LIV GOLF BEDMINSTER

August 12, 2023

Dean Burmester

Bubba Watson

Trump National Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Dean, you shot 3-under 68 today. Tell us a little bit about your round.

DEAN BURMESTER: There was a lot of good in there, obviously. This is a major championship golf course. This is tough. If you don't drive it really well around here, and with a little bit of wind like we had today, it's really easy to shoot some numbers. Yeah, I'm proud of what I did today. I played pretty nice and solid, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Bubba, you shot back-to-back 69s and you are currently sitting in T4. Tell us a little bit about your day.

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, it was a good day. I got off to a bad start yesterday, but today just hit my driver good, kept it in play, hit it in the right spots, and like he said, that's what you have to do around here. This is major championship quality golf, and driver is the key. Ball in position -- I say driver, just whatever it is to get in position.

Q. I think there were 20 scores over par today. Was there something specific about today that was particularly challenging, or is it just in general just a really hard golf course?

DEAN BURMESTER: I think a mix of both really.

BUBBA WATSON: Only 20? Seems like it would be more than that.

DEAN BURMESTER: Different winds probably plays to that. We had a slightly different wind today. It's tough. It's brutal. It's so easy to make bogey. Even when you're in the fairway it's easy to make bogey. I think 20 is pretty good, to be honest.

BUBBA WATSON: That's better than I was expecting.

Q. The Stingers are currently in the lead and the RangeGoats are not too far behind. Heading into the final round tomorrow with you guys both in position where you guys can both get the individual win, how much are you guys thinking about your teams?

DEAN BURMESTER: Yeah, we obviously think about it every week. The four of us sit down -- after we played the practice round here, we all sat down and said, this is a really good golf course for us because all four of us are pretty solid, and three of us are bound to fire on any one day.

Yeah, we were really looking forward to this week as a team, and Charl, he's playing pretty good, considering he's got a broken toe, and I'm sure he's icing it up there or having a brandy with Louis or something.

We're excited. Tomorrow if we can get a team win, then everyone is going to shave their head, so I'm excited for that.

BUBBA WATSON: I'm excited for that, too.

Q. Bubba, you're playing really well. What do you have to do to make this happen tomorrow?

BUBBA WATSON: Same thing. I've just got to stay focused on every shot, like we've been saying. Any shot can be death, so you have to just stay focused and committed and realize you're doing the right things and you're playing the ball in the right positions and stick to it.

Even if you make a mistake you've got to stick to it. I had a three-putt today and I bogeyed from like -- gosh, I think it was 100 yards today from the middle of the fairway, so I made two bogeys, two just mistakes that cost me.

But just got to come out and do the same thing.

Q. Cam is currently sitting at 9-under. Dean, you're right behind him at 5-under. Do you think that's gettable tomorrow, given how tough the course is playing?

DEAN BURMESTER: Yeah, I mean, who knows what can happen tomorrow. You've got to go out and win this thing. It's not going to be given to you, even on this golf course, so four shots can be over in four holes pretty quickly.

I'm just going to, like Bubba said, stick to my own game plan and my own guns, and if he has another good day tomorrow, then kudos to him, but I'm going to do my best to try and chase him down for sure.

Q. What are the plans for the teams and for you guys as individuals tonight?

BUBBA WATSON: Me to go to bed as fast as possible. I'm getting older. I need 12 hours of sleep to take off this pain of walking through this rough and playing in this rough. But that's the whole thing. It's getting mentally prepared. It's not about hitting golf shots. It's staying mentally focused. The more rest you get, the more your mental game will be where it needs to be.

DEAN BURMESTER: Yeah, I think the Stingers will probably have dinner together and talk about what we need to do tomorrow a little bit, but same thing, just joke around, have a good time, get our rest in, and come out firing tomorrow.

Q. As hard as this golf course is, when I talk to the best players in the world, they tell me how much they love playing these brutal golf courses. What is it about hard golf courses that you guys enjoy when you're getting beat up out there all day long?

BUBBA WATSON: Well, when you're playing good, you really love them because it's going to take away -- you can't just flare it around this golf course. You can't just hit some balls in the rough, play out of the rough, just miss the greens and chip up. Around the greens it's very difficult, as well, so you've got to ball strike it.

Some weeks, the best players in the world, they do it every week, but for me it's every once in a while, so I've got to just keep grinding out there.

Q. Last year you were a roving reporter out here --

BUBBA WATSON: Me? Yeah, sorry.

Q. Do you miss those days from last year being that roving reporter from all these telecasts?

BUBBA WATSON: Yes, there's definitely days you miss it because you don't want to be terrible on the golf course.

But you know what, it's one of those things where you fall in love with the game all over again. After knee surgery and commentating for five events, you miss it.

But at the same time, when I'm playing golf and I'm three-putting, I miss commentating because I never three-putted when I was commentating. I don't know how good I did. I never listened to myself or watched myself commentating, but hopefully I did okay.

Q. Dean, you're going to be paired with Cameron Smith and Phil tomorrow, and obviously the New Jersey crowd can show its favoritism for the star players. What's your approach to deal with that crowd that's going to be probably pretty rowdy having two of the top players?

DEAN BURMESTER: I mean, not a lot of people know who I am anyway, so I can just chill out today around with Charl and Bubba and Abe and I was just doing my thing. There's nothing wrong with that; everybody has got their favoritism, and like you said, the jersey crowd can be brutal, and hopefully I can get some of them on my side and have a good time.

But look, I've played with Cam before; it's super impressive. He's a really nice guy. It'll be the first time I play with Phil. Today was the first time I played with Bubba, and that's what this place offers you. I've seen some crazy stuff today, stuff that was super impressive.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and watching what Phil has got with a wedge for sure.