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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN


March 31, 2016


Dustin Johnson


Humble, Texas

Q. 4-under par in his final four holes and opening round 65. How would you access that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I finished really well. Got off to kind of a slow start. Actually I got off to a good start, birdied 10 and 12, two of the first three, and then made a bad bogey on the par-5, but overall, I mean today was really solid, just rolled the putter really nicely today. Obviously finished at eagle, birdie.

Q. We spoke on Wednesday about how good you felt about your game here. You wanted to play well heading into the Majors. How does a start like this sort of help propel those ideas?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: You always want to get off to a good start in any tournament, you always want to get off to a good start. Today I got off to a great start. I still feel like I'm playing really solid. I'm rolling the putter good. I'm excited with the rest of the week.

Q. Dustin, way to finish eagle, birdie for you.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Anytime you can make an eagle on a par-5. Hit two great shots, hit a perfect drive down left side of the fairway and a great 4-iron in there to about 10 feet and holed the putt. 9 is a tough par-3. I hit a pretty good shot, just on the fringe there about 20 feet and rolled it in. So, you know, overall it was a great day. You know, made two bogies, one of them was, you know, mud ball on 5. Hit a good shot, just mud took it left and got in kind of a bad lie there left of the green and didn't get up-and-down and then had a penalty shot on the par-5, 4, right before that. So, other than that, though, it was -- I felt like I played really solid today and holed some nice putts.

Q. Last week Match Play is such a strange week. Was it difficult at all to get back into stroke play mode?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, because still even in Match Play, you know, obviously you're only playing against one other person, but, you know, I try to look at it as still kind of almost a stroke play, you know, event. You don't want -- you know, you still got to make a score on the hole, so unless the guy is just completely out of the hole and then, you know, you play really safe. But other than that, I still try to play like I normally do, you know, any other time except for certain situations when you might have to hit a shot that you wouldn't normally do.

Q. Congratulations off to a good start here.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Thank you.

Q. Talk about closing with a flurry.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean obviously it's always great to finish really nicely. You know, hit two great shots into 8, made a nice putt there from about 10 feet, and then, you know, 9 I hit another good iron shot in there, probably 20 feet right there on the fringe. Rolled in a nice putt there. So anytime you can finish off the day like that, it's always a good day.

Q. Lot of holes left, but nice position to be in right now.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Still a lot of golf left. You know, I feel like I still left a few shots out there. I did putt really well, but I missed a couple short putts and had a penalty stroke on the par-5, the 4th, just I don't know if it was mud on my second shot. Hit it in the hazard right, which is just awful. But other than that, I played really solid all day today.

Q. (Inaudible)
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I'm probably 50 percent, you know, 50 percent of the time I play before, 50 percent of the time I don't. Just all depends on the schedule and how -- it doesn't matter either way. It doesn't matter to me. I don't plan to have a week off or plan to play before. Just however the schedule falls.

Q. So it's just a feel thing, however --
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Last week, you know, I felt like I needed to get some more rounds in. Especially after I lost the first round, I thought I was going to be out of there pretty quickly and ended up playing a little bit further. And so that's why I decided to play here. I just felt like I needed to play a few more competitive rounds and get the game in really good shape going into Augusta.

Q. Justin, with as many top guys winning this year, do you feel like you're under the radar going into next week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I just feel like myself going into next week ready to play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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