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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 16, 2011Dustin JohnsonSANDWICH, ENGLAND LYNN WALLACE: Ladies and gentlemen, we're joined by Dustin Johnson, who shot a 2-under 68 today, 4-under for the championship and in great shape going into Sunday. Can you take us through your thoughts on the day. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I played really well today other than a couple drives that I hit bad and made some bogeys, but overall I struck the ball really well, I putted it well, and shot a good score. Q. Can you just talk about that start you had. I think you were 4-over through 10 holes to the week and maybe how that ace kind of helped turn your week around like it did. I know you made a couple birdies before that but you were sort of off to the races from then. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, well, I didn't feel like I played very bad starting out. I played solid. I was hitting the ball well, just missed a couple putts here and a couple putts there and I was 4-over through 13 holes. I knew I needed to get something going, and obviously with the par-5, 14, I made birdie there, then birdie on 15, hit two good shots, and then obviously the ace I had on 16 really kind of got me going. Going from 4-over back to even in three holes definitely helped, and then I even birdied 17. You know, I had a really good stretch of holes right there, and that kind of kept me in the tournament. I kind of just fed off of that the rest of the time, going into the next day. I really played solid -- even the first day I felt like I was playing solid, just made some easy bogeys. Q. I know you guys haven't been thinking about it, but there's been a lot of thought about five straight majors without an American champion. Now there's 10 Americans in the top 16. What does that say? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, the European Tour guys have been playing well. They've played well in the majors the last five majors, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the American guys or American golf. We struggled in the last majors, but everybody struggles in the majors. But we've got a good shot at getting one tomorrow. Q. Phil was outside talking about how your length can allow you to be aggressive, particularly on some holes on the front nine because you do have to carry the ball a long way. Do you feel like you can sort of attack this golf course even in these types of conditions? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, with the right winds I can. Obviously the last two days the wind is blowing pretty much the same direction, so that helps, knowing the course and knowing how far the ball is going. You know, I do attack it as much as I can. I try to just steer clear of the bunkers is the main thing, off the tee. Around the greens you can get up and down out of a bunker, but off the tee if you hit it in the bunker, you're chipping out every time. Q. (No microphone.) DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I wish. I do as much as I can. If I can't get around them or get over them, then I try to stay short of them or play away from them. I've done a good job of that the last three days. Today I did hit it in two off the tee, but those were just poor drives. Q. You've been under the weather this week. How has that changed your preparation and the way you've approached this major, if it has? And then secondly, would you have thought that the Open Championship would have been a major for you, given your length and maybe other majors suit you better, but would you have thought this might have been one you could have done well at? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, ever since the first time I came over here and played, I think it was in college was the first time I came over and played links golf, I've really enjoyed it. I played well. I think I even won the college event over here. I've always enjoyed playing links golf. You've got to hit all different kinds of shots. You've got to cut it, you've got to draw it, you've got to hit it low, you've got to hit it high, and I enjoy that. You've just got to control your golf ball, which I think I do a very good job of. I'm not surprised that I'm close to the top of the lead. Last year I played pretty well at St. Andrews other than the last two holes. I'm just really enjoy playing this golf. Q. How are you feeling? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Today is the best day I've felt. I felt okay today. Still not 100 per cent, but each day has got a little bit better. Thursday I felt terrible, yesterday I felt pretty good, today I feel okay. Q. What did you have? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't really know. I went and saw the doctor, but he just gave me some medicine and told me to take it. He said I'd start feeling better in a few days. I said okay. Q. What do you take from your past experiences in the majors at all? Is that anything that you bring into this championship going into the final round tomorrow? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, obviously I've been in this situation a few times, so I think the more and more you can put yourself in a situation, the more comfortable you get. I'm going to be pretty comfortable out there tomorrow because I know what to expect, I know how to -- I know how to approach it, and I know what I do in those situations. So I do understand it, so hopefully I can go out tomorrow and play some solid golf like I've been doing the last few days. Q. I think this will be the third different major you've been in the final group on Sunday. I think you were in PGA as well. Is there a difference? Is a final round a final round, a final group a final group, or will it feel different because it's such a different style of golf than the other two? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's still a final group of a major, so it's not going to feel any different. Obviously the golf is played a lot different over here, but other than that there's no difference. It's still a major, still the final group. Q. Does it help in any way psychologically that you're not going into this one with the outright lead, bearing in mind the experiences that you've had in the past? And can you maybe tell me what you've learned from the difficult times that you've had at the U.S. Open and the U.S. PGA? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, the U.S. Open I struggled. You know, it's the first time I've gone into a major in the last group or with the lead or anything. It wasn't like it was -- I had a really good warm-up, so I wasn't expecting to go out and play bad, just had kind of a bad start on 2 and kind of just spiraled down after that. But at the PGA, other than the last hole I played really good golf. I birdied 16 and 17 to get a one-shot lead going into 18. It wasn't like -- I played really good. I played good golf. I hung in there all day. I wasn't making any putts at all on Sunday at the PGA, but I fought and I kept -- I hung in there all day and then got a few to go in on 16 and 17 to get a one-shot lead. But tomorrow, it's just another round of golf. I need to keep doing what I'm doing, just stay focused one shot at a time and see what -- just take what the golf course gives me. Q. Does it make a difference to be the one chasing? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, it doesn't really matter whether you're chasing or you've got the lead. Obviously I would rather have the lead because it's one less shot I've got to make up. But going out tomorrow I'm still going to have to play aggressive when I can and then play smart when I have to. Q. When you were coming to the course today and the weather was so hostile, what were your expectations for the round? And then when did you realise for you the weather was going to be more favourable and what was your reaction? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I saw on the telecast this morning that around 4:00, 4:30 that the rain might stop. But you can't ever trust the weatherman, so I wasn't counting on it. But warming up and then teeing off, we played I think the first seven holes in the rain. It was playing really difficult. I mean, it still played difficult the rest of the day, but at least it wasn't raining. You know, rain doesn't make it really play harder, it's just more of a pain in the butt. Q. Do you recall any specifics about your first links golf over here in college, what you shot, where it was, anything? DUSTIN JOHNSON: I know where it was: It was at St. Andrews Bay, which is just down the street from the Old Course. I think I shot a few under for total, but we played in really bad weather, I know that. We played and it was windy and rainy the whole time. Q. What was that event? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was a college event. We came over here as a team. I don't know the name of it. They have it like every few years, I think. It was the course closer to town. I think the other one is the bay course, I think. We played the Torrance, I think. Q. You've had Joe working for you now for several tournaments. How is that going? And also how specifically does that help you in an event like this where he's got a lot of experience? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, obviously it's good to have a guy that's got a lot of experience. I mean, first of all, we get along very well, and I think that's a key to having a good caddie is getting along well and then also trusting him, and I trust him. We've done very well so far, and hopefully we can do a little better. Q. Coming back to the weather, you started out in the bad weather. Was there something else that sort of put your game -- kicked in today? You really seemed confident when you get out and played well all day. DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I've been playing well the last few days, so I wasn't really worried about that. Out here when it's real windy, hitting the ball solid is key. You've got to hit it solid and control it. I've done a very good job with that. I knew it was going to be tough and it was going to be windy all day no matter what, even if it was raining or not. Just being able to control your ball and putting it on the right side of the fairways and on the right side of the flags is huge. It was a tough start today. I bogeyed 4, but I think that was about par for the course today was a 5 on 4. I never got upset or anything like that. I knew I had a few holes that I could take advantage of like 5 and 7, and I did. Q. Could you have imagined when you got here that you'd be in the final group Sunday with Darren Clarke? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I came in -- I was playing pretty well, but you never know, especially coming into a British Open. It's a tough golf course. I had never seen the course when I came here, so I didn't know how it would suit my game. I didn't know how it would fit my eye. But after playing the course a few times, I played like 11 holes on Sunday, 11 holes on Monday, 18 on Tuesday, and then like seven holes on Wednesday, so -- but after that, I've really enjoyed the golf course, and I thought it set up pretty well for me. You know, through 13 holes in the first round I definitely didn't see myself in the final group on Sunday, but I thought I've definitely played well enough to do that. Q. Secondly, do you have much experience with Darren on the golf course? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, we've played a few times together, and I know Darren pretty well. I enjoy being around Darren. He's a good guy and he's fun to play with. Q. Is that something you've got to prepare for tomorrow, knowing that he's going to have some massive crowd support? DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I'm okay with that. He's on his home turf, so I would expect him to have huge crowd support. But the fans have been great out there for me, so I think I'll have a little bit of support out there. Q. Last year I think you were contending for low American at some point until late Sunday. Did your experience last year and being able to play well, especially coming off what had happened at Pebble, sort of tell you that I can play this tournament, I can contend in a British? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Like I said before, I've really enjoyed playing this kind of golf. I think I play it well. I do a good job with my ball flight, controlling it, so I've done pretty well all week with controlling my distance with my irons, and I think that's definitely key out here is hitting the ball the right distance. I mean, sometimes it's hard and you have no chance of hitting it the right distance. But if you keep it on the right side of the holes and keep it where you need to, then you have -- most of the time you have a pretty easy chance to make par. LYNN WALLACE: Dustin, thanks for joining us. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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