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DELL TECHNOLOGIES CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 29, 2018Bryson DeChambeauBoston, Massachusetts NICK PARKER: We'd like to welcome Bryson DeChambeau to the interview room here at the Dell Technologies Championship. Bryson is the current leader in the FedExCup standings. Three events remaining. Talk about what it feels like to be the leader in the FedExCup, going to have a target on your back this week. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it definitely has its perks. I get to throw out the first pitch in the Yankees game, that's never a bad deal. This is a unique situation for me, I've never been in it before. It's a great learning experience for me. And I'm going to take it in stride and just play this week as another event and execute every shot to the best of my ability. Q. How much would you like to be paired with Tiger Woods for the Ryder Cup? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, first off I'm not in yet. Hopefully I get the pick. But it would be an honor to play with him. I think we could have some great chemistry out there and hopefully maybe intimidate some people, that would be nice. But nothing is finalized yet. And this week I'm just going to try to play my best so I can get on that team. Q. He's not on the team either, yet. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That's the thing. Exactly. We don't know. It would be fantastic. But at the same point in time, we've got to make the team. Q. You said something last week, and I'm going off the top of my head, so bear with me, I thought it had to do with changes you made in the off-season, probably related to consistency. Was it anything swing-wise or technical-wise or was it more attitude-wise or what? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Initially it was total body mechanics, being able to understand my body mechanics at a high level. All that means is essentially having better face control. Understanding what the face is doing throughout the whole swing. And then over the past month or so I've been doing some brain training stuff, that's really helped. This company called Neuro-Peak science, they've been helping me out tremendously about how to produce proper brain frequencies to get into parasympathetic states and sympathetic states when I need to. That's been helping me out, too. Q. Do you have any examples of that? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: You're talking about the brain stuff? Q. Yeah. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Last week in certain situations when I didn't execute a shot properly, I was able to -- when my heart rate got up, I was able it to control it and get it back down, based on breathing and stuff like that. Q. Exercises? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Exercises is its own department. It does relate to brain training, but breathing is the main thing right now, yeah. Q. Did you hear from Jim Furyk at all? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: He texted me congratulations, so that was very nice of him. And hopefully I can see him soon. Q. You played a bunch of practice rounds with Tiger, is he kind of -- how has he helped you out? Have you talked at all about the Ryder Cup at all? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, a little bit. Not too much. I know he wants to make the team just as much as I do. So there's no shortage of energy there. And I think as we move forward -- or even looking back, even looking back on some of the things he was able to teach me about patience a little bit or maybe focus and different aspects of the game, that's stuff that I really don't want to talk too much about, because he gave me the opportunity to get that information out, I don't really want to give it to the world or anything. But he's been very nice with his time it's tremendously appreciated. Q. You've won three of your last 30 PGA Tour starts. And I'm wondering do you think realistically that's a percentage goal that you can achieve for a full career or do you have a percentage in mind for a career that would be good? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That would be a fantastic percentage to have nowadays. Not very many people have done it, I think, the past couple of years. And there's only been an elite few players that have done that. To be able to keep that percentage up would be a task, but one that I think I can do if I keep moving in the right direction with my golf swing, if I keep moving in the right direction with my brain and all my training. If I keep doing all the necessary things I think it potentially could be sustained. But if not, I'll try and get it back. Q. When you started out did you have any kind of winning percentage in mind? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, I was just trying to play the best every week that I could. Q. Can you describe your familiarity with this course? How does it fit your eye and what are the key aspects to winning or being successful here? