THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Bryson DeChambeau, the captain of Crushers GC, back to the media center. Welcome. You had another awesome day. You shot 5-under, currently sitting at 9-under, only four shots off the lead. Tell us a little bit about your round.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I played pretty good. Didn't get off to the best start that I'd have liked to. I had an easy wedge shot on 2, messed up on 3, great birdie on 4, almost made eagle. 5, I made a dumb mistake pulling it towards the flag, and then I started to right the ship and played pretty good. Missed a nine-footer on 9. 10, had a pretty straight uphill putt; missed that. 11, made par.
It could have been deep out there for me today, but I'm proud of the way that I've managed my energy, although I have close to zero right now, and I've given myself a shot for tomorrow.
All I want is a shot on that back nine, and that back nine is gettable. Hopefully I can get the job done tomorrow. I've just got to work a few things out with my swing, and I'm super close to being back to Greenbrier, which would be awesome.
Even last week it wasn't fully Greenbrier. I was still spraying the driver a little bit on Sunday, and if I can get a little bit of that going tomorrow, it could be a deep one tomorrow and give myself a chance.
Q. The crowd today was intense. There's cameras out all the time, people constantly cheering for you, rooting for you. Can you tell me how you're managing all of that attention out there on the course?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, just being able to compartmentalize, focus on the golf at hand and execute to the best of my ability. When things don't go my way, try to feed off the crowd a little bit to get me pumped up again, and if I hit a great shot, then interact with the fans as much as possible.
It's what I like to do. I just feed off of it no matter if it's good or bad. They are certainly a raucous crowd, which I love. I think it's awesome. Hopefully more of that tomorrow.
Again, my brain is not fully functioning so I'm not able to speak coherently all the time. But the fans have been fantastic. They've been brilliant. Very gracious to have them out there supporting me like that.
Q. Your playing partner this week for the Crushers, John Catlin, filling in for Charles Howell is going to be in the final group tomorrow. How excited and proud are you to have selected John and have him performing so well?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, he's a fantastic golfer. I grew up playing some golf with him in northern California, and we had some battles early on in our careers, in junior golf even. He's a stellar player. He's shot in the 50s and won a few times this year now.
It just fit our team really well, and I'm praying for Charles that he's going to be healthy and get back here pretty soon. He's struggling with some stuff, but I have faith that he'll be back at our next event.
You know what, I couldn't be more proud of John and the way he's performing for our team. We're in second place right now, and we've got to get the job done tomorrow. It's been too long.
Q. You talked about feeding off the energy of the crowd. How much will you be able to feed off the energy of being in contention tomorrow and a chance to win a title as opposed to say if you weren't in contention, it might be a little bit easier to take the foot off the pedal?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think being in contention will help give me that adrenaline spike. I don't know how much more adrenaline I have, but what I have will be used tomorrow, and hopefully that fuels me to get off to a hot start and give me a good chance for tomorrow on the back nine.
Q. How did you find the energy to run down 15 and high-five all the fans on the party hole?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I just blacked out. I don't know. I have no idea.
Q. You had a lot of eagle chances out there today. This round could have been --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Could have been deep, yeah. Could have been a Jon Rahm round. He played great today, and hats off to him for coming back after yesterday. I guess that foot is feeling a little bit better.
Q. The team aspect of this really changes the game a little more everyone. How much do you and your teammates talk about the course after each round?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: After the round, Ban and I talk quite a bit after the round. Paul does his own thing. Charles, kind of the same thing.
We get talking if there's something going on. We're working on each other's games. We go ask, hey, what's going on, how you doing, what do you need to do, what happened on the course, anything I can help with. So very involved.
It's so cool to have the team aspect where if you're not playing great, you're fighting for other teammates, and that's what's so special about LIV Golf, and I've said it from day one, and I wish people would listen, but it is what it is, and I think people are starting to turn the corner and see what LIV Golf is and what the team aspect of it is and the value of it.
There's a lot of value to coming together and working as a team when we're not doing well. Shoot, a year and a half ago in Singapore, I was possibly in the worst professional point in my life, and those guys, Charles, Ban and Paul, just put full-force effort into making me feel better. I couldn't be more appreciative of that. It's what really turned the corner for me. It's because of my teammates that I'm here, in this moment right now.
Q. On the party hole, I couldn't see from my vantage point, but Greg was jokingly tending the flag. Was that planned?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I had no idea. I would have actually let him be there had I known it was Greg. I thought it was like a volunteer, and I couldn't see. It was all dark. I just didn't know it was him. If I knew it was him, it would have totally -- I would have totally been cool with that. I wasn't trying to wave him off. I didn't know who it was. I was like, what's going on, and at a certain point in time, I'm like, I'm just going to hit it, and that's when he started walking off already.
I don't know what the rules are on that, but I'm sure he asked.
Q. Is that kind of what maybe makes that type of hole fun or what it's supposed to be?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah.
Q. You're cool there's no rules on it?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, there are rules. We play according to the USGA and R&A. But it's cool, and just relaxing a little bit and making it a fun environment. We're still competing. This isn't -- you've got all of us fighting pretty much for every single shot no matter what because it's team driven and individual driven.
But it's fun. It's fun to be able to, for one hole, go, oh, look at this environment, this is sweet. Let's give the fans a little something special. Yeah, I love it.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about the course? What has impressed you about the conditions or the way it's playing? What has been your view? What holes have you enjoyed?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, the green complexes are very difficult. Holes are tricky, and if you get on the wrong side of the hole, you can have a very difficult putt. A lot of the green complexes remind me of Pinehurst, to be honest with you. Everything falls off the edges and sides, and not as severe as Pinehurst, but there are definitely areas where you can get into some big trouble if you put it in the wrong place.
Q. What's the hardest hole out here?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Probably 6. I would say 6 is the hardest hole. For me at least. It's a tight driving hole and then you've got water all down the left-hand side. It's a difficult shot.
Q. Just curious, this week I imagine your phone has been blowing up nonstop. Anybody surprising, anybody interesting? Kind of the wildest person that reached out that maybe you didn't expect?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: There is a few and I'll keep that confidential just out of respect for them. There was someone on the other side of the coin, not on LIV, that texted me that I was very appreciative of. It's not who you think it would be, but there was a few that reached out, and I was really appreciative of them reaching out. That was definitely cool.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports