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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 13, 2010

Dustin Johnson

KOHLER, WISCONSIN

KELLY ELBIN: Dustin Johnson in with a 4-under par 68 in the second round of the 92nd PGA Championship. He's at 139, 5-under par, three strokes behind the leader, Matt Kuchar.
Dustin, congratulations on a solid round of golf today. Just some comments on your round today and your position being so close to the lead, at what looks to be the midpoint; some point we'll get there.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, you know, I got off to a good start. Played really well on the back side. Had just four birdies, no bogeys, one chip-in on 15, and I thought it was playing pretty tough.
So I was very pleased with that, and then came around to the front and had some -- not really particularly driving it very well, so I was a little scrapie on the front nine, but I eagled No. 5. That definitely helped out, bogeys on 4 and 7.
KELLY ELBIN: The eagle on 5, can you walk us through what happened there?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I hit a really good drive down, I hit it way right. I think I had 149 hole and then just hit a wedge. It's really hard to get it close to that flag straight downwind. Hit it probably 30 feet behind the hole and made a good putt.

Q. Do you like the design of No. 5, because it seems like if you really rip it off the tee, you have obviously a short iron into a par 5. Other guys have been struggling with it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I like it. I think it's great. (Laughter). It fits me perfect.

Q. Kind of one step removed from the business at hand, but I'm sure you're acutely aware of where you are in the points scenario for the red, white and blue and all that stuff. I wonder if that's occupying a lot of your thoughts or if you've been able to set that aside and trying to get through this week before you worry about Sunday night's point total?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously I definitely would like to make it in the top eight, earn my way on the team without a captain's pick. My golf will take care of that. So I can't worry about it. All I can do is focus on my golf, and if I play well, I'll be on there.

Q. How would you assess your overall performance for two days? Do you think you made the most out of your play so far, or have you had a few holes where you've kind of let a few chances get away more than usual?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, you know, you can always say you let some shots get away from you, or you gave some shots away.
But for me, if I look at it, you know, I don't think I drove the ball very well. I don't think I hit my irons very well. But I chipped and putted really good, so you know, that's kind of keeping me around.
But I've hit some good shots. I've never hit any, like, terrible golf shots, but you know, to my standards, I haven't hit any really good golf shots, either.
KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Dustin has only hit 13 of 28 fairways but he's played the par 5s in 6-under par.

Q. How difficult mentally is it to get here? You've got fog again and another delay; how do you work your way through that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, you know, it's tough. I mean, you know, you kind of knew last night that it's going to be a delay but you still have to get up and get out here early just in case there's not one.
You just know coming from last night and what happened yesterday, that it's just going to be a long day and you've got to mentally prepare for it. Got a pretty good practice session in this morning during the delay, so it wasn't too bad.

Q. You said at Pebble when people asked you what Butch had done for you, that it increased your consistency; specifically in what areas has that happened?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, just, I'm -- just my golf game overall. Like my shots, my misses are not as big as they used to be. When I miss a shot, it might be on the right side or left side of the green rather than way off the green. Or when I miss the fairways, I'm not too far off generally. So that's gotten a lot better.
And then, you know, I've just been pretty consistent with my short game and putting. If I chip-and-putt well -- if anybody chips and putts it well, they are going to shoot a relatively good score.

Q. You might have been asked this at recent tournaments, but if you get into contention on Sunday here at a major, how will you be different? How will you approach it, at all, given what happened in the final round of the U.S. Open? What did you learn from that and how eager are you to get that chance again?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, any time you're in the hunt in a major it's a good thing and you want to capitalize on it and play good golf.
You know, this week, I'm just looking for -- I'm not looking ahead till Sunday. All I can do is focus on tomorrow and get ready as best I can for tomorrow.

Q. How long did it take you to recover from what happened in the final round of the Open?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Not very long.

Q. A week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, probably the next day. You know, it was kind of a fluke thing or whatever you want to call it. You know, I just played bad. Golfers have bad rounds of golf, so it wasn't -- you know, I didn't dwell on it at all.

Q. When you were talking about consistency, you know, you've been playing golf for a number of years and been a nice player and all of a sudden this year, you're in contention in two majors; so is it that consistency that's allowed you to raise the level of your game from a scoring standpoint so that you're in contention in these events?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I mean, that's -- I think as far as -- it stems from practice, and then I've been working with Butch, which has helped a lot, too.
You know, as far as my practice goes, I've gotten a lot better with my practice and preparation for majors. So that's really helped a lot.

Q. Why do you think you're chipping and putting so well?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I usually -- I generally chip-and-putt well all the time. And I'm leaving myself in spots where you can get up-and-down. There's a lot of places on this golf course where you can't get up-and-down, and so I've done a good job to leave it on the right side of the holes, or if I do short-side myself, it's not too far off where it's an impossible chip.

Q. I'm assuming you've been long most of your career. At what point in time did the short game, the chipping, the putting, really become something that matches the quality of your length?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I've always had a good short game. I mean, even in college, I think -- I don't know 100 percent, but I either led collegiate or was second two years in a row in short game statistics. So it started in college.
KELLY ELBIN: What kind of factor was the wind today, if any, and how did it compare to yesterday.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: The wind was a little bit stronger today. It's not going very far into the wind. It's going really short. And downwind, the ball is going forever.
Most of the holes either play downwind or into it, so it's not -- you know, it's very tough to judge the distance.
KELLY ELBIN: Dustin Johnson, thank you very much.

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