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Last year I definitely enjoyed this golf course. I think I played pretty well. I don't remember exactly what I finished, I never do, actually, unless it's a win or something like that. But there definitely are some scorable holes, which I like. I think it's 4, drivable par-4. That's a fun hole. And you've got difficult holes, 5 and 6 aren't that easy, necessarily easy. It's a good mix. This golf course warrants a lot of ball-striking and great putting. Just like any other golf course, I'd say. But this one, it's just different in regards to some of the shots you've got to hit on certain holes. And for me I like that. I think it requires great ball-striking capabilities, just like last week, and hopefully it suits me well. Q. Just going back to the brain training real quick, what prompted it? Was there a moment or a situation and did you go through different tests -- BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, we went through everything in the body. I'm not going to go too deep into that, because that's something that's also an asset to me. What I can say about it is that Greg Roskopf, MAT, I've been working with him a long time, he is what inspired me working with that, he started working with it. He had a brain injury, got in an accident, had a major concussion, I think it was about a year and a half ago. And he was trying to get his brain better. His body has always been really, really good. He's been able to treat his muscles really well. When his brain wasn't working, his muscles weren't working. There was a correlation, and he found the guys through the NFL, I think, and started working with them. He's like, you have to try this stuff. So I started doing it and it's been a tremendous help. Q. I just want to talk about where the pressure, if at all, lies in the playoffs in relation to your spot on the points list. I see it as if you're up top you know you have a buffer, but do you have the carrot to try and stay in the top five. If you're at the very back, you can go all out. Is the pressure therefore in the middle? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I would say so. Again, where I was last week, No. 9, you're trying to get in the top five, right? I was fortunate enough to have my game last week and play incredibly well and be able to win and be No. 1 this week. Would I have thought it possible last week? There was a chance, but I didn't know how feasible it was. To be able to be No. 1 is fantastic. I think there's a little bit of pressure, you want to hold that now, just like a four-shot lead. Again, this is unique for me, this is my first time. So in that regard I'm probably going to think about it at times but it's not going to be my main goal. My main goal is to hit every shot the best I can, like I always say. Q. Do you play more conservative? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, I'll still do exactly what I would normally do, mapping out the golf course and executing the shots. Q. Based on what you've done so far this year, have you done enough in your mind to be one of the picks from Jim? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I finished one out of the top eight. And I won a playoff event. I've had, I think -- I don't know the number, but around nine top-10s, so I have had a great year. Would I say it's enough for the captain? That's up to his discretion, you know. Again, it's still one more week. If I go out and play well, you never know. But same point in time, if I go out and do my job and execute shots and play well and finish well, contend, I think there's a very, very good possibility I'll be picked. But you never know. Q. I know this isn't recent news, but how did you feel about the schedule changes? The reason I ask is I work here in Boston and it obviously affects this tournament. Kind of overall how did you feel about it? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: TPC Boston and the Boston area has been fantastic for me. I love it here. And I'm going to be missing this place a little bit. So it's definitely one of the first tournaments that I played in the FedExCup playoffs. Last year was my first time being in the FedExCup playoffs. To be there and be here again this year, I do have good memories from here. And it will be sad, unfortunately. But it is what it is. And I hope we come back. Q. You mentioned the mental aspect of the game. Just sort of along those lines, are you superstitious at all? Do you have any superstitions? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: At times. I see coincidences, things that happen and recur in weird ways. So every once in a while I do get a little superstitious, but it's not much. I keep looking at it and I think of it as a couple standard deviations off, it just reoccurs in that way. It just happened to recur that way. Every road has its end, you know, and so there would be times, it works for me, oh, it didn't work here in this situation, okay, it doesn't matter, you know. So it's unique in that way, I would say. I don't know if that makes sense to you a little bit. So it will work for a little bit and then it will not work, and that's when I throw it out. Q. Now that you're at the top of the FedExCup, does that change your goals at all, have they reset in any way? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, you know, what's funny is a lot of people have asked me that lately. And for me it always comes down to execution. Again, that's what I said last week, my favorite thing is to be able to execute a shot with the highest feeling of stability and control. And that's always been my goal. So when I look at it as that, that's all that matters to me. It's not necessarily where I'm in the FedExCup points list, it's more am I executing the shots up to the level I know I can. Q. You said last week that tee shot on 17 was a thing of beauty. