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THE BARCLAYSAugust 24, 2010Dustin JohnsonPARAMUS, NEW JERSEY THE MODERATOR: Dustin, thanks for joining us here in the Media Center at the Barclays. I know you were out and got a chance to play a few holes today. Could you start us off with a couple of comments on the golf course, and then we'll go ahead and open it up to questions from there. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, the golf course is in great shape. Great golf course. Really enjoy playing here. And it's a little wet. They got a ton of rain the last weekend. But starting to dry out. But it's in fantastic shape. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Of course we want to ask you about the PGA and all that. What was tougher to get over, the U.S. Open final round or what happened at the PGA? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Neither. I mean, the PGA was just an unfortunate situation. But it wasn't -- it wasn't hard to get over, because there's a lot of good things that I can take out of that week, the way I played. I played really well coming down the stretch, making birdies when I needed to. So there's nothing bad that I can take from that week. Q. We didn't get to pursue the point much because I think shock was still set in. But the Ryder Cup deal, you nailed that down as sort of your consolation prize for that week, your thoughts on that, it must be exciting to suit up for uncle Sam? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Definitely very excited to play the Ryder Cup. It's one of my goals and a dream growing up playing for the Ryder Cup team. So I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of that. Q. A lot of the reaction the last couple of weeks from people have been that shouldn't be. Did you hear that from a lot of people during the course? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I heard it all by now. I've had a lot of good phone calls and a lot of good text messages from my peers and friends. And it's all been really good things. And so I'm very happy of the way -- I guess the way I've handled it and the way it's been received. Q. Who did you hear from, text or phone calls, just a few? DUSTIN JOHNSON: A lot of people. Obviously Cory. Phil. You know, all my buddies out on tour. There's a long list of those. So I've had a lot of good talks with people. Q. Just following up, did a lot of them say, I would have made the same mistake? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, it's -- it's just a tough, tough thing to make a call on, especially you can't -- looking back at it now, obviously if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have done it because I would know. But in that situation, you know, there's just no way to know that. It never crossed my mind. So I've had the same thing from a lot of people just telling me the same thing. Q. Did some of the reaction come from people outside of golf, talk show hosts or somebody else who would want to come talk to you people outside of golf who now suddenly know who you are? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, yeah, I had a lot of interview requests and stuff after that from lots of different people. But it all went very well. And I was very pleased with how everybody handled it, received it. Q. Who were some of the people you did interviews with? DUSTIN JOHNSON: That man over there. DAVID WINKLE: Most of all of the sports talk shows. We didn't get the Letterman requests, but it was jam packed. You name it. But they all wanted to rehash the same thing. Said all there was to be said. Q. I guess that's where I wanted to go with that, the idea you gained a lot of notoriety over what happened. Certainly not winning the tournament hurts, but the idea you suddenly, the way you handled yourself, somewhat fame you got from that. Has that helped ease that a little bit? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely. I mean anytime you get the response like I did after that, it definitely helps everything. But I try to always handle myself like that. And I think I do a very good job of it. And so still I look back at it. Like I said before, there's nothing that I can really get down on myself about about that week, because I did everything that I wanted to do. I had a chance to win coming down the stretch on Sunday. I played well coming down the stretch. I was very patient, which I talked about all week I need to be patient. And things that I didn't do in the U.S. Open I did that week. And I took things from the U.S. Open and used them during the final round of the PGA. And it worked. And I was there with a chance to win. Q. After the U.S. Open, after taking those lessons, applying them at Whistling Straits, is there now any doubt in your mind that you're going to win a major one day? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, if I keep playing like I'm playing, there's no doubt that I think that I'm going to be contending in a lot of majors. I think and I believe in myself that I can get it done. Q. Also, I talked to Joe Damiano, the caddie of Stewart Appleby, in a similar situation in 2004, and Joey said to him there's no thing as a waste bunker in golf anymore just because of that situation. Are you going to look at sand a different way from now on or what? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Obviously it's going to be, I'm going to think twice about it every time I get in a bunker. But I mean it's just a lesson learned, I guess. And it will definitely -- anytime I'm on any type of sand I'm going to be quite careful. Q. Before you joined the TOUR, what was the worst thing that ever happened to you in a golf tournament, the most devastating or whatever? Put up a title on the last hole? DUSTIN JOHNSON: The worst thing that happened or sticks out most in my mind is that I think I had a 2-shot lead. And this was like in a South Carolina, Jr. golf tournament, I was pretty young, pretty young, 13, 14, 15. I was playing against Kevin Kisner, and I was in the middle of fairway and it was a par 5, the last hole. My third shot. He had blown it right up underneath a tree and I remember him, he skulled it. And there's a big mound in front. It went over the mound. You could hear it hit the flag and went in the hole. And so it was just -- it was a crazy situation. Probably never happen again in a million years. And I hit a decent shot. I just missed it, kind of spun, went off the green and I chipped it up and missed the putt. He beat me by 1. Q. How did you handle that one? