Dustin Johnson: “The Open…, you want to hit greens. Where you get in trouble is when you miss greens”

Q. Joined by Dustin Johnson. Dustin, how would you rate your performance today?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I thought I played very solid. Got off to a nice start. Struggled a little bit on 7, 8, and 9. Kind of gave a few shots away there. Other than that, played really well.

Didn’t get up and down on 7 and made bogey on 8 and 9 from the fairway, which you just can’t do. Other than that, I think it was a really solid day and I’m pleased with my performance.

Q. Important to build that momentum going into the latter part of The Championship?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, obviously you want to get off to a good start. The course is fairly receptive. You can drive it in the fairway and definitely make some birdies. Obviously there is a few holes where you’ll take par every single time and keep on going.

There is definitely opportunities out there, and I just need to — if I keep driving it well I’m going to play well.

Q. You had 14 greens in regulation today over the 18. How important was that for such a solid round?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, out here especially playing The Open, you want to hit greens. Where you get in trouble is when you miss greens.

So I feel like especially — it’s definitely a bit of wind out there today. It didn’t play easy, but it was scorable if you were in the fairway. That’s what I feel like I did a good job of, is hitting it in the fairway and after that hitting the greens.

Q. With the weather conditions relatively consistent over the weekend, do you feel that it suits you and maybe you have a strong chance of contending?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, if I keep playing the way I am, absolutely. I feel like obviously I want to — need to go out and shoot another solid score tomorrow. If we keep these conditions obviously the course will continue to get a little bit firmer, play a little bit more tricky.

But like I said, if you can drive it in the fairway the course — you can attack the golf course. The rough is pretty penal and obviously the bunkers are always penal.

Interview transcript by asapsports.com