RBC Heritage
Friday, June 19, 2020
Bryson DeChambeau
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome in Bryson DeChambeau to our virtual press conference. A 7-under round in the second round today, sitting one shot back at 11 under. Just some comments about how it went out there today.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's been a weird couple of days, to be honest with you. I felt like my swing was all right, wasn't going after too much, keeping it in play and hitting some good iron shots when need be. My putting, man, it was either on or off. It was kind of weird out there for me today. I still haven't figured out something with my putting. I've got to figure some stuff out because a couple years ago, I was rolling it the best I've ever rolled it. I have good moments and bad moments now. I want to tighten that dispersion with putting, and I'd be a couple more up there.
Q. You were grouped with Webb the first two rounds, and now you guys are both sitting at the top of the leaderboard. How is that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's fun. We're always feeding off each other. It's fun playing with them. They're great spirits all the time. Helps keep me in good spirits, and it's one of those things that it's never a bad thing to play with Webb. He's a really good dude.
Q. Bryson, how much more comfortable did you feel today as compared to yesterday, and how many times did you use kraken?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I didn't use it at all today. I didn't let the kraken out today. I can't. It's just this golf course, it's so difficult to try to fit into these tight areas where, if you miss it offline, like I did last week a couple times on a couple holes, there I'll be, where last week they were just in the rough and I was still able to get to the green.
So for me, I was a little more comfortable out there hitting 3 wood, changed shafts in it and helped me draw a little bit more. So I was fine with that. Again, I couldn't get anything going in the front nine -- or the back nine, I guess you could say -- but then I caught fire, turned around to that front nine and was able to make some putts. Unfortunately, I missed some on 7 and 9, but I'd love to have gone six or seven in a row to finish it off.
Q. Hey, Bryson, thank you. How fun is it to be able to eat as much as you want?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That's a great question, actually. That's the first time somebody's said that. It's nice. I get to eat -- it's a two-to-one carb-to-protein ratio, and I literally just have at it. I eat whatever I want whenever. Obviously, I'm trying to control the intake of sugars, but carbs are fine because I'm obviously sweating like crazy out here. So I just eat as much as I want right now. It's nice. And I don't gain weight. I actually lose weight. I've lost a little bit of weight this week.
Q. But how much of the weight gain that you've done here over the last few months is attributable to just caloric intake? I mean, obviously, you've been working out and all that too, but that must be a big part of it. Does it mean eating whatever you want?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Are you saying that I'm fat?
Q. No, no, not at all.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'm kidding.
Q. Does it involve even bad foods that you're taking to, like fast food or that sort of thing?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's all relative. Look, my body fat percentage has maybe gone up a percent or two, but it's not gone up that much at all. I would say a lot of it has been attributed to muscle. It's a lot of muscle. People don't believe me when I say it, but you don't understand my work ethic at that point if you're thinking it's not muscle.
And I know there's a limit to how much you can gain. This is my first year of actually working out super hard. I know in a year you can gain around 30 pounds, and that's kind of what I've done in a shorter period of time. I haven't taken rest days off. I'm literally working out every single day as hard as I can. But from a food intake perspective, it's, again, two-to-one carb-to-protein ratio, and I just have it.
Yeah, there are times when I have a little more fat put on, but right now I'm actually leaning out because I'm walking eight miles in this heat. So I'm losing a little bit.
Q. Bryson, I don't know this course well enough to know how you approach the 9th hole. I just wondered if you could just explain your approach to that, the options you have, things like that.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's difficult, actually, for me. If I hit driver -- look, my 3 wood is spinning at 4,000 right now, so we're working on engineering a head that's going to be around 10 degrees aloft so I can get that spin down so I can hit it the way I want to. But with driver, I've been hitting it over the green, flying it over the green if I give it my all. Yesterday it was into the wind and I had to hit a soft driver up there, and it still went over the green.
So today for me, I tried to hit 3 wood all the way into that bunker and just chip it out, which I did beautifully. I just hit a bad putt. And it's just one of those things that I'll probably do that the next two days if there is not too much wind. Just try to get out to that front bunker and hit it out close to the hole to make that putt.
Q. Secondly, I wanted to ask you about your play. The results will show really no difference between before and after the shutdown. Do you notice any difference in your game and where?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: You know, it's funny. I feel like I'm not playing my absolute best. Even though I personally think it's because of the distance gain. The distance gain has helped me hit 9 irons and pitching wedges in the holes compared to hitting 7 irons and 6 iron in the holes. That's a huge change for me that's allowed me to go and attack flags a lot more, be more aggressive, not really have to try and fit it into this little spot down on the fairway out here and really attack those flags.
So I feel like for me my game after quarantine, the distance has really just made that strokes gained advantage, it's just put it to a whole new level for me.
Q. I was going to say, how much distance did you pick up from, say, Bay Hill to Colonial?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: So I was able to get it to around 188, almost 190 a few times at Bay Hill, and last week I was over 192, about 192 a few times. So, again, when I get to a golf course where I can get at it, you'll see upwards of 95s and 97s, but nothing like that right out here. It just doesn't fit the golf course, unfortunately. I've got to play a different style of golf.
Q. I'm just curious how do you think Harbour Town seems to be playing fairly easy this week and conditions are down. What's it been like out there?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Look, I think the wind has been actually pretty variable, which has made it difficult, but the golf course, the reason why it's easy -- easier is because it's soft fairways, soft greens, and we're just able to golf flags. So that's one of the reasons why I think the scores are so low this year, and I think they'll continue to be lower if no rain or it doesn't dry out or anything like that.
So for me, I feel like, if I can just keep it in the fairways and keep it in the short grass as much as possible, make a few putts, get some better putting over the weekend, I'll continue to do that and hopefully go even deeper. This golf course, you can do it. You can do it right now with these conditions.
Q. It's been a couple days now with playing on the Bermuda this month versus overseed in April. Is there a discernible difference in how it's playing?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, soft Bermuda is not easy. It's one of those things that, for me, I am terrible off of that grass. I don't feel as confident as if I were on bent. That stuff, we're working on. I don't really have the answers for how I play it, but as of right now, our numbers are working out, just based on all of our range shots and things that we're doing. But there is a difference. The wetness creates a lot more spin, so you have to counter that with some different shots.
Q. Hi, Bryson. Can you just talk about the idea that -- we spent a lot of time talking about how far you're hitting it the last two weeks and how much weight you've put on, but you've had good finishes here on this golf course before. Were you kind of overlooking the ball striking element of what you bring to the table here?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think so. I think a lot of people don't realize that I'm still -- personally, I think I'm just as accurate -- knock on wood, obviously. But just as accurate with the added length, and I'm still able to control the ball up to the same potential that I was before break, before last year, and everything.
So for me, I'm extremely excited to showcase what I'm able to do this week with this added length because now I'm hitting -- instead of hitting -- for example, 17, I hit 9 iron, 9 iron and 8 iron into that green, whereas before I was at 7 iron and 6 iron last year and the year before. So it's just a complete quantum shift for me that just allows me to go at things that I usually are not able to go at.
Just for example, I hit 3 wood, 4 iron on 5, another one. That's a perfect example. That's definitely different for me. I never thought I'd be doing that in my lifetime.
Q. And if I can just follow up on Bob's question on the carb-to-protein ratio. Is it a set number of calories a day?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, I just keep going. I just listen to my body. If I get too full, okay, I'm done. If I feel like, man, I've got to eat. I just listen to my body. That's really all it is. As surprising as that sounds coming from me, right? I feel like I'm pretty relaxed when it comes to that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #181 at 2020-06-19 16:46:00 GMT
