THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Dustin Johnson, captain of 4Aces GC. 4-under par round of 67. You're currently co-leading after round 1. Can you take us through your day.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously it was really solid. Tough conditions. It was really windy, tough flags. Played pretty solid. Made a few mistakes. Hit some really poor wedge shots.
Other than that, bogeying 3 with a wedge from the fairway and then had a few good chances coming in. But other than that, it was a really solid day. Hit a lot of really good iron shots. Drive it halfway decent. When I did miss it, I missed it on the right side and gave myself opportunities.
Q. What are some of the main takeaways now heading into the weekend for you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I need to sharpen up a few things. Definitely need to drive it a little straighter and wedge it a little bit better, too. I had quite a few good looks from the fairway with wedges that I did not hit as close as I would have liked to, but I putted good, and I feel really comfortable with the putter. The greens are rolling nice. Just got to get myself on the green.
Q. You've talked all season that you've said the scores haven't really reflected your performance most of the time. Do you feel like you're getting closer to where the scores are more reflective now?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, it's close. I feel like I'm always close, and it only takes a couple shots here or there where my game just clicks back and I start playing good again.
Got off to a little bit of a shaky start today but then started hitting some quality shots and rolled in a couple putts and kind of turned it around and finished off with a nice solid day today.
Q. The last few tournaments, the first round haven't been all that great and you've kind of had to play catch-up on the weekend. How nice is it to be up there at the top now?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, especially with three rounds, you've got to get off to a good start. That's the most important. That's important in any golf tournament, but getting off to a good start is really important out here, especially with the quality of players that we have. It's hard to come from behind.
You need to be within a couple shots of the lead going into Sunday to have a chance.
Q. You've had this great stretch where you've won a tournament basically every year that you've been a pro. How much is it on your mind now as we're getting later into the season?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, I probably wouldn't have thought about it until you just asked me. Obviously I've got two chances here, this week and next week, so we'll see what happens. I'm playing a few more events in the fall, so the year is not over yet.
Q. You were playing really well leading into the UK, didn't obviously have a great week there, but A.J. wasn't with you. Now he's back. Did that help settle things down this week?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, it definitely helps. To be honest, even in the UK, I did not play nearly as bad as my score. I know my score was horrible, but I actually hit a lot of good shots. I felt like every time I hit a good shot it was a foot off from being really good and ends up in a bad spot. Obviously those greens and that golf course is pretty tricky. Just scored horribly.
But yeah, having A.J. on the bag definitely -- he's been on the bag for a long time now, so when he's not on the bag, it's definitely a little bit different.
Lordy did a good job, but definitely prefer having A.J. on the bag.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports