PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 18, 2022

Dustin Johnson

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JULIUS MASON: Good morning. Welcome back to the 2022 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are joined by two-time major champion Dustin Johnson. Dustin, thanks for being with us first of all. We'd like to ask you, this seems to be a golf course where length is pretty darn important.

You have length from what I understand. How do you think your game fits within this golf course?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I've seen it -- first time I saw it was Monday and then played some holes yesterday. The golf course obviously is in really good shape. It's definitely -- it plays long, depending on obviously they can move some tees around.

But if you play it all the way back, it's a long golf course and you're hitting a lot of mid to long irons. Par-3s are difficult.

You're definitely going to have to be on your game, especially -- fairways are fairly generous, but you need to drive it in the fairways because it's really difficult to control the ball coming out of the rough.

But small greens coming in with long irons, you've got to be controlling the golf ball, so you've got to be in the fairway.

Q. What was the reputation? Not as many players in the field have been here; it's been 15 years since the last major. How did the look and feel of it go compared to what you'd heard?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think it's similar to what the guys were saying about it. It's a good golf course. It's tough. Obviously last time I was here was in August, so everyone talked about how hot it was for the most part.

But this week I think going to have nice temperatures. Obviously going to cool off over the weekend, but the first two days will be nice and warm so the ball will go far. Then on the weekend the ball is not going to go as far.

Q. From what you've seen so far, what are the most intriguing holes or interesting holes to you?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, they're all good. But you've got -- the par-3s are difficult, so if you play the par-3s well I feel like there's some holes where obviously you can make some birdies, and then obviously there's some really long par-4s depending on wind directions, how long they're going to play.

But there's quite a few good holes. As far as knowing the exact number of -- I've only played the course once, but I feel like I know all the holes and I feel like I've got a pretty good beat on them, but it's tough to reel them off by number.

Q. You know what No. 1 is?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yes, I do know No. 1. Downhill par-4 pretty straight.

Q. Do you remember 17 at all?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: 17, yes, I do.

Q. Did you go up at all on the tee?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I hit one from the up tee.

Q. What did you do there?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I hit a 3-wood left of the green.

Q. What do you think of that as a --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, yeah, it definitely could be a -- it's a tee where you can move it -- where they can move it up and probably will move it up and be drivable.

The green is small, it's really narrow, or the I guess the depth is not -- it's not much depth in it and it's got a lot of slope. So depending on where they put the pin, there's spots where you can hit it where you'll be able to get up-and-down, but actually hitting it on the green you're going to have to hit a really good shot to hit it on the green.

Q. Kind of a general question that comes up with you with fans is why haven't you won lately. I'm sure you're probably sick of hearing it, but if you had to put your finger on that answer, and make it a long one, what would it be?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, there's a lot of things I think it could be. I feel like just haven't been consistent enough, especially last year I felt like I was struggling to get a driver that I really liked.

I think now I finally have got one that I like. I'm hitting it, driving it a little bit better. Last week I drove it pretty well. For the most part never hit any balls really offline. My misses were still in play.

I think the biggest thing for me has just been driving. Just haven't been driving it as well as I'd like to. Especially if I go back even to the Masters where I played fairly well, but almost -- even there I was struggling with the driver.

A few of the days like I preferred to hit 3-wood off the tee, which throughout my whole career I've never done that in my life. 3-wood is the last club in my bag that I'd want to hit.

I'd hit driver or 3-iron off the tee where I'd hit a 3-wood just because, I don't know, that's what I prefer. I've always felt most comfortable with a driver.

But it's starting to -- I'm starting to see a lot of consistency with the driver, driving it a little bit straighter, so I think for me that's the biggest key, just not having the confidence in the driver that I did for a long time, but it's getting back.

Obviously this is a really good place to drive it straight for me.

Q. When you've done some chipping from around the greens, assuming you're not going to hit all 18 every day --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, if you hit all 18 greens that will be some kind of feat there. It's almost nearly impossible to hit all 18. But yes, I've definitely done a lot of chipping around the greens.

Q. What kind of chipping are you doing? Are you throwing it up or keeping it down?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It kind of depends on the lie. You can get to some good lies where you can use a 60 and kind of hit it in the air with a little bit of spin, or you get some uphill into-the-grain ones where 60 -- you can hit it but you've got to play it low, kind of back of the stance.

I've been using like sand wedge a lot or 54 just because I can catch it more consistently solid. So using that a lot.

But yeah, chipping around here is tricky, especially because a lot of the greens were if you miss them it kind of runs off down to the bottom, so it makes for difficult chips, especially if you're short sided.

Q. In connection with what you were saying about changing clubs or adjustments or changing strategies, is that like maybe a new phase in your game and you just need to get there and adjust to playing golf in a different way maybe?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I like to -- obviously throughout my career I've been a really good driver of the golf ball, and it's been kind of one of my -- obviously one of my better attributes I guess as a golfer.

Getting back to where I'm really comfortable hitting driver and driving it well, that's part of my game. I'm definitely seeing that now.

Like I said, I drove it well last week, and then throughout the couple days of practice here I've been driving it good. But yeah, that's something for me is I have to drive it well if I want to play well.

Q. Would you say driving the ball well is a big factor in PGA Championships, like a common denominator?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's a big factor in any championship.

Q. But for the PGA, is there a denominator, like longer --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, to win a major, especially a PGA Championship, everything in your game has to be working well. You can't just drive it well, especially a golf course like this. You've got a lot of mid to long irons. You get a few wedges and there's some short holes where you can make some birdies, but you still have to be firing on all cylinders, especially with these greens.

There's a lot of -- they're small, but they're undulated. You're going to have a lot of pins on top of slopes, so you've got to be coming out of the fairway so you can control the spin and control the golf ball.

Q. We had the two captains here this morning. They were talking about what happened at Whistling Straits and what's going to happen in Rome. In your case, I wonder if that bromance that happened in Whistling Straits will still carry on or it stopped with the wedding?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously Whistling Straits was great. Obviously our team, there's kind of a younger generation of really good players. It was weird for me being the oldest guy on the team where every team I've been on I felt like I was one of the younger guys.

So it was a little different dynamic. I liked it, though, and obviously the team, everyone there played well and it was a great week.

Q. In terms of you being someone the Saudi group was very interested in and you made your statements and everything like that in February, I'm curious now as a player, there's been some talk about golf being at a very critical crossroads, how do you see it shaking out?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, I think golf is in a good spot, and I think what they're doing is -- could potentially be good for the game of golf. I'm excited to see what happens here in a few weeks.

Q. Excited meaning?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'll be watching.

Q. Along those lines, is there any part of you -- and again, as a member of the golf elite and all that good stuff -- where you're going to see Phil next or what's going to happen next?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously Phil is one of the greats of the game. I was hoping to see him here this week. But I haven't talked to him, so I really don't know when we'll see him again.

Q. For a guy who apparently never gets distracted by anything except these interviews, what was the greater distraction, any contact and thinking about the Saudis or your wedding?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Neither. I mean, Paulina did an unbelievable job with the wedding. I really didn't have to do much. I helped for about half an hour with the seating chart. That was about it. That was my whole contribution.

Q. Was that difficult, the seating chart?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Kind of. It is kind of difficult.

Q. What was the hard part?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, just putting people like at tables, like who do you want to sit together. I don't know.

Q. And you brought two tuxes to the wedding. There's a picture of you in a black tux and a white tux.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I wore three suits, one Thursday, one Friday, one Saturday.