THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 23, 2020

Dustin Johnson

TPC Boston

Press Conference

RACHEL NOBLE: We welcome Dustin Johnson, winner of THE NORTHERN TRUST, first event in the FedExCup Playoffs. Talk about your win and now going to BMW next week and East Lake.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, jumped up the leaderboard -- obviously I feel good about my position. The game is very good right now. I played really solid all four days this week, and got two more big tournaments coming up. Next week is the BMW and then obviously the TOUR Championship at East Lake.

Q. Simple question, just curious on the club you hit on 5 and 12.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: 5 was a pitching wedge, and 12 was a 6-iron.

Q. That was a good shot.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: That was a very nice shot.

Q. For this tournament, how do you stack up the way you played this week with how you were going in 2017, that stretch of Riv, Match Play and México. Not that it's as good as you can play, but does this remind you of that at all?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously all week, I felt like I was striking it very -- I was swinging the same, I was striking it the same and I controlled my golf ball very well. So yeah, it was a lot of what I was doing when I was playing really well in 2017.

Q. Did you do anything wrong this week?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, I missed quite a few short putts, but other than that, I did everything pretty well.

Q. Second at the PGA, you win in your next start. Why do you think you've been able to bounce back to well in your career?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Because it's pretty easy when we've got big tournaments every week. Obviously you can learn some stuff from the PGA, but I didn't feel like I really did anything wrong at the PGA. I played pretty solid on Sunday.

Generally, you shoot 68 on Sunday in a major with the lead on a tough golf course, you're going to win most of the time. So obviously Collin just played very, very well.

But it wasn't something that I was disappointed in or anything like that, because I felt like I played well. It wasn't like I didn't play good or I struggled in the final round or something like that. I did make a big putt on 18 to get up into second place, so obviously there was a lot of positives I could take from that week.

Then went home and took a few days off, and then got back to work. The game started feeling really good, or it has been feeling really good. I was really looking forward to coming into this week.

Q. A FedExCup question. You've had a number of close calls over the years, whether you've been in the top 5 or heading into the East Lake, or I think you had the close call in 2016 maybe with Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell. Why do you think a FedExCup title means so much to you, wanting to win that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, for me, it's something I haven't won. It's something I've been close to winning a few times, and it's just something that I would really like to have on my resumé when I'm done playing golf. You know, it's a big title. It means a lot to all the guys out here. It definitely means a lot to me, and it's something that I really want to be a FedExCup Champion.

Q. Are you at a point this week that every day you showed up, and there was no mystery how you were going to play? In other words, did you know that you were going to be swinging good?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I did, yes. Well, I felt good every day obviously and played good golf. But I was doing the same things, going to the range, all the time, hitting the same shots, and I just felt like I was really controlling the golf ball very well. I hit a few draws, but not too many.

Q. Did you just putt bad on Thursday?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes, I did. I hit it just as good Thursday as I did any other day, but I did not make any putts.

Q. So Claude was saying there was a moment where you went and grabbed somewhere between 500 and 600 putters out of your car and decided to stay with the same one.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, sometimes you just need -- the one you're using, you just need to put it in time-out for a minute or to two, and then it starts working again.

Q. And lastly, you're back to No. 1 in the world. Does that mean anything to you, or you've been there too many times, it doesn't matter anymore?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, of course it does. It's something that I'm very proud of is to be No. 1 in the world, and I'd like to stay there for a little while. Obviously it's been jumping around a bunch here the last few months, but you know, the last time I was No. 1, I think I stayed there for quite some time, and that's another goal of mine is just to see how long I can stay at No. 1.

Q. Do you know the last time -- you're not going to know the answer, but the last time, an 11-shot win, does that register with you? Do you look at the leaderboard and say, that's a big margin?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It is a big margin, and I'm definitely really proud of that. I played really good. My goal today was, I knew I was playing well and I knew the guys were going to shoot low.

But yeah, so I was trying to get 30-under, which held a nice little putt on the last hole to get to 30.

Q. What was the big deal about 30?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know, I've never shot 30-under in four rounds. Just something that I wanted to do.

Q. Do you know what the TOUR record is?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I have no idea.

Q. Okay.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: What is it?

Q. Well, I'm not going to tell you if you don't know. Look it up; 31-under.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Oh, that's all right. Next time.

Q. That's what you said at Riviera.

RACHEL NOBLE: Dustin, congrats on the win.