Q. 2-under 68. Hard to come by red numbers today. What was working well for you?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I felt like a lot of things were working well for me. I was driving it well. My iron play was impeccable. When I got into trouble, wasn’t able to get out of it as well today as yesterday, but when I was in the fairway I was able to attack and take advantage, and finished really well today. I hit a great drive on 6, great drive on 8, great shot on 7, and a great drive on 9 that just set me up to be able to attack that flag today, and that was a fun way to finish off at a U.S. Open so far. It’s great.
Q. You said yesterday the key was missing the drivers in the right spots. Can you give me an example today of missing one in the right spot, missing one in the wrong spot?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Missed one in the wrong spot on 2, so I hit it to the right and just — you’ve got nothing. I tried to get over the tree, was too far back. Kind of spun one up in the air and really didn’t have a chance. I tried to go for it, didn’t come out, got lucky, it bounced back in the first cut, got it out.
And then another one, let’s see, 16. Hitting driver all the way up into the right rough past that dogleg, I still had pitching wedge to the front edge and it was just a pretty easy shot, and I left it short of the green but I was still able to play up to the flag, and I fortunately made that putt for birdie. So that was kind of where I felt like I missed it in the right spot.
Q. You followed up three bogeys with birdies today; how important do you think that bounce-back stat is here?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It’s important. It keeps your momentum going, I’ll tell you that. I don’t really have too much more to say on that other than the fact that you need momentum to keep playing well in a U.S. Open, and that’s what I was able to do today.
Q. One of the volunteers on the range today said you shut the place down last night. What was working for you today?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: So my wedges yesterday weren’t that good. I was flying them too far and I wanted to know what the problem was and we figured out what the problem was. It just was going farther than I thought it was. We didn’t practice them as well as I should have leading up to this tournament, but we made that adjustment, and it worked out beautifully for me today.
Q. What was the adjustment?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it was just saying on the devices that I was hitting it shorter than what it was actually going. So for example, like we calibrated — okay, this is — I’m trying to make it as easy as possible. So for me, my 47-degree flies normally 145. Well, last night I was hitting shots and it was flying 155. That’s what we were on the normalizing mode with that wind. And we just didn’t calibrate correctly. So I was flying everything 10 yards long consequently with my wedges. And we recalibrated all of them today, and I felt like they worked out really well today.
Q. What did you hit on 9 for your second?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Pitching wedge.
Q. Only two rounds under par so far today. How does that play into your confidence for this weekend?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I feel great. Confidence is at an all-time high right now, driving it well, iron play is fantastic, wedging is getting better each and every day, and I’m putting it like I know I can. So very happy.
Q. What part of your game do you get more confidence from, your driving, iron play or putting?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Iron play. If my iron play is great, I feel like I can play from anywhere. I know my driver is going to be going far; sometimes straight, sometimes a little crooked. But if I can hit my irons really well, then I feel like I’ll be good for the rest of the day.
Q. Bryson, you were the one guy before the tournament who said you were just going to hit it as far as you could at every opportunity —
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: And straight. I still want to hit it straight.
Q. But the fact that you have that in your arsenal, do you think your round today just shows you get more — you create more birdie opportunities —
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Absolutely.
Q. — than anybody else out here?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Absolutely.
Q. When you look at the conditions, what kind of an advantage does that give you?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I want it to play as hard as possible. I feel like there’s so many holes out here that I can take advantage of that some people can’t. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to win or anything. You’ve still got to execute, you’ve still got to hit the driver straight. If I’m hitting the driver far but all over the place, you can’t make birdies from the rough. It’s very difficult to. So I still have to work on hitting it straight while hitting it far. And that’s a unique combo that I’m going to strive for for the rest of my life.
Q. As far as scrambling, that seems like the other crucial component to have around here, so do you take as much from those times when you save par as —
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Absolutely. Phil gave me some great advice. He said when he almost won back in 2006, he said he had the best short game week of his life, so that’s just a testament to showing that you have to have a great wedge game out here.
I feel like my irons are great, the wedges are better, and short game needs to be worked on just a little bit. But I would say it’s been good so far, and that’s what I’m going to hopefully do this weekend.
Q. Wondering how hard it is to stay focused when you’re making a series of birdies and bogeys as opposed to steady pars.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it’s definitely ebbs and flows, but I’ve been working hard on that recently and trying to keep myself level-headed no matter what, and I feel like I did a great job of that today. Even on 5, made a dumb bogey, just didn’t play the right distance and consequently hurt myself there. And then on 6 I just focused up and I was able to stay patient and execute a great drive and make two great putts there.
Q. You mentioned in that TV interview that you want to be more and more patient. That’s something you can’t calibrate, to use your word. What does that process look like? How do you teach yourself that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: For me it’s been a lot of breathing. Been working hard with Neuropeak on that for a long time. I know I’ve talked about it before, but just keep breathing and try and let the advantages play themselves out, what I have, and if they don’t, so be it.
But as of right now, they’ve been doing well so far, and just know that I’m going to have a lot of opportunities if I keep driving it well.
Q. Do you see a noticeable difference if you get something like what you might term an unlucky bounce or something like that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It’s going to happen out here. I say it sometimes, like man, that was unlucky, but that’s just golf. It’s not me being other than just honest. It happens sometimes. I realize that and I’m okay with it. Everybody is subject to a bad break, and sometimes I wear the emotions on the sleeve a little bit, but I focus it right back up.
Q. The test yesterday, the test today, which one do you enjoy more and why?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: When I play well in these conditions, it’s a lot more enjoyable. But it is comforting yesterday when you feel like I can go after it and wind isn’t affecting it that much, I’m hitting it well.
I would personally say if I had to truly look back on it, I would say that this today is a more enjoyable test after I’m done because it shows who executed the shots the best for sure.
Q. So many people love to see carnage at a U.S. Open; why do you think that is, and were you one of them?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It’s relatable. I think it’s relatable to a lot of players out there. They struggle with their game and they don’t hit the greatest shots, and they like seeing carnage.
I’m going to look this afternoon and do the same thing, be seeing, like wow, that’s really difficult, because I experienced it and I appreciate it.
Q. Will you laugh or sympathize?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Sympathize. No, I’m not laughing at them. I won’t go there.
Q. Given the force that you play with, is it possible to impose your will on a U.S. Open?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That’s a great question. That’s a question for the gods. That’s a question for God. I don’t know if you can — I mean, Tiger has been able to do something like that many times before, so I think there is something, but human scientific research does not say that there’s anything about that.
Q. Are there times you are trying to do that?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s just got to go here, it’s just got to go here, and I think it’s more of a positive mindset that allows your brain to be in a better state so you can problem solve in your brain to know what you need to do to hit a shot. I think that’s kind of willing it.
Q. You mentioned breathing, right?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah.
Q. I think a lot of people struggle with that, who don’t play golf even, but how does it work for you?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A lot of deep, long breaths. So it’s sitting back, realizing the state you’re in and being able to take an eight-second breath in and then eight-second breath out. That’s just as simple as it gets for me.
Q. Count to eight?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It’s somewhere around there. I don’t do it perfectly on eight, but it’s definitely just to calm myself down.