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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

November 15, 2011

Dustin Johnson

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

Q. What are the keys to playing the course?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Got to hit good tee balls. They leave the fairways pretty wide if you want to lay back on the tee but if you want to attack the golf course, you have to hit it pretty straight and hit it into the fairways if you want to get down there and attack the course.
But it's in fantastic shape and you know it's going to be pretty tough out there. The greens are probably the firmest greens I've ever seen and they are fast. So you're going to have to control the golf ball coming into it.

Q. What's your mind-set as far as risk and reward?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, I think that it depends on the format. Obviously you can be a little more aggressive in a best-ball format rather than in the alternate-shot or foursomes. You're going to have to be a little bit smarter, put it in the fairway, and make a lot of pars. Par is usually a good score.

Q. People were expecting more out of you and Phil, your partnership at The Ryder Cup; what happened there and did you expect to play with him again this week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Me and Phil will not be playing together this week. We do better playing against each other than with each other. We are good buddies, we love playing with each other. But as far as -- you know, some people, you just don't -- as Phil put it, we didn't have that good energy.

Q. Is that because you're too similar do you think?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, we are, we are very similar. Especially the way we play and stuff. So we just didn't quite mesh well. Best-ball format or something, I think we are all right, you know, we do better when we are playing against each other.

Q. Tiger said the same thing.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: (Laughing). He probably would.
I think you've got to have fun. That's the biggest thing is you've got to have fun out there. You've got to enjoy yourself, whether you're winning or whether you're down, you've still got to have fun and you've still got to just -- you've got to get along with the guy you're playing with. You know, kind of keep your head up, no matter if you're winning or losing, you need to go out and have a good time. I think that's the biggest thing in having a partner, we are all very good and we can all play with each other. If you don't necessarily have fun with the guy you're playing with, then it's just not going to be a good day.

Q. Do you have fun together?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, we do, we have fun together, but we just didn't mesh well as partners. We mesh well as opponents.

Q. Any chance of being paired with Tiger?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: That is a possibility. I don't know if we are supposed to be saying who we are playing with yet.

Q. What do you think that would be like?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Oh, it would be good. Obviously me and Tiger will be a great team if we do play together. It's up to Captain Couples whether he wants to put us together. But you know, anybody that plays with Tiger is going to be pretty good. He's playing well right now, hitting the ball great and driving it pretty straight. That's kind of what you have to do out here.

Q. Some big galleries --
DUSTIN JOHNSON: For sure. Hopefully there will be big galleries out here following everybody.

Q. Did you get anything out of last week, just considering the differences in the courses?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, the fairways are real similar from last week to this week. It's pretty much the same grass. But you know, it was nice to get out and play last week in a competition, leading up to this. You know, I had five weeks off. So it was nice to come out and play and get into that competitive mind-set and just see where the game is at, see what we need to work on.

Q. Did you like the greens last week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Not really.

Q. Like them here better?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, these greens are perfect. They really are. They roll true as any greens I've ever played. We were talking earlier, you know as soon as it comes off the putter if it's going in or not.

Q. Greg said he would like them maybe to get the full effect of this course, for it to be truly Royal Melbourne, they should roll 13 to 14 on the Stimpmeter. I don't think they are there yet?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: They are pretty close. They are fast. They are, I don't know, maybe rolling 12 right now. I don't know, most people, they think they have played 12 and they really haven't. If you look at like the average amateur, you'll go to a golf course and they will say the greens are rolling 11 and they are rolling about 9, max.
But these greens are about a true -- they are rolling close to a 12 if not faster right now. That's really fast. I don't know if you can get them much faster with the slopes, with the amount of slope these greens have on them, any faster and they are really going to limit the places where they can put the flags.
From yesterday to today, they have gotten faster. So if the weather stays like this, they are going to get extremely fast. The course, it's definitely tough but it's hard to get the ball close to the hole. And then sometimes you feel like you have a great shot in there and it's 18 feet and then you're putting downhill with three feet of break, those are tough putts to make.

Q. Greg suggested that if the wind blows, the course could get you back.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know, today the wind wasn't really blowing. It was blowing but it wasn't blowing very hard.
I think you can make a lot of pars out here. It's going to be tough to make birdies. The par 5s we can knock it on, so we have to take advantage of those two holes. And there's some short par 4s that you can take advantage of, but the rest of the holes, you have to shape your shots and really hit some quality golf shots to get it in close.

Q. Does that negate the advantage that you might have an paper?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, if you look at the golf course right now, the way it's mowed and the way it's cut, it makes everyone hit it in the same spot off the tee.

Q. You've played well at Pebble Beach and Whistling Straits and St. George's this year, I know this is a different style of golf course again, but you must feel quite comfortable on a firm and fast golf course?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I like playing on them. I love putting on fast greens. You know, it's definitely a treat to come down here and see the greens be this good. I think it's going to be a great week. It's just going to be, like I said before, you're going to have to hit really quality iron shots, which is just like you have to do in an Open Championship or the U.S. Open, or any major, you have to hit quality golf shots to make birdies, like very quality golf shots.

Q. Maybe going over something you said before, but was it up to your expectations? Does it equal or better your expectations based on what you heard about this course?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, the golf course it's in great shape. I really enjoyed playing it today. The bunkering is very good. I didn't think there was anything that was goofy out there. Some of the greens may be a little goofy but that's because they are so hard. You know, the golf course is a well-designed golf course and I enjoyed playing it today.

Q. Some of the International Team are saying that they are really making it a focus of their year because they have not won it for so long and are desperate to win it; is it the same for the American Team?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: We are not really talking about winning. We are focusing on Wednesday and getting off to a good start.

Q. Do you think the fact that you have won it a lot makes it less of a motivation?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Our motivation is up, because we have quite a few guys that were on the team in '98 and they are not too happy about that. They are motivated to get it done this time.

Q. How about the differences that you see now that you've played for Captain Pavin and Freddie as a captain.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, Freddie is unlike anyone else, but, you know, both good players, both two completely different styles. And you know, they both captain different ways. But I think Freddie is doing a great job and I've really enjoyed playing for him.
And I'm going to enjoy the rest of this week.

Q. Dustin, you seem to have embraced global golf more than the average American pro. Do you think that will stand you well here playing away?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, this year, I got out a little bit more and played a little bit more internationally. But I think it's good to get out and play some. I'm going to do it a couple of times a year, try to get out and play some internationally.
You know, it's tough, when we have got so many good tournaments back in the U.S., it's hard to get away and miss tournaments.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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