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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2009

Dustin Johnson

VERONA, NEW YORK

MARK STEVENS: Okay. I'd like to welcome Dustin Johnson to the interview room. Dustin is the defending champion here at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. He's the highest ranked on the Money List at this event, and he just finished with a 14th place finish at the FedExCup, which he's also the highest ranked in the FedExCup here in the field this week. So Dustin, if you'd start off, talk a little bit about your win here last year, which was your first on the PGA TOUR, and your thoughts about coming back, and then we'll take some questions.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: All right. Yeah, last year, you know, coming in here wasn't -- I think I was right on the cut line of 125, so I needed to have a good week, play well the rest of the fall.
And you know, I worked really hard on my game last year coming into this week, and got my first win, which you know, was big for me, just because you know, I was struggling for a while.
I got off to a good start last year and then I wasn't playing so well through the middle half of the year. And then, you know, especially winning the way I did, birdieing 17 and 18 was huge.
MARK STEVENS: Okay. Also, you picked up your second win earlier this year at Pebble Beach, similar conditions to this week. Do you have any thoughts about the weather? I know last year you won in some rain, and seems you like to win in rainy, cold conditions.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Well, cold and wet, it doesn't really bother me. You know, I really learned to play in it in college because it didn't matter what the weather was, my coaches made us play, practice, whatever, so we didn't have a choice.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Dustin. Questions?

Q. (No microphone).
DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was huge. Any time you can get a win, especially out here, you're playing against the best players in the world, you know, it just gives you so much confidence.
And for me, I was -- coming in to this tournament, I was lacking a lot of confidence last year, and you know, kind of questioning, I guess, you know, what was going on. I was just in a bad slump, I guess. You know, so winning here just boosted my confidence, and I've kind of fed off of that since then and kept it going.

Q. Does weather like this where you're not going to really get any roll favor a long hitter like you as opposed to a ball striker like Steve Flesch?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, you know, in this kind of weather, you know, it's cold and wet, so you gotta hit the ball solid. It's windy, too. The scores last year I think the wind blew pretty hard every single day, so as long as -- a ball striker, you hit it far, you've still gotta hit good golf shots.
So yeah, I would think it's going to favor a longer hitter just because we're going to have less club into the greens, and if we do hit it into the rough, we're probably more likely to be able to get it on the green from the rough.

Q. Have you given any advice to people who are in your situation this year, the situation you were in last year, like around 125? Do people talk to you about that at all?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I haven't really -- you know, a lot of the guys I haven't really seen in the last few weeks, so I haven't really had much of a chance to talk to them, but no, I haven't really talked to anybody.

Q. What would your advice be?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You just gotta focus, focus on what got you here, and you know, go back to -- don't try to do anything that, you know, is different. Don't try to change stuff. Focus on the things that you've done to get you to this point.

Q. Dustin, talking about the weather. You say you're used to it and so on, but what kind of gear do you have ready to deal with wind, rain? Last year we even had hail. What kind of gear do you have? Last year a couple guys talked about going out and buying long underwear, different kind of gloves. What kind of gear do you have ready for that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know if you have enough gear ready for that, but you know, I just wear my compression gear and then a sweater, and then I usually wear -- I don't really like long-sleeve rain jackets, so I usually wear a short-sleeve rain jacket and probably have rain pants on the whole time. Try to just stay as warm as you can. Hand warmers always help, too.

Q. Dustin, how far do you think the up side of your game and as you're going to progress, how far do you think it can take you at this point?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You know, I think it's all up to me. I think I got, you know, the talent, and you know, the dedication to take it to the next level for sure.

Q. Top 10 player, Ryder Cup player?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. For sure. 100%.

Q. What do you have to work on at this point, and how long do you see that progression taking to get to that point?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I mean you ask anyone, they can always improve their short game, chipping and putting. That's gotta get better. Wedges. For me, I need to -- you know, if I get my wedges better, which I practice those all the time, as soon as I start wedging a lot better, maybe driving it into the fairway a little bit more, I'll be tough.

Q. Dustin, this is obviously your first time coming back to a tournament as defending champ. What's that like for you to be back here knowing you're really the one that everyone's gunning after?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You know, it's my first time, so -- and I just got in last night, so I hadn't really thought about it too much. But I like it.
I won a lot of college events, so I did get to go back and defend there, and I usually was pretty successful. And I like this golf course. I like this tournament, and I'm comfortable here.

Q. Can you explain how much everything has changed in the last 12 months in your life, or just your mindset? No wins coming in. Now you have two. You're one of the top players in the world. Can you explain that for us?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You know, really nothing's changed, except for, you know, I'm like -- you know, the way I practice and the way I prepare has changed a lot, I would say more than anything, but as far as my life or anything like that, nothing's really changed.

Q. Dustin any time people come back and we say they have the experience of playing or at any tournament we say, oh, this player's experienced here, knows how to play here. What is it that you go back and look at from your experience last year to help you coming back?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, any time, you know, the more experience you get, the more times you play somewhere, you know, the more years you're out here, the more comfortable you get, the more -- you know, the more confidence you have. So that's always -- that's huge, especially in golf. If you don't have golf in you're going to do something, you're probably not going to do it.

Q. Dustin, how old were you when you took up the game, and who encouraged you? Did your dad play or whatever? Who really got you going?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I started playing, I don't know, as long as I can remember. I don't exactly know what age it was.
But yeah, my dad was a head pro at a golf course when I was growing up. So he encouraged me to play, and I used to go to work with him every day in the summer. So I was -- I lived at the golf course every summer.
MARK STEVENS: Any other questions? Okay. Thanks a lot, Dustin. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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