MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 3, 2023

Bryson DeChambeau

Quick Quotes

Q. How does it feel to be back at Augusta again?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, amazing. It's always an honor, first off, and second off, I like the course changes. I'm excited for the year, and finally healthy. Game feels like it's trending in the right direction. Just went back to some old basic stuff in my golf swing. Been able to strike it a lot better, so looking forward to this year.

Q. Was it kind of more of a swing flaw --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, a swing flaw for five years? You could say that. Oh, yeah. That's why I wanted to hit it farther, because it was just not doing well. Obviously I found a strokes gained advantage, and golf courses and tournaments have done a great job of figuring out how to mitigate that.

You know, and then it's just been a tough go with my hand and injuries and trying to find my golf swing again, and been able to find some good stuff, and hopefully it translates to this week. Last week was very nice, I was progressing every single day and I felt like my putting was in a good spot, chipping was in a good spot, driving was in a good spot. I'm excited for this week.

Q. If the last few years were kind of max speed, how would you describe your game now?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I mean, it's not max speed. Look, I swung it really hard and got it to 96 on 5, hit it right over the bunkers. But again, it can go off line pretty far if it's not hit perfectly. I'm probably 90 percent where I was with a little bit more control. So you know, that's kind of where I'm staying at right now, and I feel comfortable with the misses. That's the main part.

If I can miss it well around this golf course, I'll give myself a chance.

Q. What was the reception like out there today for you?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: The reception is great. The fans are awesome. Still saying the same stuff that they would if I was on the other side. It's fans.

Q. What's the same stuff?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, you know, the normal stuff that everybody says, but I love it. I think it's fun banter and interaction. You know what, if you can't handle it, then you don't deserve to be out here.

Q. What's been the reaction from fellow players?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Unbelievable. Scottie and -- I gave him a hug. Haven't seen him in a long time. Sam, same thing. Everybody has been fantastic. I've had no issues.

Q. It's a little bit different lead-up to this year maybe than in the past. Maybe not last year but fewer events kind of -- what's been the adjustment to that?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, you've got to play a little bit more golf. I think next year our schedule will be tailored a little bit differently, but again, it's a learning curve for all of us. I think that the players are very happy, I'm happy, and we're excited to give ourselves a great shot this week. We've got a lot of players in good form.

Q. What's the biggest difference between the Crooked Cat last week or Orange County National to Augusta National?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, shoot, the grass is completely different. The greens were very, very fast. It was actually a great test for us, for me especially on the greens, and they were very subtle, too. So you get a lot of that out here, subtleties on the greens.

I was pleased with that we were able to play at a golf course where there was a lot of little movement and you had to be very aware with your eyes on how it broke, and it gave me quite a bit of comfort come out here today and just then putting around, and just felt like I had a good sense of how golf balls are breaking on these greens. You'll never have a full understanding, but I felt better.

Q. Florida to Augusta, Georgia --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's different, yeah. They're Bermuda and bent greens, obviously different, but they were fast, which made me feel like I could see break a lot better.

Q. How has the transformation that you've gone through with your body helped your game?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it's made me a lot healthier. I don't have as much inflammation in my body. If anyone is trying to get stronger, I would say go to a doctor and get a peptide test, a Zoomer peptide test, which is essentially a blood test of all the foods that are sensitive to your blood, so I found out I was sensitive to a bunch of different foods, corn, wheat, gluten. I took all that out and that's what I told the world about late last year, lost 18 pounds in 24 days and it was just water weight.

I was pleased with that improvement in my body, and I feel like my whole body has gotten a lot better in general just having less inflammation. I may not hit it as far and have necessarily the energy, but I feel healthier and I'm just in a better place with my body. I don't feel like I can have as many injuries, which is nice.

Q. What was your favorite food that you enjoyed before that that you can't eat now?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, I still do every once in a while, but brownies. It's brutal. Anything that's without the eggs and flour, it's tough to made good food without that, but my chef does a great job. Kerry is unbelievable. She makes me all these seed brownies and they taste really good. Just not as good as regular brownies, but they're still pretty good.

Q. Have you noticed a change on the golf course, off the golf course since your dad passed?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's a tough one for me. How do I explain it? I've never had a traumatic experience like that in my life, and I had a lot of weird stuff happen last year. Not just going to different Tour and dad dying, I had other stuff, too. It was a huge learning year. I felt like it was just rooting me and humbling me all last year, and then this year I feel like I'm slowly progressing back again.