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I just laughed. (Laughter) I was young. But it's one of the things that sticks out in my mind. Q. The question there is what are you doing on a par 5 hitting your third shot from the fairway? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was a long one. Q. Did you ever have a temper when you were young. You seem to shake these things off and kind of move on. DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I never had a bad temper as far as breaking clubs. I might have thrown a few every once in a while. But never in front of anyone or in a golf tournament. Q. Have you read the rules sheet this week? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I might do that. (Laughter). Q. Wanted to know if you've talked much with the caddie about this, and will you approach it a little differently going forward? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's pretty -- there's not much to talk about, really. But, yeah, we've talked about it. And it was -- I mean obviously now you know when he gets to the ball, especially if I'm in a situation like that, he's going to remind me to be careful and maybe tell me that I might be in a bunker, I might need to ask somebody what kind of situation I'm in. But it's not really much -- there's nothing that -- I can't blame him at all because he never thought we were in a bunker. I didn't either. And a lot of other people that looked at it. So I can't blame him. It's not his fault. It's my fault, if anyone's. Q. Just to follow up, obviously there's a lot of bunkers. A lot of players have said if you were able to see in its entirety without people everywhere you may have approached it differently. Do you feel that way, too? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's hard to say, because it didn't happen like that. So I mean, maybe. But maybe not. It's hard to say. It was kind of a freak thing and unfortunate. But it happened. Q. It's opened up an interesting discussion about the rules of golf. Just curious if you ever are thinking about the game you played, have wondered about a particular rule, go, "Well this makes no sense," if this is something that you wonder why there's a rule? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Most of the -- I think all the rules I know, which I'm pretty sure I'm very good with the rules of the game. And there's nothing that really stands out that's a bad rule or something I don't understand. Q. I know it might be a little too early but have you talked to anybody that's been in the Ryder Cup of what you can expect when you get over there? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean I've played over there, not in the Ryder Cup but I played Walker Cup over there, which is kind of similar. I've talked to a lot of the guys that have played in the Ryder Cup over there. And it's going to be fun. And it's going to be hard, though. It's very hard to beat them over there. And you know the crowds are going to be very big. They're going to be obviously pulling for their side. But we're going to have a lot of fans over there, too. So they told me it's going to be tough and it's going to be a lot of fun. Q. Are there any of the eight guys that have qualified that you like to play with, have you given any thought who you might go out there with? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'll play with any of them. I don't think that's an issue as far as -- I know there's some guys that probably prefer to play with each other. I've been playing a lot with Phil. So we've been talking a lot about playing together. And that would be a pretty tough match there. Q. Did you hear Bubba Watson ask Fowler if he wanted to play a practice round? Did you hear that one? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. Q. For hitting the next five weeks, the final finishing stretch here, I was curious what you thought about how far this stretch of golf was going to go for determining player of the year? I don't know that we've had a situation like this in the last previous three? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I guess obviously there's a lot of people in the mix. But whoever has a good playoffs will probably be the top candidate. Q. Why is it so wide open, do you think? DUSTIN JOHNSON: There's a lot of different guys that's won this year, and there's only a few multiple winners. And so there's a lot of guys that have played solid all year. Q. The drive on 18, PGA on the last day, is that probably the worst shot you hit that day? Looked like you were off your line by 50 yards or so. It was pretty far off. DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think if I had to do it over again, I probably might not have hit driver. Because I was trying to -- we were playing up tee but I was so much up into the wind, I was trying to chip it and that's just not a good shot for me, a chip driver. Unless I like -- if I chip it, I like to cut it. I was trying to hit like just a soft draw and just blocked it. But I probably would go 3-wood. Q. Did you watch the playoffs? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I caught the last hole. I was on the way to the airport. I caught the last hole on the way to the airport. Q. Could you talk about the 15th, 17th hole, how you play them strategically? 15 is a short par 3, about 155 yards. 17 is dogleg left par 5, 590. DUSTIN JOHNSON: 15, I know 15. I saw it when I was playing today. I remember that one. Good little hole. Goes to show you that par 3s don't have to be long to be tough. Because I remember two years ago when it was firm and fast, it was playing very difficult to hit the green. And you just really just gotta hit it the right distance. You really gotta get a good wind direction and a good club selection there. And then 17, I mean, par 5s always try to get as close to the green as possible. I figure I could chip it closer from 30 yards than 100 yards. Q. Can I go back to that, when you watched that last hole, did you say to yourself at all I should have been there, or was that out of your mind? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, there's all kinds of scenarios, like I should have been there. No, I mean, once that happened, there wasn't anything that I could do about it. So, no. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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