PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 13, 2025

Bryson DeChambeau

Quail Hollow Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We've been joined by Bryson DeChambeau at the 107th PGA Championship. Bryson, welcome to Quail Hollow in what is your eighth PGA Championship. A win a few weeks ago for you. How are you feeling overall coming into this week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I'm feeling good, guys. This is exciting times. I'm playing some good golf. Hopefully that continues this week.

Figured a couple things out with my golf swing. Putting really well. Love the golf course this week. I haven't been out there, unfortunately, but just about to get out tonight and play nine holes and see what the course provides.

Q. You've played well here before in the past; what are your impressions from what you recall about the golf course?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, I remember you've got to drive it well. So far I've been driving it well this season. Hopefully it continues. Greens are tricky. Got to have great irons. You've got to come in with a full, complete set of clubs that you feel comfortable with attacking flags at and just strategizing your way around the golf course.

It's a full test of golf this week, and I'm certainly excited for the challenge.

Q. As someone who is very much centered on the numbers of the game, how much will this early-week weather during practice round times impact your numbers, especially when it comes to how precise you are with ball speed on the greens?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think for me, it's actually provided me a little bit of rest. I was hitting a lot of golf balls last week and had a bunch of work going on. It's actually provided me a little bit of time off. I've been doing some extracurricular stuff early on this week, which has been fun and great to see the First Tee of Charlotte. That was fun this morning. Got a little bit of practice in yesterday in Dallas.

A little bit of a different prep this week, but considering the wetness and everything, I'm just going to go out to the driving range and use the Foresight to see how far the golf ball goes. I'll get my speed numbers on the greens and be ready to go.

Q. There's an excitement that you've been able to generate over the last majors and even during the season with YouTube, with your followers and all that. Something very special happened at Augusta a few weeks ago. How does it make you feel as a golfer and as a person to have that kind of following?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'm very glad to be a part of the journey. Very thankful, very blessed. I didn't even think a few years ago that we could get this far. I'm just honored and glad to have a big support system behind me. I'm talking my family and friends. And then it's good to see all the fans out there, coming out, supporting, yelling my name and talking about the latest YouTube video I just put out, our team put out.

It's quite fun, and it really gives me perspective out there when I'm under intense pressure and somebody yells out, hey, let's do a Break 50, or I loved the video with John Daly, or whatever. It really sets me back into a positive mind frame of I know why I'm doing this.

Q. You were really close last year, and you being a major winner, what's the difference between being very close and getting it?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A little bit of luck and one or two shots going your way, you making a putt from seven, eight feet. There's going to be numerous players that are playing well this week that are going to have a chance. Sometimes it's just a little wind off the left or off the right that makes the ball go somewhere different or closer to the hole, or sometimes it's a mis-hit shot that ends up close to the hole. A little bit of fortune but also paired with a lot of skill over 72 holes of golf.

You have to combine all that together to have a chance to win. That's what Xander did so well last year. I didn't get the job done because of one or two shots. Just is what it is.

Q. I know you had a big event this morning with the First Tee kids and you sort of specified you wanted to have them there for this event. Would you speak to what your message was to them, why it's important, and how you've seen your growth since Pinehurst last year?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, my message this morning to the kids, it was a great breakfast, it was just getting 1 percent better each and every day and being passionate about what you do. Make sure you're incredibly passionate about whatever it is. It doesn't have to be golf, it doesn't have to be sports, it could be business, it could be art, it could be whatever, a musical instrument, but be passionate about it, take great care in it and do your absolute best every day and learn every day. That's a big deal.

That was a big takeaway that hopefully they got. What was the second question again?

Q. How have you seen the reaction change since Pinehurst last year?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think that it's been quite special for me seeing everybody give me praise and whatnot, although I don't feel like I always deserve it. I'm just very blessed to have that type of following now and continue to grow it.

I want to do more than just the game of golf. I want to grow outside of the game of golf. I want to bring other golfers that have never seen the game of golf into golf. YouTube has been a great platform to do that. I've been very blessed and fortunate to have partners at YouTube and Google now, and I'm super excited to see what the future holds because there's a lot more room to grow.

Q. What were your thoughts and how was being invited to the Ryder Cup event the other night?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it was awesome. It's an incredible honor. Unfortunately we had massive storms that morning that delayed me 3 1/2 hours, and I couldn't make it to the dinner. But I saw it on Zoom and also talked to the captain about it, and I was step in step with him. We had a great conversation after.

Look, I've got to keep playing good golf and I've got to hopefully -- hopefully I can make it on points alone. That's the goal. From everything I heard, it was pretty inspirational, and I know the captain is going to be a great leader for the team, whoever he chooses and whoever makes the team. He's going to do a great job at Bethpage.

Q. You mentioned at Augusta National that you were not pleased with your iron play. What do you need to do to fix that, and do you think that part of your game will be ready this week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I hope so. I've been working on my irons a little bit. I haven't changed irons. I was hoping to have irons by this week, but it just didn't work out that way. I played pretty well in Mexico, played well at Augusta -- well, played okay at Augusta. My irons weren't that great. But played better in Mexico. My irons were really good in Korea. I feel like it's moving in the right direction.

Let's hopefully keep it more of the same. If I can do that, I'll give myself a good chance this week.

Q. You always drive it well, but seems like you've been driving it really, really well. I was wondering if there's anything you've unlocked, whether it's with gear or -- yeah.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, using SportsboxAI a little bit. It's really been a bit of practice and getting more comfortable with myself and my golf swing. I have the same inputs. I'm swinging it inside out like I normally do. You'll always see me practice like that.

There's a little bit of fine tuning that goes on with Dana and Sportsbox, just trying to get that face more consistently into the impact zone every time, and making sure I'm comfortable when I hit it on the toe and the heel. What's it going to do off the toe? What's it going to do off the heel? Making sure when I accidentally hit the toe or accidentally hit the heel, it still goes in play and I miss it in the right places.

But for the most part, I feel like I'm starting to swing a little bit more free. Hopefully nothing takes that away this week and I'm able to swing free out here because this is definitely a bomber's paradise for sure.

Q. After you're in contention like you have been the last few weeks, obviously the Masters, too, being a high profile example, do you go back and review those rounds how you react under pressure or certain shots, or do you move on and look forward, new tournament, new golf course, new everything?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I reflect on it a couple days after, take away what I need to improve, whether it be my iron play or a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Why did I get so nervous over a tee shot? Why did I feel this way?

I take those sorts of things, and I translate it into the next week. I did that pretty well in Mexico albeit I still lost and hit one OB on 13 randomly and didn't know where that came from. I felt that at Augusta, but it never happened, and then it happened in Mexico, happened a couple times in Korea. So I've worked on that to kind of set that back to straight and square.

I take on that and I just kind of evolve it over time. I adapt and evolve and layer it on. All those emotions that I have and all the misses that I have and all the things that I'm thinking about, I layer it on over the course of time, is this gone or is it still there? How do I fix it if it's not fixed. Then if it's fixed, let's move on to the next thing I need to tackle.

Q. You made a ton of fireworks in majors since Valhalla. You won the U.S. Open, you've been in the mix so much, Masters. What did you learn about yourself at Valhalla coming down the stretch, whether mentally or physically, and how does that help you this week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I feel like I've always had the capacity to play well in major championships and contend consistently. A lot of things have to go right in majors for you to play well. Your whole game has to be on.

So I felt like at Valhalla, especially after Augusta, that was the second time that I played well in a major, and it kind of gave me that confidence that I could just keep moving forward with that at every major and keep hammering down on majors.

Besides the Open Championship, which I feel like is something I've got to continue to work on, which I am rigorously working on, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction with giving myself a lot of multiple chances to win these major championships.

So I felt like at Valhalla last year, it was more of an assurance of saying, hey, I can do this, and I can do this for a long time, God willing. I'm going to continue to try and play my best golf. Hopefully that expresses itself positively this week and in future weeks at different majors and even at LIV events, but my goal is to play the best every single week I possibly can, but Valhalla definitely gave me some confidence for the rest of the majors, last year and even this year.

Q. I'm sure a lot of guys would love to be able to drive the ball like you, and I have a hypothetical for you. Looking at other parts of your game, whether it's putting, whether it's approach or around the green, if you were forced to trade one of those for anyone currently playing, what part of the game would you trade and who would you inherit their skill?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I would probably take whoever the best wedger is right now from like 110 yards to like 60, 50 yards. I feel like I'm pretty good from 40 yards in, but that area is where I'd trade it with somebody that's really good in that area. I haven't really researched that.

That's a good point you bring up. I might as well go look at that later. But yeah, I'd probably trade that part just because I hit it so far and it's a tough area for me to gauge and control and something I continuously work on.

Q. Bryson, obviously everyone here this week has great familiarity with Charlotte and Quail Hollow, but is there anything off the course that stands out to you about your time in Charlotte, anything you make sure to do, anywhere you make sure to go when your mind isn't entirely dedicated to the course? Second part of the question, do you have any plans to bring your Break 50 series to Quail Hollow?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It would be an honor to bring the Break 50 series to Quail Hollow. I'd love to showcase that, and we've got a couple other ideas we'd love to do, but that would be awesome.

Quail Hollow is an amazing place. Charlotte is a great place. I love it here. I've always felt comfortable here. Even when I was playing here on the PGA TOUR, I felt really comfortable.

I remember, funny side little note, I thought I missed the cut and I was flying back, and halfway through -- this is the last time I played. Flying through the air I found out I was going to make the cut. So I landed, I stayed the night at my house in Dallas and flew at 2:30 in the morning back to go get my tee time, and I finished seventh that week or something like that, I think a top 10 that week. It was worth it.

But I have good memories here is what I'm trying to say. It's a lot of fun when I come back here. I feel comfortable. I've got some great friends around here that I've developed some good relationships with. It's just a place I feel pretty comfortable.

Q. I was just curious, why do you think Rory has had so much success here?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I do believe you have to have a lot of distance out here. Rory is a great driver of the golf ball and his iron play is great, too. I think it's a golf course that sets up for his shot shapes pretty well, and I think it sets up well for mine, too. We'll see. Maybe I do well, maybe I don't. But I'm certainly going to give it my all, and I know Rory is. Hopefully we can have another go at it again like the Masters.

Q. You've had a lot of success at the majors lately, but early on you kind of struggled until kind of Harding Park I feel like was the first one where you really started figuring it out. Can you relate a little bit to Joaquín Niemann, who in 23 major starts has yet to have a top 15, and what do you think is the reason?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I do believe Joaquín at some point in time will get a major. I think it's just a matter of time. Not if I have anything to say about that, but he's an incredible golfer, won a bunch on LIV. His form is incredible. It's not easy to win in majors. It's just a different elevation and feeling, and he's young, so he's got a lot of time.

There is a likeness to it. I think he's a great successful player. There's still some learning to do. A lot of it's not really material. You can't really define exactly what it is until you get in that position enough times and you're comfortable enough and you do it.

One of them being Sergio. Sergio was so close so many times and finally won the Masters. It just happens (audio interruption) all 72 holes pretty much.

Q. How important was closing the deal in Korea in terms of having a completely positive mindset coming into this week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I wasn't thinking about that at all on the back nine in Korea. No, it was very important for me to get the job done, and finishing off shooting 30 on the back nine gave me some confidence to know I can get it done under pressure. Struggling on the front nine was not the right way for me to feel going into that last round, but that back nine kind of shored things up for me and kept me pretty comfortable. Very positive.