PALMETTO CHAMPIONSHIP AT CONGAREE

June 11, 2021

Dustin Johnson

Congaree Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. D.J., just an overall reaction to the round.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I thought it was good. The first 14 holes played extremely difficult, I thought, and I was playing really well. With the wind, the wind was blowing pretty hard, it was real gusty, so it was just really hard to get a good beat on it. I felt like I did a really good job, though, controlling the golf ball.

I'm pleased with the way I played. Obviously, it's an unfortunate finish, just club slip. It happens. Again, got a little unlucky there not to at least have a swing at it.

I'm still in a really good position leading into the weekend and still a lot of golf to play, but I feel like I'm playing really well. So got a lot of confidence in what I'm doing.

Q. How many times does a club slip because of your glove?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: That's a first for me. I obviously was not expecting that.

Q. Dustin, as well as you're playing these couple of days, was it strange to you that you weren't playing this well for seven or eight tournaments?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, a little bit. I don't feel like there's a whole lot of difference, just scoring a little bit better, misses are a little bit better. For us, or for me, it's all about the misses. If you can keep your misses in play or on the right side of the holes, it makes the game a lot easier. So that's what I feel like I've done a good job with this week.

Q. Now that you've played another round on this course, how much more comfortable do you feel about the opportunities to kind of push forward when you can and things like that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I like the golf course. It's a great course. It's a lot of fun to play. I'm looking forward to playing it this weekend.

Q. With world No. 1 Dustin Johnson. D.J., for 16 holes, it looked like you were in cruise control. Stumbled a little bit on the finish. Overall, how do you grade your second round?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I played really well. 17, I just pulled my tee shot, but I obviously hit a great recovery there. Still had a six-footer for birdie. So I gave myself a good opportunity, just a tough putt to read. I had it going a little right, and it actually went a little left.

Then 18 my -- it was actually my glove hand slipped on the tee shot and just ended up in the only spot you can't hit it on that hole, which was a couple of bushes there on the left. So, yeah, unfortunate finish, but I'm playing well, I'm swinging well, I've got a lot of confidence in everything I'm doing. Still in a really good spot going into the weekend.

Q. We saw that on the broadcast when your glove hand slipped. Was that just from that pop-up shower that happened a few moments before?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, it just got wet. I hit a couple shots before that, and it was fine. I don't know if the end of my 3 iron was wet or what it was. When I took a couple of practice swings, I didn't notice it. Then obviously when I went to hit the shot, it slipped and --

Q. Not ideal?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: As bad as it was, it could have ended up okay. There's literally three little teeny bushes over there, and my ball was right in the middle of all of them.

Q. You were saying how you wanted to make some steps with the putter. Were you able to make a step with the putting today?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I feel like I'm rolling it nice. I'm hitting it down the line. Speed, obviously the speed was a little bit off, especially after the rain. The greens just slowed up a little bit. So I had that good eagle look, left it short, left the putt on 14 a little bit short, but it was just hard to -- you know there's a little bit of water, but the greens are pretty fast. It's hard to make yourself hit them.

Q. Through two rounds, would you say you basically checked the boxes you wanted to going into the weekend?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm driving it well, which is a big key. I got a new driver in this week, playing a SIM2 with an LA Golf shaft. I'm driving it really well, hitting the shots I want to hit. Yeah, everything is going good so far.