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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

May 30, 2018

Dustin Johnson

Dublin, Ohio

DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome Dustin Johnson to the interview room here at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Making your 11th start here at the Memorial this week and finished third in 2016, so enjoyed a couple of Top-5's in those 11 starts or 10 previous starts. So with that said, I know it's probably a place you're looking forward to getting back to this week.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I always enjoy coming here, the golf course is in really good shape, I like the golf course here, I think it sets up well for me. I think this year the rough's a little bit higher than it has been in years past so driving's definitely going to be a key around here this week.

DOUG MILNE: Okay, we'll jump in with questions, please.

Q. Trying to figure out how deep the fairways is, but aren't the fairways pretty wide too, if you miss it, you should be hosed shouldn't you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know, the fairways ain't that wide. They're fairly wide.

Q. Back to the tournament. You would want to win this thing, I take it. Of tournaments you want to win, outside of the obvious ones, majors or what have you, what is it about the tournament that make it's more special? Golf course, way it's run, conditioning, I mean what stands out to you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: This is one of my top events that I enjoy playing. Jack does a great job of taking care of us this week and it's always a really good event and the golf course is always in great shape, it's a fun course to play, and I think they just do a really good job at this event.

Q. Jack was in here yesterday and we were talking about, he said he didn't necessarily enjoy playing with Arnie, not because he didn't like Arnie, but because the competition there in the early rounds, they didn't play well when they played against each other. In these featured pairings that you're in, do you like playing top-ranked guys early or would you, is that too much emotion, is that too much keeping an eye on the guy you're playing against?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean it doesn't bother me either way because I play with them every single week on Thursday and Friday. So it's something that you just, you get used to it and you just got to play your own game, try not to get involved with anybody else's game or worrying about what they're doing.

Q. Is it as important for you to get back to No. 1 as it was to get there for the first time?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely I want to get back to it. It's something that is going to motivate me to work harder and get my game back into the form that I think it should be in. I think we're headed in the right direction. The golf game feels really good right now and obviously got a few big weeks coming up here.

Q. What I was getting at is, is there a sense that once you've been there, once it's not, I don't want to say it's not as important, but not as much of a focus to get there again?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know, I wouldn't say that. I think for me I definitely, would definitely like to get back there, just as much as I wanted to get there the first time.

Q. On that same theme, were you bummed to lose it to Justin the other day and as a follow-up to that, what were the things that you really enjoyed about being No. 1? He was just talking about you don't actually get anything for being No. 1 which is kind of an interesting dynamic, but just the self satisfaction.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, correct. Yeah, you definitely don't get anything for No. 1. But it is nice being labeled as the best golfer in the world. But I don't even remember what you were asking, sorry.

Q. Were you bummed out the last time out when Justin took it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I wasn't. He's been playing very well and obviously he's been playing a little bit better than me, so he deserved to pass me.

Q. Didn't you get a trophy?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I got a real big trophy.

Q. I'm serious you're supposed to win the Mark McCormack for having the No. 1 the longest most weeks out of the year. No one told you about that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I didn't get a trophy. Maybe I did. Maybe it's in a box in my house, in my office.

Q. I think you're getting a trophy.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know.

Q. A real nice one.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: That would be nice, sure.

Q. Oakmont aside, where you won the U.S. Open, what would be your I don't know, one of your favorite U.S. Open venues and one of your least favorite U.S. Open venues?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Pebble is probably one of my favorite U.S. Open venues from last time. I don't really have a least favorite. Probably, of the ones I've played, it would have been Olympic Club.

Q. And have you seen Shinnecock how much do you know that you haven't been there yet?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I haven't been there.

Q. When are you going?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm going to try and go Monday, Tuesday, I think.

Q. That's right, you don't have to qualify. Did you miss the cut at Olympic in 2012?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I don't think so.

Q. Is your feelings toward Olympic more U.S. Open or U.S. Amateur?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I didn't like it in either. I mean it's -- I mean it's a good golf course to go play for fun, it's not a good golf course for to go score on. I just think it's a little bit too, especially in the conditions of the U.S. Open, it was, I mean there was a few holes where there's nothing I could do, I couldn't hit the fairway. It was impossible. So I just thought it was a little too quirky or however you want to say it. A little too tricked up.

