Q. Did you know Richard before this week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I played with him somewhere. I don't know where. I can't remember where.
Q. You guys were paired together somewhere else?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I played with him somewhere, yeah.
Q. Can you talk about how dominant you've been this week. Do you feel like it's an indication of your game? Some guys say it kind of depends on the competition, but you seem to have been pretty dominant.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I feel like I'm playing well. Today I felt like I played really well. Still, the only, 17, 16 and 17. I actually hit really good shot on 16, hit a really good shot on 17. Just the wind, it wasn't really blowing today like it has been, but it's still blowing like every single direction, so it's kind of tough to get a good bead on it.
But yeah, I played really nice. I feel like I'm swinging it well, driving it well, finally rolled in a couple putts today. Max was tough. He played well too. So it was nice to go out and shoot a good score, play solid all day long. The only, bunker shot on 8 and bunker shot on 16. Other than that it was pretty good playing.
Q. You're playing Richard tomorrow. A story like his where you kind of come out of nowhere after a long sort of journeyman career and then rise up in the world rankings and play in an event like this. Pretty exceptional. What do you think when you see someone like that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously he's a solid player, yeah, he's been, I know it was a long time before he got his first win, but yeah, obviously he's playing well, he's playing well this week, so it's going to be a tough match. I need to go out and just play my game, just keep hitting fairways and greens and giving myself looks.
Q. You're probably going to be hitting a lot of approach shots second, I mean do you enjoy that or not enjoy that?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Doesn't matter. As long as I'm playing from the fairway I don't really care.
Q. Going back to the Ryder Cup you played eight straight matches you won in match play format. Why are you so good at that basically? What is it right now that you're catching this heater?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm starting to play a little better. Still haven't really played that many events this season, so just getting back into the competition, getting back into playing. Been working on the game a lot here lately, so it's finally starting to come around. I feel like I'm hitting the shots that I want to hit when I need to hit 'em, so, but, yeah, I feel like the game's in good form and obviously in match play all you have to do is play better than the guy you're playing against.
Q. Do you like when it's personal one-on-one?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, doesn't really matter. I try not to worry about what they're doing, just kind of play my game. Obviously there's an occasional situation where you might play a different shot depending upon where they hit it, but for the most part I just try to just play golf how I usually play.
Q. You said the game's trending in the right direction. Is that a matter of you have been working on the different aspects of it and starting to see results or is that a timing issue knowing what's in two weeks?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, no, I like to play well all the time. So it just, I didn't play a whole lot, definitely, especially from CJ Cup until Torrey. And game was okay at Torrey, it was okay at Saudi, and then obviously played one good round at THE PLAYERS and then last week was just mediocre.
Just making a lot of mistakes, not mistakes that you don't normally make, wedges haven't been quite as sharp. So just working, grinding on the game and just trying to get a little bit better, a little more consistent and eventually it's going to come around. I feel like this week has definitely been a lot more consistent, driving it how I want to, not hitting really -- no big misses, I'm kind of keeping it between the trees and kind of hitting the shots I want to hit.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports