THE 150TH OPEN

July 16, 2022

Bryson DeChambeau

Mixed Zone

Q. Quite an eventful final three holes there.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: You know me. 16, I just pulled -- unfortunately I was trying to cut on 16, and the wind kind of switched back into us. Tried to cut, didn't cut. Just my motion got off. I started pulling a lot of shots.

I'm going to go out there and work on that on the range and hopefully tidy it up because the first few holes were awesome out here today.

It is what it is. It's golf. I was able to get a few fortunate breaks especially on 17 and make a beautiful par off that road. And then 18, I pulled it left -- I was trying to go down 1 so I'd have an angle into that flag.

If I was going more towards where Hideki was going, it would be kind of a weird bounce up into the hole. But I just pulled a little bit and then got a drop, and I was able to hit a 70-yard wedge shot hit to perfection and was able to make birdie there.

It was definitely an adventurous few holes at 116, 120 feet. It was just a great four-putt. Awesome.

Q. The drop you got, what was the ruling there?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: On which one?

Q. 17.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: You had the grandstands in my line and the scoreboard in my line. So I could go back out where it was in between the TV tower, which is a totally different drop as well. I could have dropped again, but it would have put me in the fescue. I was like, you know what, I'm just going to leave it. I'm fine with that. Work it to my advantage and overcut it. Compensation from 16. Just got to go work on being more consistent.

Q. Do you have a practise shots of Road?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Actually, I did a couple times growing up, not to this extent, but it was back at my home golf course, Belmont Country Club, a long time ago. No, I don't. I haven't practiced it recently.

Q. What does it take?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Pitching wedge. Like off the toe. I was trying to have some loft but still bounce it into the bank and hopefully hit it in a good spot where it doesn't hit dead and doesn't hit a hot spot either. Hit perfectly. Bounced up and rolled over beautifully. I was very lucky. Definitely happy with the way I finished out.

Q. Why did you get the drop on the 18? Can you explain there?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I was up against the fence, and they have drop zones for that. And then out-of-bounds stakes were past that and farther left of that. Kind of nice. You can just hit it into there. Yeah, it rolled into there. I'm not trying to actually hit it in there. Just kind of pulled left.

Q. Where are you health-wise, like compared to being at your healthiest, where do you think you are?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I'm probably 97 to 98 percent now. There's every once in a while where my hand gets tired, fatigued still. For the most part, I'm going to start speed training here again after -- in the month of August when I don't have any tournaments going on for me.

Q. Are you hitting the distances that you like again?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah.

Q. The power's back?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, the driver, I'm honing it in this week because, again, it's so firm and fast, you can't just let it go and have it land soft. You've got to be really precise with it. I'm like around a 190 ball speed. I can get it to 200, but it's just not worth it out here.

Q. Is your training going to be different now having had these injuries?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I've got to train my hand a lot more efficiently. I didn't take care of that one bit when I was first off speed training. It was all core and everything, and that was luckily pretty solid. Never had an issue with anything in my core. I just didn't train the hand properly. That's what I'll be focused on, mainly working on as I start going.

Q. You don't feel any danger at all --

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No. The bone's out, the part that was compression fractured is gone, shaping down. It's now just a spheroid, I guess. Rather than having a little hook out up there and a little fin, it's vulnerable.

So it's all gone, and hopefully I can start ramping up the speeds again and get myself even more consistent. Look, I want to be one of the best golfers in the world, if not the best, at one point in time in my career. So we'll see how that goes. I've just got to make sure I'm hitting it straight while I'm hitting it farther.

Q. Bryson, you've been involved with golf research and science and everything. You talked about, okay, academy soon. Could you expand a little bit about this nice project for golf?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: It's just a multisport complex centre. I've got -- I've allocated some resources to being able to do that and tying it into my foundation and eventually create a charter school for that. There will be a lot of education research as well going out of there.

Probably more along the lines of golf to start off and eventually hopefully baseball and tennis and basketball, but that's down the road. It's going to take a bit before I can get there.

Q. And you want to take this internationally?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, this model. It will be a smaller version of it, but yeah, especially when we have long drive grids, we're going to be doing that a lot more around the country.

