THE MODERATOR: What an incredible round of golf. You can see the scores. You had an amazing start, bit of a lull during the middle, and just a tremendous finish. Can you describe how you're feeling.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I'm excited and ready to go to the practice range. Need to go work on my iron play out there. Putted really well today. Proud of myself for keeping my head about me and just thinking about patience all day. So it was a fun test of golf today.
Q. Last year at Pinehurst in the final round you were talking about how you were watching Rory because he was the pairing ahead of you. Were you keeping an eye on the leaderboard today?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I always leaderboard watch. Certainly want to know where I stand for sure. So I saw him going. He played really well.
Q. You were shaking your head, looking at your scorecard. What were you not happy about?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, not my scorecard. I played good. I scored really well. I got up-and-down a lot of times.
But greens hit is where I've got to improve, if I can get my iron play dialed in. That's where I have to focus up.
Q. What do you enjoy most about chasing on a Sunday, being kind of the guy that is closest and can go out there and potentially chase a guy down?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think it's fun, feeling like you have to hit every single shot to the best of your ability, and you can't let off the gas pedal. You just have to focus and play the best -- absolute best golf you possibly can.
When you're leading, it's a little different. I've had those times, as well. You attack that a little differently. But for me, I'll be chasing tomorrow. It will be a fun test.
Q. Can you explain why there were, what I would call, so many self-inflicted wounds out there with your --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: My irons? What's funny is on 14, I hit a great pitching wedge from like 169 yards. And I have no idea why it ended up 20 yards short of where my landing spot was. I think it was just a little bit of the mowing into the grain, it may have been sitting down a little bit and came out spinny, and there you go.
That's part of what happens out here. It's going to be fun over the course of my career to figure more of that stuff out. Because it certainly doesn't happen very often elsewhere, but it does happen a lot here. It will be a fun thing to figure out over the course of time.
As for how I'm hitting it, just not lining up the face as consistently as I would like at impact. Got to go work on the basics and get back to it, and I'll be ready for tomorrow.
Q. After that birdie on 16, looked like you stared over across the pond. What was that all about?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Just getting the Patrons going. Having a bit of fun with them. Makes me focus more. I don't know. It's a fun thing that whenever I feel like I feed into the crowd, especially the Patrons here, it just -- they give that energy back, and it's a cool feeling.
So I used that a couple times today.
Q. You and Rory have set us up for potentially a grandstand finish tomorrow, and you both are big Patron favorites. There's a lot of love for Rory, especially considering what happened in 2011, and clearly the Patrons here love you, too. Can you give us a sense of what it might be like to play in that environment tomorrow where everybody is kind of rooting for you both?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It will be the grandest stage that we've had in a long time, and I'm excited for it.
We both want to win really, really badly, and it's -- you know, shoot, there's a lot of great players behind us, too. Got to be mindful of that and focus on -- it's about who can control themselves and who can execute the golf shots the best.
In regard to the Patrons, it's going to be an electric atmosphere.
Q. Rory just said his kind of plan for the next 16 hours is to stay off his phone and everything. I know maybe it could be a different approach for you. What will the next 16, 17 hours look like for you, minus sleeping?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah. I mean, for me, it's going to be practicing a little bit before it gets dark. Eating. Looking at my phone. I don't have a problem with that.
And just getting treatment on my body. Relaxing as much as possible. Watching a movie, probably, tonight. A fun movie. I don't know, what's tonight -- oh, it will probably be a James Bond movie or something like that. That will be fun. I love James Bond movies.
Tomorrow morning, I'll probably go to bed late and get up around 10:00, 10:30 and see how the course is playing and go from there.
Q. What era James Bond? Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Pierce Brosnan.
Q. How important was it to you to get into the final group, and was it weighing on your mind down the stretch?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, on 15, 16, 17, 18, those last few holes, I just kept thinking to myself, just get in the final pairing. Just execute those shots the best you possibly can and give yourself a chance on 15, 16, 17. I really didn't on 17, but 18, I made a beautiful putt to finish it off.
That was cool.
Q. Curious when you're in -- you've been in these highly, highly charged settings. Do you ride the wave, or is there a line there of staying within yourself and not maybe kind of going, you know, overboard?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, there is a line. I'd say, YouTube golf has helped me out on that, understanding how to react and also control myself when I'm trying to break a course record or break 50 or whatever it is.
And then going back to the major championships, I've just learned. It takes experience to feed off of that energy, you know, when you're going super low and you're feeding off of your partner. When I'm out there filming, you have to learn how to like control yourself and settle down, okay, all right, we have to make birdie on the next hole, we have to do this, whatever it is.
It's the same situation out here where you're just, essentially, feeding off of the Patrons, and then you go, all right, I have to settle in, I have to hit this next shot.
It's a lot of, like, reacting and being who I am, which is, you know, you guys can make -- you guys can say whatever you want, but I'm just a little different.
And then off of that, I just settle back in and go, all right, this is the next shot. I have to execute it to the best of my ability. So it's a lot of outward expression, and then I go, all right, that's enough and I focus back in.
Q. Have you and Rory spoken much about Pinehurst and what went down there?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No. Not really. He said congrats at the British Open -- at The Open championship, excuse me. And that's pretty much it. We've been fine ever since. It's not really been an issue. It's just going to be a fun day tomorrow. I'm really excited for the test.
