Q. How were you feeling out there today?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Good. I mean, hand's doing well. A little swollen still. But that's normal. It always happens. Gotta give it probably another month or two before it fully heals but no pain, no nothing. I'm happy about that. Especially on the firm turf.
Q. Cam Smith was talking yesterday about because of how fast the golf course is playing and because of the wind that you didn't have this morning, it almost kind of, on some ways takes driver out of your hand?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, it did, for sure. Even with it being so firm even with 3,000 spin on my driver, which I inherently did for this week, I can't control it in the fairway. So I've got to play a 4-iron that can still run 300 yards and have wedges in from there. It does take driver out of play quite a bit.
And even 3-wood on 9 was too much and there's bunkers that are kind of diabolical. You've got to strategize your way around this golf course really well and it's not simple by any means.
Q. Is there any hole you just can't let driver go?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Well, I could but it would go into the fescue and I wouldn't be able to control my spin. This is about winning a major championship that I have to be strategic out here. There's no way to bomb and gouge it out this week.
Q. Did you have to wrestle with that sort of game plan on this or were you pretty sure?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No, I'm here to win a golf tournament and I try to focus on how do I make the best score over the best of four days. It's actually pretty simple, once we get out there I go, okay, driver's possible, but the odds say that you're not going to hit it in the fairway every single time and you'll get bad lies. And into certain pins you just can't do that.
Q. What did you hit on 12?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: 3-wood, 3-wood, like a soft 3-wood.
Q. Was it fun playing a round with Daly?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: It was something to see. He's such a nice guy. First off, he's such a great guy, at least to me, we had a great time out there. It was a lot of fun. He's obviously wobbling a little bit around the golf course, but he's getting through it.
And, man, for him to shoot the score he shot today was pretty impressive. I was on 13 or 14, going, what is he. I was like where is he, 1 over; still right there. So pretty impressive to see and the crowds obviously love him. It's great to feed off that.
Q. You had a super long putt, maybe 13-ish?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: 13, yeah.
Q. It looked like you kind of exchanged a few words with John who also had a long putt there. Did you tell him anything about the speed?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Oh, no, I was surprised. I was like, oh, my gosh, it's such a long putt, difficult to get close. But he hit it close. It was fun to watch that. He's got some great touch around the greens, for sure.
Q. In his day, peak Daly, with modern equipment, can he --
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: That's a question for him. I think he could. He probably for sure had like around 85 to 88 ball speed back in his day. And that's with equipment and the golf balls not being as firm. I'm sure he had the speeds that I have out there.
Q. What are the specs of the driver?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: The driving iron, it's 17 degrees, 37 and a half inches. It's LA Texas rebar shaft and Dunhill head weight (phonetic). But it's a low-flying machine.
Q. Just this week?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No, it's here to stay. I have about 3,000 spin on that. But it works great out here. Just keeping it low and letting it roll for me.
Q. How easy is it for you to focus and prepare this week with all the distraction and talk about LIV?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: This is a major championship. I'm going into it with a mindset that I'm focused on trying to win this golf tournament. So it hasn't been on the top of my mind. I've been focused on competing doing my best out here.
Q. Does it concern you at all what people have said about LIV and the thing about Tiger the other day?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I respect everybody's opinions. I have no position on it. Again, for me it was the best decision for me at that point in time and still is.
Q. The split with Bridgestone was described as amicable.
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I love them.
Q. Is that a fair characterization?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I love them. I love what they do. I still will hopefully continue to have conversation with the R & D team all the time. I've given them five or six different little things that have helped improve the golf ball. And hopefully will continue to do so.
Q. Were you surprised that they severed ties?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: No. I respect it and understand everybody's position and the ties that everybody has. I respect it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports