THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome back to the media center Bryson DeChambeau, captain of Crushers GC. 5-under 65, currently tied for first. You spoke about it earlier this week, but the last year in Korea, you and Charles battled it out for the individual title. The Crushers celebrated a team win. I don't know if you've had a chance to take a look at the leaderboard, but it feels like you picked up right before you left off.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I guess Charles and I love Korea. We both played well today, played well last year.
It's a tricky golf course. Both golf courses are kind of tricky. If you're strategic and you execute good shots, you can make some birdies. Your ball-striking has to be premier; you can't fake it around here.
Then also on the greens, you've got to make sure you're rolling it pure. Really wanted to get up-and-down on the last. I felt like being 6-under through 10, I felt like something special was happening, and I simmered off, but still played some great golf. Surprised that I didn't go deeper.
But with a shot like what happened on 15 with it jumping 35 yards and going over into the water, you know, it kind of ruined my momentum a bit. I flagged a shot on 13 that flew 12 yards too long and went down the hill and three-putted.
Those two things right there could have easily been three shots different there and shot 8- or 9-under today.
Q. You talked about the fans, as well. First day of the event. The crowds will only continue to get larger as we head into the weekend, but how nice was that support on 1 and the energy throughout the day?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, the support was fantastic out there. We had a great crowd for Thursday. Really impressed, and can't wait to see what Korea brings out this weekend.
Q. Are you aware of the oohs and aahs that emanate from the crowd, especially off the first tee? You could hear it as soon as you launched your shot.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Koreans love their golf. They think it's quite special when you bring world-class players like this to Korea where they don't see it very often. We give them a different type of show. We hit it a lot farther, and it's quite impressive to see David and then just everybody else hit it with 185, 190 miles an hour ball speed. It's quite impressive. He was bombing it past me today, and I was just trying to keep it in the fairway. Albeit I was trying to hit it far, it was more reserved today.
Q. I asked Charles this question: Do you guys ever talk about last year? Do you go through shots? Do you just have a discussion over iced tea or something like that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: He chirps back at me whenever I bring that up. He kinda gets pissed. He wants to win; he's a competitor just like me, and albeit I got him that week, you never know what could happen this year, and hopefully we give them a great show again this year.
Q. I also want to ask the about comparisons, the contrasts and maybe the similarities to last year's course. Are there enough similarities that you feel like you're kind of seeing the same kind of course at all?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, it's actually completely different. It's funny, we're just coincidentally playing great golf here. Yeah, the Jack Nicklaus golf course was a different test, and this one is quite different than that golf course last year.
I think, again, it's just a ball striker's golf course, and that's what Charles thrives on and that's what I've been working towards to get better at, and it paid off today.
Q. What do you think it's going to take to win your second straight tournament in Korea as far as what elements of the game do you have to work on going forward in the next three days?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think for me, it's a lot about putting, making sure I'm rolling it on my lines consistently. I feel like I ball strike it pretty well out there. I'm learning my golf swing a little bit more. I've changed my golf swing a little bit. I've been working on some hip turn stuff that's allowed me to feel freer through impact. Still have a couple right misses every once in a while, but that seemed to allow me to ball strike it pretty well, except 18. I just didn't turn it over as well as I could have. But the putting is what I have to focus on, make sure I'm rolling it well and not three-putting.
Q. We asked a lot of the gallery members today, who are they rooting for, and No. 1, of course, was pretty much you. We are obsessed about you, want to know what you're eating, what you're doing in Korea. So this is probably not a golf-related question, but we wanted to know what you're going to do while you're here in Korea.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A lot of Korean barbecue. It's my favorite. We walked around downtown a bit. It's been fun getting to see the culture. Also walking down food market street, I think, that was interesting. That was quite a wild experience. Really just taking in the culture.
Oh, I got some new skin care stuff from Olive Young or something like that. Hopefully I look better from it. I think I do. But the consensus is from you guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports