LIV GOLF TULSA

May 13, 2023

Bryson DeChambeau

Cedar Ridge Country Club

Crushers GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome Bryson DeChambeau, the captain of Crushers GC. Had an excellent day today, a bogey-free round. Did the soft conditions out there work to your advantage today?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, there were numerous times where it could have gone pretty far into a certain area, and it stayed in a place where I could play it right to the green, and there was a lot of holes where I feel like I can clear the tough stuff and then just hit a wedge up on the green, so it's really nice.

It's a good golf course for me. Putted nice today. Yesterday was a struggle, but excited with where my game is trending and heading. Pumped about that.

Q. It's a pretty stacked leaderboard. I don't know if you had a chance to see it. What do you have to do out there tomorrow to get in contention?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: You've got to go low. You've got to fire at flags. You've got to be firing on all cylinders. Dustin and Gracey, what are they at --

Q. 14-under and 12-under.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, you're going to have to shoot, what am I, 9-under? Another 7-under, 8-under to have a good chance tomorrow. So I've got to come out guns ablazing, and no pun intended there, and I think hit fairways and greens and make some putts. That's all we can do.

Q. The Crushers are also in contention tomorrow for the team championship. Is that in the back of your mind as well?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Absolutely. Four shots back. That was the first thing I looked at, compared to my score. That tells you where my head is at. I want to do well. I know how I'm playing, but I want to see how my team is doing. They mean the world to me.

Q. You've been grinding so hard the last couple of months to find something. Is it a matter of satisfaction, a round like this, something that's like, oh, my gosh, I can finally see --

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I scored really well today. My golf swing didn't feel as comfortable as it did yesterday, but I scored better today, so I feel like I'm starting to golf, even though I'm not where I want to be. Again, it's still, I'm going to be grinding just as hard as I have been, trying to figure out what exactly I did in 2018, and get back to that form. If I can get back to that form with the speed I have, I feel like I could be pretty deadly every week.

Q. Just your putting, do you feel like you've made a significant step up in the last few tournaments?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, definitely putting a lot better. Yesterday I didn't putt that great. I wasn't reading the greens that well, started them on my line today a lot better, and sure enough, read them a little bit better, and that equaled a 63.

Q. Obviously in Singapore you guys finished great as a team. How much do you get a gain from a motivation factor to see Paul and Charles shoot 63s like that?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Well, I mean, it inspires me to work harder because I know they're working just as hard. It's great whenever they shoot low, it's like, man, that means a lot, they're providing for the team, and when I'm struggling they're picking me up. Ban has been helping me out with the swing a little bit, Charles has been, too, and they've all been helping me out. Whenever they do well, I feel inspired and feel like if I'm not playing well, feel like I'm not doing them a good service, so I've got to go work harder.

Q. We've talked a lot about how LIV is a little more laid back and having fun out there, and you guys are enjoying yourselves, but the Sunday nerves and the jitters, is that still there the final round?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Oh, I would say the nerves are there all the time just like it was at any other place I played, whether it was on European Tour, whatever, they were always the same type of nerves, because again, you're over the golf shot trying to execute a certain shot, and you know what it means. It doesn't matter necessarily how much the cash is. It's still about winning a tournament and a championship. LIV has done a great job of providing us that atmosphere and that opportunity, and it's going to be a lot of fun if I can put myself into contention tomorrow.

Q. When guys like me are playing a shotgun, inevitably you'll start on a par-3 and stumble out of the blocks or something like that. For an analytical guy like yourself, is there any advantage to playing a course 1 through 18, or does that really matter at this level?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No, not at all. I would say like sometimes it's nice to get hard holes over with and then you get free sailing, so sometimes you can fit into that model. Or the hardest hole is going to be your last hole, it's all right -- there's a little bit of a mental play to it.

But again, we're just playing a golf course, and whatever place we're starting at is where we're starting at, and we've got to go do it. I like doing that rather than the alternative where different conditions for different players, so I'd rather have the same conditions.

Q. Your appearance is a little bit different than even last year when we saw you at Southern Hills, not quite as bulked up. My question is does your swing change along with the weight changes, and how have you tried to kind of balance that and has that been a learning process throughout the last few months?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I would say that my body definitely has changed, and my swing is probably going to change, as well. That's part of the process I'm trying to figure out. I was a lot skinnier and leaner when I was hitting it dead straight every single time in 2018. That wasn't the reason why I tried to get leaner, I just tried to decrease inflammation in my body, which I feel a heck of a lot better, man. I don't feel like a -- you know what I'm going to say.

But I feel a lot cleaner and healthier and feel like I can live to over 100 now finally. A year and a half ago I was like, oh, man, that thing that I talked about living to 120, I don't know if I can get there now with the weight I put on. A little different now.

Q. Not swing-wise, but on a hot day like today, does the body feel any different out there walking the course? More energy or less energy or does it matter?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I try and keep my calories up out there. I have a little food bag, it's like mom's bunch lunchbox almost, like a little lunch pail. No, but I've got a bunch of calories in there and I just try and keep hydrated and fed on the course. It's not easy, though.

Q. But no different than last year or when you --

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I don't drink as many protein shakes, that's for sure. That definitely messed up my gut a lot, as people can assume.

Q. Is it nice being in a position where you're chasing a little bit so you know you have no choice but to let loose tomorrow?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, absolutely. I think it would be nice to be leading, but also, man, there's numerous times where I've come from behind. Consider my first professional win I came from behind, and then at the John Deere Classic I came from behind, shot 30 on the back nine. The nice part is that I've won eight times, and I've won many different ways. It's not like I've won the same exact way each time. I know how to get the job done, it's just about is the golf swing there, is the mindset there, are breaks going my way, and if that happens to fall tomorrow, I'm going to be pretty pleased if I can get it done, but man, it's been a long time coming. I haven't played good golf in a while, so I'm looking forward to hopefully doing that.

Q. You mentioned all the hard work that you've been putting in. Did you change or adjust anything in your practice schedule or is it more doing the same things, just waiting for the results to come?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Trying to understand what I did -- it's mainly trying to understand what I did in 2018. I've really fought hard to figure that out. I've gained a lot of speed trying to get to a place where maybe I would find a little Goldin nugget that would help me understand what I did in 2018. I fit into a model pretty well in 2020 and won a few times, and then started struggling again, started hitting it everywhere, now I'm kind of toning it back and starting to see some resemblance of 2018, but it's just not there yet, so I'm just really grinding my you-know-what off to get it figured out.