5 Questions for Tour Championship Co-Leader Dustin Johnson

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Dustin Johnson shot a 4-under 66 in round one of the Tour Championshiop by Coca-Cola, and is tied for the lead with Hideki Matsuyama and Kevin Chappell. After his impressive round at East Lake, DJ took some questions from the golf press.

 
Here are 5 of them.

QUESTION 1: How would you describe your play today?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I thought I played pretty solid today. I hit a lot of good shots, hit a lot of greens. I felt like — I don’t know how many fairways I hit. I thought I hit a decent amount of fairways.

You know, this golf course is very difficult, and I felt like I played it pretty solid, hit a lot of nice iron shots. You know, wasn’t real aggressive, but some of these flags, you can’t really be aggressive. You’ve just got to try to hit it 20 feet one side of it and have an uphill putt.

But I thought I wedged it nicely today and hit a lot of quality iron shots.

 
Q2: What is most challenging about the setup here at East Lake?
DJ: Well, driving it in the fairway is the most challenging part out here. You know, it’s a premium for sure. This rough’s deep. The ball sits on the bottom every time. So you really got to hit it in the fairway.

The golf course isn’t real long, but if you’re in the fairway — I mean, if you’re in the fairway, you know, you get a decent amount of short irons in your hand, but if you drive it in the rough all day, it’s just no fun.

 
Q3: You almost got it all the way through there on 18. It looked like you might have even brought the water into play. Did that ever even enter your mind that that was possible?
DJ: Yeah. On the tee I knew — I didn’t hit it hard off the tee. I just kind of hit a soft cut because I knew, if I hit one hard, there was a chance it was definitely going to go way through. I knew I was going to hit it right to the end.

You know, it was just — there wasn’t enough wind for me to hit a 3 wood and still be able to get it down the hill. So I just hit a driver anyways.

 
Q4: In terms of feeling relaxed, when do you not feel relaxed out there? And how could anyone tell?
DJ: I guess that’s a good point. I mean, sometimes I guess, but when I’m really struggling — I haven’t struggled much this year. I don’t know, I feel like I’ve got a lot of confidence in the game. So it helps me stay relaxed and helps me stay focused and, you know, just — I just try to stay focused on each shot that I’m hitting and where I want to hit it.

 
Q5: Keep asking guys who are trying to get a spot on the Ryder Cup team what they’re thinking about this week. You’re obviously on the team already. Is there anything you can do this week to sort of help you go into next week?
DJ: Yeah, keep playing good golf, definitely. And keep rolling the putter while it’s — you know, the Ryder Cup — it’s every week, but especially in the Ryder Cup, it’s all about making putts. You’ve really got to roll the putter well if you want to win your matches, if you want to win the team matches or even your individual match.

But I think, if I can keep putting well, then I’ll be dangerous for sure.

SOURCE: ASAP Transcripts

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