Q. You enjoying the theatre on each tee box with the fans, giving you heat for for not taking driver? How does that impact you at all, the decision-making?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Look, I'm trying to win a major, so I'm trying to play where I can have the best opportunity to make birdie. It's fun. I know I'm going to get booed. I have no problem with that whatsoever. If anything, it's good banter.

Q. Bryson, with the firm turf, what goes into your prep to play at a place like this with the wedges particularly and that interaction, what are you doing?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I know, because it's dry and firm, it's going to spin a lot less off the wedges. We have to take that into account. I go and hit some shots on the practise range on some dry turf and making sure we know what spin rate is going to come out of there and go to the greener grass. Depending on the lie, we definitely focus on what spin rate is going to come off of that and how it's going to come out. I have to take that into account at some level.

Q. Has there been anything similar to it that you've played? Whether it's Presidents Cup or anything.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Probably Presidents Cup down in Royal Melbourne, yeah, that was probably about the same. There's some times where I've got too much bounce in it so I've got to lean it forward and hit it down pretty hard. I need that bounce for the bunkers out here.

Q. On 17, Bryson, if we were playing it, the hotel would be in our minds. When you play, is that just not relevant?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: In order for me to hit that fairway with the wind, I would have to take it over the top of the hotel. It was a bit of a brutal deal for me, and I didn't feel like -- I felt like, if I pushed it, it might not have come back in that wind. I just kind of over cooked it left.

It does play in your mind a little bit. I don't really notice it when I'm teeing it off because I'm hitting it so high off the tee. But it still does play a bit into your mind. I'm not a cut player. Yeah, it does come into play a little bit.

Q. Are you staying there this week?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No, I've got a place. I don't want to hit one into my room.

Q. Bryson, have you gotten any sense from the LIV people about what the status of the World Rankings will be down the line? Whether it's next year, what have you. And because they are not -- you're not getting them now, do you feel any extra pressure in an event like this to perform so you can get points?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No. I think over the course of time it will all work itself out. I think in some capacity we'll find a way to coexist and work together through this to make the best entertainment we possibly can for the world.

Q. You said earlier you want to be the best in the world. So I guess you need it sorted out to fill that ambition?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Look, when I won four times in 2018, even though I wasn't No. 1 in the world at that current point in time, I felt like my game was world No. 1. So there's not necessarily a ranking system that needs to be, oh, this is what makes you No. 1 in the world. I think inherently people know who's playing the best golf at that current point in time.

If that's the goal, that's great as well for me. But it's a bit of both. I think at some point we'll resolve the situation and whatnot.

Q. Do you think in 2018 that was the best golf you've ever played?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: That was by far the best golf I ever played. I feel like I'm getting back to that position with this new speed, which is great. I just need to hone some stuff in. Again, that finish on the last three or four holes was just not the way I wanted to close it out, especially on those difficult holes.

If I can conquer that and get back to where I can control the golf ball off the tee, just like I want to in those right-to-left winds, I feel like I'll have the opportunity to be close to No. 1.

Q. Were you tempted to drive to the green at 18?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, with my 4-iron. Just like bulleting. I can make it run forever. I did it in the practise round. I hit it 4-iron onto the green a couple times. If it's the right wind, for sure.

Q. You said you were trying to play it left today.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, just because of -- look, I was trying to play it left so I could have a shot up the slope, and I just pulled it a little bit too much.

Hitting hybrid or 3-wood, it's very easily doable to hit it out of bounds with those just because it rolled so far. So I'm willing to play more of a bullet 4-iron out there and take my medicine that way.

Q. Do you feel like you know how to play this golf course? After you played, what, two or three practise rounds and now three rounds in the championship, do you feel like you know how to play this golf course?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I don't think you ever know how to play this golf course fully. Every day it's different. It showcases a unique golf course each time the wind pops up or doesn't pop up. It's just different.

I don't know how to also explain it. You can't really ever really conquer it. You can't ever really control it. You've just got to go out there and try to take what it gives you and play the spots in the greens where you can and two-putt where you have to.

What I mean by that is you've just got to be very strategic. You're never going to understand this golf course fully.

Q. With it being so short, can it be almost like a little frustrating?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yes.

Q. Where you feel like you can --

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Sure, it can definitely be frustrating, but it's also an enjoyable test for one week of the year.