THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2021

Bryson DeChambeau

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. What were the emotions like after the first hole, the 10th?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, frustration, definitely. You don't expect to do that the first hole out. Especially I was hitting it pretty good this morning, and then you go out there, you hit one and you squeeze one right and it goes pretty far right. You don't hit your second shot where you need it to be and mess up. So you just aren't feeling comfortable. I wasn't feeling as comfortable as I should have been feeling, and unfortunately, that's the way my day started.

I was able to make a nice up-and-down on the next hole to settle it down.

And up-and-down on 12 which was great.

Hit a close one in there on 13.

And kind of was off to the races after that except the drive on 14. A couple crucial up-and-downs and I just felt like I just wasn't hitting it my best today.

Q. Just No. 2, what did you hit off the tee and is that one of those situations where you played that hole the way you might have played it two years ago?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I hit a bad 4-iron off the tee, overdrew it and caught the rough. That was more of a situation the wind was coming off the left and I wasn't comfortable with driver, given where I had been hitting it today. I hit a driver yesterday and hit it beautifully up there and had a short iron in, and today just wasn't as comfortable and, depending on the wind, depending on how I'm feeling, I'll stay play the golf course the way I'm most comfortable with. A couple years ago, I don't know what I would have done.

Q. Can you guess what you rank in strokes gained off the tee right now?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Probably middle of the pack.

Q. You're 77th. Do you take confidence that you're able to be one back right now, given how relatively poorly you've driven it?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I'm happy with the fact that I've still been able to keep myself in it and score well. I've been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don't think that'll happen this weekend. I've got to make sure that my game is good off the tee, so I don't have those issues occurring and I don't have to rely on luck for the most part. I have to get it in the fairway.

Q. By luck you mean just not being behind a tree --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Exactly. Having a clean lie. 10, I was a little unlucky, but for the rest of the round I was in places where I could get it up-and-down, rely on my short game around the greens. I don't want to continue to do so.

Q. Obviously today you just outlined you had a few issues you're going to go work on, but do you ever come off the course and say, I'm good, I've got it down?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Never. Because my brain is -- I'm a perfectionist, and I'll continue to be so until the day I die and until the day I stop playing this game. That's just the way I am. I love it about me, that's what makes me work hard and fight for every shot out there, but at the same time it makes me worry about stuff a lot.

Q. Let's say you just did have a nice day, though, you hit a bunch of greens, a bunch of fairways, you're relatively pleased; would you --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'll hit a couple to make sure everything is locked in. I'll hit one putt -- usually with putting I'll only go hit one putt on my line and if it goes down the line, I'm like, okay, I'm comfortable, let's go. I haven't been able to do that with my iron play or driving yet.

Q. When you hit it far right at Bay Hill the first shot and you came and told us later, well, this is, my first thought is, well this is not going to be a great day. And then you did the same thing today. What do you do mentally to turn it around?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, you've just got to fight for every shot, like I said over there in the other interview, it's about focusing on the shot at hand and making sure you put it in a place where you can make par or make birdie from. I'm always trying to giving myself the best opportunity and completely forget the last shot that happened.

Q. What's your advice for us who are accustomed to taking mulligans on the first tee?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, for amateurs, I think you should enjoy the game and take that mulligan. I wish I could.

Q. Now that fans are back out here, have you noticed any difference in their reaction to you, and have you heard anything particularly amusing?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, yeah, there's a lot of support, which is great. They always ask how many protein shakes I've had, which is funny, and I always reply back with however many I've had that day for the most part.

Q. How many today?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I've had probably four. You know, losing that weight having that many, too, by the way. But it is what it is.

Q. I heard somebody ask what you were having for lunch.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what's on the menu today. Depends.

Q. How would you compare off the tee last week versus this week? Is it an execution thing? Is it a comfort level with how some of these shots shape up?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's definitely an execution thing. I'm not passing through impact consistent, as consistent as I'd like. You know, one of those things that it's going to be a battle this weekend, if I don't get it figured out, and if I do, hopefully it all adds up in a good way.

Q. That fan reaction, is it as much when you pull an iron out instead of a driver?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's always like, Aww, with an iron. Driver it's like, Yeah!! And then I hit it right.

Q. At 18 you hit iron again?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I hit iron again. Yeah, 4-iron. I actually thought I hit a great 4-iron and it just trickled into the rough on the right. I still had 8-iron in to the front edge and had a nice par.

Q. Are you happy with your iron play?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, pretty happy. Definitely left it in great places these past couple days. And when my driving is good, hopefully my iron play will stay the same.

Q. Even though you're not 100 percent off the tee with your driver in terms of effort you're exerting, what's the longest approach shot that you've had in with a club?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: With a driver or --

Q. What's the longest iron you've had to a par-4 or par-5?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, into a par-5 -- I mean, iron off the tee on 2. But, realistically, the longest that I'll have is probably on 18. I'll have an 8-iron in or 7-iron in, depending on the wind. It's nice to be able to hit 4-irons off the tee and still have 8-iron or 7-iron in.

Q. Do you still carry a 5- and a 6-iron?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, yeah, I do. They're there just in case. You never know.

Q. Do you even have a driver play off of 18? Is there one?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No. Not with my dispersion.

Q. What would you be doing? You'd be trying to aim it where?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'd be trying to hit a rope hook down the same kind of curve of the fairway.

Q. It just doesn't make sense?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: If I overdraw it it's in the water. If I hit it just a little straight it's in the trees. There's nothing -- I've got nothing there. That's why I was thinking about going down 9. Dangit.

Q. You said you learned your lesson about talking about lines on that instance. Did you learn something at Augusta, though, about lines, that you're not willing to share that you do have some ideas from November to April?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I'm definitely hitting it a lot further than I was in November of last year. So there are some places that I will look at taking that are going to be a little different than last time probably.

Q. The fact that it might not be as soft as it was --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That'll help. That'll help.

Q. I know you said you didn't want to talk about where you might start cutting angles after what happened this week, but when you look at courses going forward for the rest of the season, are there places where you feel like you can do what you did at No. 6 last week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Not as drastically as what I did at No. 6, but there are holes where it gives you a much better opportunity to have an advantage on that hole, if it can be played in the way that I'm going to try. It's a little bit bigger risk, but maybe it's a bigger reward.

Q. I'd ask you where but clearly you don't want to tell me.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Sorry.