Q. What were the key momentum moments for you in the round today?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: 2-putting on 9. 2-putting on 6. Up-and-down on 5. Up-and-down on 4. Birdie putt on 1. Up-and-down on 10. A lot of up-and-downs.
Q. Lots of momentum?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A lot of momentum coming from those up-and-downs. That 10th hole is a very difficult hole, and I need to work on that downhill slope, kind of cut shot for me. You know, that's what I'm going to go work on tonight.
Q. Do you think there's any such thing as overnight momentum, based on what you just did on the last four holes?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, for sure. I think there's a bit of it. Is it going to be the full reason why I play well or not my best tomorrow? No. But there is momentum.
Q. Just to circle back to that moment at 16, I don't know that I've seen you engage quite that way with the galleries here. Can you maybe just revisit that moment? What were you thinking after you holed that putt, and what were you trying to -- what message were you trying to communicate?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Rory was kind of moving forward. He was at 12-under, and I was kind of chasing a bit. When I made that, I looked up and I said, kind of as a statement, like, you know what, I'm still here. I'm going to keep going. I'm not going to back down.
Q. You mentioned it earlier about wanting to get in the final group. Obviously you want to be as low as you can, but did it matter because it's Rory? Was that a big part of it, wanting to play beside him? Is it important to be playing beside him tomorrow?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I mean, it's always important in a major championship to try and be in the final round or close to the final round.
It was definitely fun knowing that it was Rory and knowing that we could have a good matchup tomorrow. Like I said, we're not the only players out there. There's still a lot of great players. But it's going to be a fun test.
Q. You said you didn't have the best of days with your irons, but that putter was hot, man.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yes.
Q. The first hole, the putt that you made, 48-footer or something, and the 60-footer, can you talk about that and your thoughts going into it.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Quite basically, the first putt was a 10-footer for me. I hit it like 10, 11 feet, and I aimed it about six inches left of the hole, and it went in.
And then on 18, it was a 47-footer, playing like 45 feet, and I hit a 45-footer about four feet left of the hole and saw it track right on my line. I'm like, oh, my gosh, this might go in, too. And they both went in. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes they don't. It's just one of those things. These greens are really good out here. So it's fun seeing a ball roll and track on line and do what it's supposed to.
Q. When you're on the range tonight, how do you decide when you're good to go; that you're finished? That you're ready for tomorrow?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's based on my feels, or if the sun is telling me I can't go anymore. It's really just based on how I'm feeling and the club go through the ground and how much control I have over the face to hit any and every shot I want.
Q. Is there a specific feel you're looking for at this point?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's the same feel. It's inside-out and the club face closes smoothly through the impact area and doesn't overdraw; it doesn't get left out to the right. Those are my two big misses, and I tried to work on it for a few years now. And it's close. It's a lot less deviant, but I still have to improve it.
Q. The putt on 18 was electric.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It was fun.
Q. Could you just kind of, I don't know, walk us through what that moment feels like, the crowd, the ball falling, the energy. What's going on inside you when that moment happens?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: When I see it three feet from the hole and it looks like it's going to go in, my body just immediately starts walking. I don't know why. It just kind of happens.
And I was walking over to the side to see if it was going to go in, and sure enough, it did. And I mean, it was great. It was just electric. You can get chills in your body. You feel like -- you just feel euphoria, almost, in a sense. Just it feels really cool.
Now, it's Saturday, right. So I have to tell myself, Okay, calm down. This is not the end. So one more day to go. But what that feels like, it's a lot of chills throughout the body. It's a significant moment and fun moment, really exciting moment.
It's what you practice for your whole childhood. It's hopefully what I inspire kids to do so they can experience that one day in their own setting, in their own way, whatever it is, on the grandest stage, or even if it's just for their club championship one day or whatever.
Hopefully I can inspire them to feel that same -- that same feeling.
Q. Obviously it was an electric day all day, but it was a really electric start, too, and you have Rory going on an historic stretch to start. You're obviously a leaderboard watcher, and you see him pass everybody by. What's going through your mind over the first couple holes?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: There's a lot of golf left. That's what I kept telling myself. I said, just stay in it. I went and birdied the first, birdied the second, bogeyed the third, bogeyed the third and the seventh, which, man, that's just, I tried -- I was going to lay up on 7 again, and I just couldn't get myself to do it, but I should have.
It's okay, though. It's one of those things that happens. And for me, Rory was moving. I said, there's still a lot of golf to play.
Q. Between the practice round and the course, you'll have hit a lot of golf balls this week. And with the energy you exert when you're out there with the Patrons and so on and so forth, is there any risk or fear of burnout from yourself at all?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I've done this a few times now, and I know when my limit is. Definitely the most important thing is going back and relaxing and having a fun, enjoyable night. You know, just hanging out with my friends and family, and just being myself.
You know, keep being myself. When I'm more of myself, I feel like I can keep going no matter what. It's the times where you have to put on a face or do something or whatever that you don't feel like you can keep going.
So for me, the more I can just be myself, the longer I can go.
THE MODERATOR: Bryson, thanks for your time tonight. Have a great day tomorrow.
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