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah. Q. What do you consider, if you can answer this, the greatest shot you've ever hit in your life and why? Good luck with that. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, yeah, at certain points -- look, I won't say that any one shot has been the greatest shot in my entire life. But I can tell you there have been key moments in my life in certain shots and certain situations that have allowed me to get to the next level. When I was a junior I was playing in the California State Junior at Fort Washington Country Club. And I was playing against Paul Smith in a playoff to win. And I hit this drive left on No. 1, it was a par 5. Hit it left in the trees, my goodness, this is not good. And Paul hit it a little right in the rough and hit it up there and didn't hit a very good third shot. But I had the second shot. I had a choice, chip it out, go straight over the trees from 190 yards out. This tree was pretty tall. And I was like, well, I hope I catch a jumper to try and get it there. I needed enough loft. I took out an 8-iron, I hope I can catch a jumper, if I don't, it comes out low, hits the tree and I'm done. I open the face and swung as hard as I could, and it came out and just barely cleared the tree and landed in the corner of this green where the flag was and just happened to be pretty fortunate, hit the 10 feet for eagle. And I wound up 2-putting it to win. It's shots like that. Where it was a big moment where I needed to win this so I could affirm what I'm doing with my one length clubs and everything I was doing at the time. So that was important to me at that particular point in time. As I move forward the shot on No. 8 on my 17th hole at the NCAA Championship with a 3-wood. That was another big one. I was struggling all week, but was able to hit it perfectly down the middle and hit the next shot. Key moments throughout my career that has allowed me to jump to the next level. And I can certainly say that were -- where was it -- the shot on 12 at Memorial, that par-3, the back right location, that little 6-iron there was a big, big shot for me in my ability to not have anything and still be able to get the job done. That was pretty special. So just certain moments and I could go deeper into it. But -- Q. The other one, which is not connected to anything at all, did you play any other sports as a kid and were you good at any of them? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I played a lot of sports, basketball, volleyball, soccer, I was a goalie at soccer, hand/eye coordination stuff still. Volleyball I loved. Ping-pong. I loved ping-pong. But I used to practice at lunchtime with a couple of buddies of mine against this little robot. We bought a robot, not kidding, and we got a robot where this thing would shoot out the ball, different velocities, and different spin rates. This is what professionals practice with. We practiced every lunch period for a couple of years. And I got pretty good, needless to say. Q. You bought it or you built it? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Bought it. We bought it. I didn't have any coding knowledge back then. Q. It just spits the ball out? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It just spits the ball, you hit it back in the net, it feeds back in, and you can make it be random or you could practice different things. It's really cool. Q. It looks like you have a lot of physics knowledge? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Some. Q. Which quantum physics do you use in golf and do you -- BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Quantum? It doesn't really apply. Newtonian mechanics applies. I mean it applies in everything that you do, really. From a body mechanics perspective to a golf club manufacturing perspective. Q. You are not in quantums yet? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it doesn't really apply to golf. Golf is Newtonian. Q. How about mind and the thought, you have a new science explanation -- BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: On the quantum level in the brain regards, I can't control that stuff yet. Nobody really can. You just measure brain waves and stuff. It's all Newtonian stuff. You can't get to a quantum level with anything yet. You'd have to understand how atoms work. I can't control individual atoms. Q. You think you cannot control the ball by your thought? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I am not qualified to answer. Q. I'm curious just with how the thought you seem to put into things. Are you a believer in momentum and in sports in general? BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: In physics I believe in momentum. But also in life I believe in momentum, as well. There absolutely is. And it relates to the brain, absolutely, and how the brain is working based on positive feedback from the environment. If you get positive responses and you execute shots and making putts and stuff like that, you're going to be positive in everything you do, no matter if a bad shot happens. Okay, I'm still playing good. So it does matter. NICK PARKER: Thanks for coming in, best of luck this week. BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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