THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2021

Bryson DeChambeau

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Curious, with your new body and new game, do some of these kind of shorter Pete Dye angly courses, like here and Harbour Town, do they feel almost like, do you feel cramped in?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Cramped in is not the right word. I think dialed back is the right word for me. I have to be, in certain areas. 16 is one of the examples that's not where I have to dial back, I can go at it pretty hard, and lucky enough to have 9-iron in there today.

But for the most part it's position golf. And a year and a half, two years ago -- I love position golf, that was one of my favorite things, favorite golf courses. Pete Dye was my favorite architect from that sense where he just made it where you got to be position A and hit it on the green, hit it close. It wasn't a bomber's paradise. But, no, I kind of like it a bomber's paradise a little bit more.

But I will say, it definitely tests every aspect of your game out here and you have to be on point. My iron play was a lot better today than last week. Driving was about the same. A little better. I felt a lot more comfortable off the tee and I putted pretty decent, not great but great, good enough, I guess you could say.

Q. You and Tim were discussing the club selection on 18, was there ever a thought of letting the big dog eat there?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, if you pull it, you're re-teeing. That's one of those things where I could hit 4-iron out there all day long and hit 8-iron in and be okay, to that back flag even. So it's a great strategy. I saw Tiger hit iron off the tee a couple years ago and he's done pretty well here and I would follow what he's doing.

Q. What was your reaction when they told you about the internal OB on 18?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I understand it. I probably shouldn't have said anything. Knowing that now, I won't, now I won't ever say any lines that I'm taking anymore, but that's okay. I understand it. I've got no issues with it. I understand why, from a safety precaution reason, totally get it. But I'm going to keep myself a little quiet next time for lines that I'm going to try to obtain.

Q. How many drivers did you hit today?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, man, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Nine. Nine. I hit nine drivers. I hit a lot, yeah.

Q. A hundred percent?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: What?

Q. Did you hit any a hundred percent?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, no. No. Can't.

Q. Not even to 16?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No. I mean if I hit it as hard as I want to, I'm hitting it in the water, so.

Q. You used the driver nine times today you said?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah.

Q. When you look at the layout of this course, is it tough to resist the urge to be aggressive? Sometimes you do have to do that.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, no, it tells me what to do. The golf course is always telling me each and every day what I need to do to get it close to the hole or in the fairway. It really dictates what we do. I listen a lot to the golf course. It's funny, if I say that, people think it's just stats, stats and statistics, but it's really a game-time decision with the wind for the most part, most of the time.

Q. You've played with D.J. a lot since he's been No. 1. Now when you play with him, do you measure yourself against him as you're rising up in the World Ranking?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: By height? No, I'm kidding. No, I'm kidding. I would say for the most part I look at some facets of his game and go, How can I improve and be like that? And there's some parts where I feel like I'm a little bit better. But for the most part, he plays golf in a manner that allows him to win most consistently and that's hopefully what I'm starting to do, and anything I can learn from D.J. is greatly appreciated and taken note of as well out there.

Q. When you came to the first tee today, did it kind of feel normal? Even though it's only 20 percent capacity, it seemed like 60 percent of the fans were there.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It definitely felt a lot more normal, which is great. I love seeing the fans out. I love interacting with them, and obviously there's ones that get a little rowdy sometimes, but I think it's fun. I think it's part of the great atmosphere that we live in and play under and it's great having them cheer me on.

Q. I think since Sunday you've either lost weight or gotten a bigger shirt?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: This is a bigger shirt, unfortunately. Yeah, we got, so, yeah, yeah. We're working on that.

Q. Not what you want.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, no, no, well, they just need to tighten in the sides.

Q. What size shirt is that?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's an XL. I have lost weight, though, for sure, probably loss 12 pounds since I started four weeks ago.

Q. On the fans, you had a year where you were able to make your decisions in relative piece and quiet. 18 --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I was able to hit down No. 9.

Q. And on 18, 18 your club selection gets a reaction and things like that. What kind of adjustment is that? Is that something you have to be able to retrain yourself?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, for sure. You got to block it out. I was talking to a few people. It takes some gusto to be able to pull a 4-iron out when they all want you to go for it. Because if you hit it in the water, they're going to be pretty mad at you, or even in the rough. So I'm sure they will be doing that the next few days and I just got to hit 4-iron down there in the middle of the fairway and if I don't, I can still chipping up to the front edge and still make par.

Q. Year over year with your major championship, with you've kind of changing the game in a lot of ways, are you feeling a different reaction when you just walk around as opposed to previous times?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, absolutely. It's different and we're having to, my team is having to learn how to handle it. It's a different task and I'm okay with it, I love it, I appreciate it, and this is what comes with the territory, and honestly, if anything, it matures me even more as time goes on. So I'm happy that have I this opportunity and hopefully I can keep doing it in the best way possible for the fans of golf and for the game of golf.