It takes time to get things back on track, but with my dad, I mean, it was not easy for a couple months. It was nice that I had some time off I could be with the family and hang with family and friends and loved ones. The nice part about it was that he was in a lot of pain, and he's in a better place now, and I know that. That gave me a lot of comfort, knowing that, that he's just in a better place compared to everything he was dealing with here, and I can take comfort in that.

Q. It was a pretty special week when you were an amateur here and he was out, pre-kidney transplant. What was the best memory from that week with him?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I remember up here by putting green with Sarah and Rand Scheit (phonetic), my godmother, and Sarah, good friends, they were all up there and we were all talking and hanging and having a good time. I remember I finished my final round, too, and that was before the tournament started but it was just fun to get to hang out with them and talk for like 30, 40 minutes, and then after I finished and was the low amateur I got to hang out with Dr. Rice in one of the cabins waiting for play to finish when Danny Willett won, '16, and that was just really cool to spend time and see her and just hang around members and enjoy being a low am. That's something that nobody can ever take away from me, and I'll always appreciate that I had that honor.

Q. You talked about the learning curve with everything last year and going to the new Tour and your father passing away. What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself with all that being said?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I mean, I learned how important it is to -- look, I've struggled with being sometimes hard on myself, hard on others, trying to be demanding in every situation, but patience. I still struggle with it, but I really want to continue to grow and have more patience over the course of time, and it taught me that the only thing that is consistent in life is inconsistency. The only thing that's going to stay is nothing. Everything is changing. Everything is moving all the time. I've got to be okay with that. Nothing is ever going to -- what was the quote exactly, the only thing -- it's like something along the lines of the only thing consistent in life is inconsistency or something like that where it's never going to be -- you're never going to have the same thing happen over the course of time and you've got to adapt and mold and gel with things because life is an ever-moving organism.

Q. What are your expectations?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I don't come here to finish second, but I will say that I've got a lot of work to do before I can get there.

Q. Do you feel like you have more to prove this Masters than any one before?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, when I won the U.S. Open I felt like I still had something to prove and I had vertigo, weird stuff going on that year, and it just seems like every year I've never really had my game, my "A" game, and even though this year I don't feel like it's fully "A" game status, it's progressing that way, which I haven't had at any Masters, other than 2020 when I was playing well, and then I had weird stuff happen to me. I hit it left on 3 and lost a ball, weird stuff. It's always kind of been a tale of my career. Just having weird stuff happen, then I have a lot of great things happen. It's like my emotions, just up and down, up and down.

Q. Do you regret (indiscernible)?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Do I regret? Everybody has a perspective on it. I don't think I regret anything. What I do understand is that I have a lot of respect for the course. Like people don't think that I ever -- because of that statement they think I don't have respect for the course. Are you kidding me? This is one of the greatest golf courses in the entire world, and if anybody thinks I don't have respect for the course, they'd better go check out who I actually am because it's not accurate one bit. Hypothetically, theoretically, look, if you make 18 birdies it's going to be 54, right? It's a perfect score, right? Unattainable, 67 every day, unattainable. It can happen, but is it likely to happen? Probably not. With the distance I'm hitting it and was hitting it, I thought there was a possibility, but that's only with your "A" game, and I should have rephrased that; if you have your "A" game, there's a good chance of being able to do that.

Long story short, I don't want anybody to take it out of context. I just want it to be known for the fact that I have great respect for this course, and clearly I shot, what was it -- what did I shoot last year and missed the cut? A lot? I shot like 10 over, so what's that, five shots more, something like that? So 10 more shots? So I shot like 22-over par. I can make a joke about it. Do I regret it? I learn from all my mistakes.

Q. Did you say you've seen the changes to 13? Can we get some thoughts?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I like it. I can hit it out to the right.

Q. Driver?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yep. First day I had 8-iron in, and then the second day it was wet and into the wind and I hit 4-iron in. It plays much like when I was an amateur.

Q. Do you think it's going to cause more players to think about --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, a lot more people will lay up. I don't think you'll see as many eagles out there.

Q. Are you going to see as many doubles and stuff?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, it'll probably neutralize it a bit. That was part of the fun, too; you hit it out there and you're going for it no matter what, right? But look, it is what it is, we've all got to play it, and whoever has the lowest scoring average throughout the week should win.