PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2024

Bryson DeChambeau

Valhalla Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Bryson DeChambeau is with us now. We will jump right into questions.

Q. Some great playing today to give it a run. What are your initial emotions watching that?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: First emotions, proud of Xander for finally getting the job done. I mean, he's an amazing golfer and well deserved major champion now. He's played well for a long, long time. Played against him as a junior. It's cool to see him -- not only he's just a great human being, but an unbelievable golfer, and it shows this week. Super happy for him.

On my side of the coin, disappointing, but, whatever. I played well. Didn't strike it my best all week. Felt like I had my "B" game pretty much. My putting was A+, my wedging was A+, short game was A+, driving was like B. You know, shot 20-under par in a major championship. Proud of myself for the way I handled adversity. Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors. I said today it was closing time, but it will be closing time hopefully, hopefully over the next couple majors.

I got to learn from this and learn a lot about -- look, I learned a lot about myself over the last year, and being able to perform at Augusta and being able to perform today shooting 7-under -- I'm just rambling, it's just I've got a lot of thoughts in my head going right now.

Q. The bounce on 16 and the second shot, can you walk us through that hole?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I said thank you to the tree (laughing). You know, I just wasn't driving it my absolute best this week and was uncomfortable on the tee shot and I pulled it left, and I got super lucky. I looked at G-Bo, and I go, okay, this is what it takes to win major championships. You got to have breaks like that happen. I fully took advantage of that second shot, put it in there close, hit a great shot.

Hit a great drive on 17. Thought I actually hit a really good wedge shot. I misjudged the wind or something and my adrenaline. I don't know what happened, but didn't get it all the way down the hill, and that really -- it was a little bit of a sucker punch.

Then 18, I was just trying to hit it in that bunker all day long. I have this big draw, so throwing it out over the right -- if I leave it out to the right, it's not going to be good.

Q. If you're trying to hit that bunker on 18, when you walked up there and saw what you had, what did you think of your chances of making birdie from there?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Pretty good. I had 6-iron out of there. And I, then I just caught a bad lie out of the bunker. It was on the downside slope, and, look, I'm trying to hit the fairway, but my miss was left. Like, I was making sure I missed it left, just because I wasn't as dialed in with the driver as I like to be.

I knew what I had to do. I knew I was trying to make eagle. That third shot just didn't come out like I thought, and it is what it is, but I made a great putt.

Q. Could you tell me about your thoughts when the putt was rolling up the hill? Did you think you got it there?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, I thought I left it short again like a -- like a you-know-what (laughing), like an idiot. Luckily it got there and it was some nice elation to finish off a round like that in a major championship. Pretty proud of myself, yeah.

Q. If somebody had told you before the start of the day that you would shoot a bogey-free 64, would you have thought that would have been enough?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah. Yeah, I certain seriously thought 18 was going to do it. Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it's like, man, he's playing some unbelievable golf. Viktor was right there. I mean, he was beating me for quite awhile, and I was hitting it all over the place.

But, yeah, I mean, it was an impressive, impressive round of golf by all three of us. I don't know what else to say. It was just difficult.

Q. How disappointed were you to not get anything out of 4 and 7?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's obviously -- but my golf swing wasn't where I needed it to be for it to go exactly where I wanted it to be. So it's my fault and I need to go work on my game more, clearly.

Q. The wherewithal that you had just to finish the holes though, even if you were not driving it well, the chipping and the putting, how, I guess, satisfied are you with that part of your performance?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, pretty, again, like I said, the resilience that I had out there was awesome having G-Bo on the bag just continue to push me in the right direction mentally and then give me some good numbers and say the right things at the right times. He's pretty dang good at that. He's done well for me and I greatly appreciate his friendship.

Q. You mentioned that you had learned a lot this week and this year. What have you learned?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Equipment matters. I've learned I can play golf with my golf swing even when I'm not hitting it well. When I'm hitting it well, I got to take advantage. I wasn't able to do that at Augusta, my putting failed me. But then clearly I putted well this week. I figured some good stuff out. Just got to remember those things and use that for the U.S. Open. I'm excited for Pinehurst.

Q. You mentioned the pride that you have with the effort that you gave. To all of us it looks like you're emptying the tank every day when you're playing this game. Just how draining is the experience and how satisfying is it even though you came one shot short?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I mean, I gave it my all. I put as much effort as I possibly could into it and I knew that my B game would be enough. It's just clearly somebody played incredibly well. Xander's well deserving of a major championship and, yeah, emptying the tank, I certainly love to do that and give the fans everything I can.

Q. You had some really big moments out on the course this week worth celebrating. How have you kind of embraced being a true showman on the course and celebrating those big moments?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's actually funny, YouTube has helped me understand that a little bit more. When the moment comes, knowing what to do, what to say, how to act is really important. You know, when I was younger I didn't understand what it was. Yeah, I would have great celebrations and whatnot, but I didn't know what it meant and what I was doing it necessarily for. Now I'm doing it a lot more for the fans and for the people around and trying to be a bit of an entertainer that plays good golf every once in a while.

Q. I know you thrive off of the fans and they seem to rally around you, especially down the stretch, but walking from 9 to 10 we heard you say, either, do better or, be better. How much do you have to give yourself that self talk and how much do you thrive off of that as well?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Sometimes I just go look myself in the face and just say, you got to get it done. No matter what's going on, no matter what you feel right now, you got to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots. Be better. I got to do better. And I did, I just was one shot short.

Q. Everything that's kind of led up to this stretch of golf for you, the equipment changes, even some of the stuff you're doing off the golf course with YouTube, what has facilitated this run for you?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A lot more time. As funny as sounds, as weird as it sounds, having a lot more time back at home to work on my game, to work on content creation with my team that I have back at home allows me to plan and strategize a little bit better than what I have. And like he said, I empty the tank when I'm at tournaments. So sometimes when I'm on a two-, three-week stretch I get pretty drained, and having that time to rest and recover is super important for me and it's given me a lot of time to reflect on what's most important outside of golf as well.

Q. You talked a lot about being an entertainer, but I'm wondering today were you entertained?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: With myself?

Q. Yeah.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah. I shocked myself a couple times, yeah. Putted fantastic. I don't feel like I missed one big-moment putt out there. There's obviously a couple misses, but every time I needed to get up-and-down I got up-and-down, and every time I needed to make a 6-, 7-footer I did. So definitely surprised myself, impressed myself and I know I can do it again, it's just going to take some time. Got to figure some stuff out.