad lie, what's the plan?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Just hopefully get it back in play. You know, on 5, I had to chip it back out in the fairway. 4, tried to hit it in the fairway and didn't succeed at that and I was able to make a nice par on 4.

But it's difficult playing from the rough. It's a major championship, and yeah, I do have some speed and some power, but out here in these lies, sometimes you just can't control it.

Forgot about 9, too.

It was weird, I got in some dry grass and I caught a jumper and it came out dead knuckling left. It's a very diverse grass, and I'd say that you've got to be lucky to hit it in the rough and still play well. I've got to be hitting more fairways.

Q. Bryson, what was up with the driver today? Obviously that's become your weapon, your best weapon, and when that's not working, how does that work on your psyche when you try to get through a round like this at a major?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I mean, I know I'm hitting the driver really well. I'm not going to say anything other than that. I am hitting it very well. I just misread the wind a couple times today. On 6 I didn't think it was blowing that much and I tried to hit a little bit of a draw and it was a really strong wind and hit the cart path.

On 4 I hit a great drive, wind just didn't push it enough, and so I just felt like it was a little inconsistent in my spin axis for a draw, and I've just got to work on the range this afternoon to try and control that and hone that in, and if I can do that, I think I'll be good this weekend.

Q. Talking about your driver, is there any one hole or two holes on this course where you feel like you can really let it go? Maybe you do that on every hole, but is 18, for example, a hole where you feel like that's the one to really let it rip?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I can't really let it rip out here this week. Not to the full extent. I feel like the rough is too penalizing, and I'm trying to keep it in the fairway. Sometimes the risk really isn't worth the reward. I'd say on 9, 9 is kind of one of them. Albeit I hit it a little left. Hit a great drive, just the wind didn't push it back and it went in the left rough. Made bogey unfortunately. That's the risk I take with trying to hit it as far as I do. I accept that and understand that and all I'm going to do is my best to get better each and every day, and hopefully this weekend I'll be a little bit better with driving.

JOHN DEVER: Thanks for stopping in. Best of luck over the weekend.