Q. Your thoughts on setups for the U.S. Open? Do you have anything in your mind what it should be like? Like when you say U.S. Open, what comes into mind?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Oakmont.

Q. You took Oakmont out of the mix. I mean, when you were growing up either watching it on TV as a kid or first trying to qualify, did you have anything in your head of, this is what a U.S. Open looks like?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, well exactly how Oakmont looked and even -- Torrey Pines was my first U.S. Open, I think they set it up how a U.S. Open would be set up. Pebble, same way. Pretty much all of them except for maybe the last one at Erin Hills. Just because the fairways were a little bit too wide for a U.S. Open, I thought. Maybe even --

Q. Chambers?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Chambers. Yeah, I thought they were great, major championship venues, for sure, but maybe not U.S. Open venue.

Q. Do you ever find that if a fairway is too wide you lose, I don't want to say lose focus, but relax a little bit and then not zero in?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: For sure, yeah, absolutely. Especially if it's wide open and there's nothing to aim at. I think that's the worst.

Q. While it's fresh in your mind you just had THE PLAYERS Championship a few weeks ago and I'm curious about your thoughts on the 17th hole. It gets so much conversation about it and so forth. I wonder if you think it's a fair hole and do you think it's a good hole?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I think, I don't have any problem with the 17th hole. I think it's a lot of fun. It's exciting. It's definitely much better when it plays downwind every day like it did this year. When it turns around and flips into the wind, you'll see a lot more golf balls in the water. I think obviously with the date changing next year it's going to be, the greens most likely are going to be a little bit softer and be more receptive so it will definitely play easier. Because now sometimes when it gets firm, even downwind, hitting a wedge or a sand wedge, if you fly it on that top tier it goes in the water.

Q. What's the most you've ever hit into there?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: The most club?

Q. Yeah, the most club. Nine?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: 9-iron, probably.

Q. You had nine starts this season, all top-25. Is extra rest, has that been beneficial to you this year or would you say that's been an impact on it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Oh. No, I think I play the same kind of schedule every year. I don't do it to get rest or anything, I just, that's just the way my schedule works. I would like to play more like in a row, but I play the events that I like and the ones that kind of fall into kind of the, my schedule, but yeah, I mean I played really solid so far this year. I would like to have played a little bit better. I feel like I'm hitting the ball really well, driving it well, doing everything, I think I'm just, to me I felt like I struggled a little bit with the putter. That's about the only thing different.

Q. On putting, do you think that putting is just sort of a streakier part of the game than other aspects and if so what do you think makes that run sort of hot and cold in a way that if you're a good driver of the golf ball your driver won't run quite as hot and cold?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Honestly, if I knew, it probably wouldn't happen. But it has to do with a lot of different things. You got so many variables with putting, speed, line, aim, all this, all the kind of stuff where I don't feel like my driving or irons or anything changes much and I don't feel like I've been putting bad, I just haven't been making anything. And I'm not pulling or pushing them, I'm hitting good putts, they're just not going in the hole.

Q. So when you feel like you're rolling it well and you don't get the results, do you walk away and say just keep doing the same thing or do you walk away and say something's wrong, I got to fix it?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Good question. A little bit of both. Just depends.

Q. Have you ever fixed anything that didn't need fixing?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Probably.

Q. Nothing comes to mind, I take it.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No.

Q. How soon do you start thinking about the U.S. Open, I'm assuming it's probably sooner since you're a U.S. Open champion and have you been back to Oakmont for any event or anything since then?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I have not. But I mean you're always kind of somewhat thinking about the U.S. Open. You're kind of thinking about all the majors, even at the beginning of the year, just kind of looking at the golf courses, where they're being played and that kind of thing. But I don't really do anything different because I'm going into the U.S. Open, I'll wait until I get there and kind of figure out the golf course and see if I need to change anything I will, but I really don't change anything, whether I'm playing here at the Memorial or playing at the U.S. Open.

Q. Since you won at Oakmont are you finding yourself a little more anxious to get to the U.S. Open each year or not really?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean I'm always looking forward to playing in the U.S. Open so, yeah, it didn't change though after I won.

DOUG MILNE: Dustin, thanks for your time.

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