THE 149TH OPEN

July 16, 2021

Dustin Johnson

Mixed Zone

Q. Dustin, lovely round of 65 for you today, including a birdie on the last. Must be a really nice way to head into the weekend.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, any time you can birdie the last hole it's definitely -- dinner taste a little bit better. Yeah, obviously I feel like I'm in a good position heading into the weekend.

Q. In terms of your round, you kind of lost a bit of concentration maybe on the 3rd and put it behind a tree and early bogey; regrouped. How important were the birdies on 5, 7, and 8 to kind of build the momentum for the second half?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, there were definitely -- obviously any birdies are important, but, yeah, three wasn't -- yeah, kind of got unlucky to get behind the tree. I knew I didn't ant to hit it left. Didn't hit a great shot out to the right, but I figured anywhere out to the right I got a chance to get up and down.

Just got unfortunate it was right underneath the tree. Yeah, still the first few holes played very difficult and I knew they were going to play tough. Made a nice par save on 4. Hit two pretty good shots. Just rolled off the edge of the green there. But made a nice 4 there, and then obviously a really good birdie on 5, and then made some nice birdies from there on in. Kind of got my round off to a good start.

Q. I might be wrong, but from what I could see, the highlight of your round was the second shot on 12. How tough was that lie and how hard was it to control and get as close as you did?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well -- on 13? I think that was 13.

Q. Sorry, 13.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. It looked worse than it actually was. The grass wasn't too thick over there, but it was just really long. But, yeah, I hit a really nice shot out of the rough there and was just fortunate it cozied up next to the hole and made a nice birdie.

Q. Four shots off the lead going into the weekend now. With the weather seeming to be firming up, does it seem to suit you a little bit more with the balls running and the greens being a little bit faster than they were for the first two days?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I think the course is -- yes it's definitely firming up. It was firmer this afternoon and it's definitely going to keep getting firmer if the weather stays like this.

Yeah, I mean, I like the position I'm in going into the weekend. Still going to have to play some really good golf if I want to contend on Sunday.