Media Center Interviews
April 4, 2025
Second Round Interview with Daniel Berger
Q. Daniel, really putting well this year and these last two days seem to be a continuation of that. Do you feel comfortable on the greens here in the Hill Country?
DANIEL BERGER: Yeah. I think one of the things that I always struggled with was a little bit slower greens, I think I was always better on faster greens. I spent a lot of time on my stroke in the last three, four months and I think it's starting to pay off.
The reason I say that, because I think I'm able to adjust to the different speeds of the greens, so I feel comfortable out here, and then next week at Augusta, I feel comfortable going to a place where they will be much faster. It's just nice to see some putts go in.
Q. Daniel, speaking of reading putts and greens, how were conditions out there this morning with a little bit of cloud cover and not so much wind?
DANIEL BERGER: Well, I think we teed off in the dark, I could barely see the ball off the first tee, but I've also never teed off at 7:20 in the morning. So that was tough, but obviously it is what it is. As the day went on it really didn't get much better until probably around the seventh or eighth hole. It's a challenge and other guys have to deal with it as well. Played well in the first six or seven holes and kind of got my round going.
Q. What's the contrast like going from a late tee time to early, particularly on this golf course?
DANIEL BERGER: A 4:00 a.m. wakeup call. Listen, it's part of the game. Obviously they've added some spots in the field this week to get some guys in, so I think that kind of affected some of the tee times because there's more players playing. They had to maybe go a little earlier than they wanted to. Sunrise was 7:19 and we teed off at 720, so I'm not a huge fan of that.
Q. Are you staying here on property?
DANIEL BERGER: Yeah, I am.
Q. At least you have that advantage?
DANIEL BERGER: Yeah, it makes it easier.
Q. You talked a little before over there about the appreciation for the game right now. When things came easy to you when you were younger in your career, early in your career, what's it like this second kind of time through?
DANIEL BERGER: Well, I think I don't take anything for granted. Earlier in my career I maybe would have skipped a few of the essentials that I would never skip now, whether that be in the gym or the recovery component of it.
I think I'm much more of a professional now than I was early on in my career. And I think that I'm still young in the golf world, I'm 32. I feel like I have a lot of golf left in me and a lot of good golf left in me. Like I was telling Damon, I think missing that year and a half was actually a huge benefit to me because I learned things that I would have had to learn the hard way if I didn't have if I hadn't gone through that experience.
Q. Haven't played in a major in a long time, haven't played in Augusta in a while.
DANIEL BERGER: I played the U.S. Open last year and finished 20th, but other than that, I missed Augusta a couple years in a row. But go ahead, sorry.
Q. I'm just saying what's it like to get ready to play Augusta again?
DANIEL BERGER: It's exciting. Obviously any professional golfer's dream is to win majors and you can't win 'em unless you're qualified for 'em, so that's the first goal.
Then the second thing is to continue to do the same process that I've been doing the last six months. You don't go to these majors and change everything that you've been doing. Really stick to the process, do the same thing I've been doing and whatever happens is going to happen.
Q. Last one. You missed the cut, like we talked about, twice at this event and you said, jeez, I don't know why I came back here. Does this make you kind of reevaluate the different player that you are now when you look at your schedule in the future, because this isn't a place you had success and now clearly you like it?
DANIEL BERGER: I think it just was traumatic the first couple times I played this. The first year I played it, it blew like 40 miles an hour and it was really, really tough. But actually I play better on tougher golf courses so when I was trying to decide between Houston and here, it was pretty easy to circle this one on the schedule knowing that it's the test that it is.
Q. Kind of building on that, the fact that you have played so well on a course that has given you trouble, what does that mean that you've been able to play so well so far?
DANIEL BERGER: Well, I think it's just a testament to the work that I've put in over that year and a half. It's a lot of self belief and a lot of, I mean, inner confidence to have to go through that and to still believe in yourself and still believe that there's going to be this light at the end of the tunnel even though it can look dark for a long period of time. So it's nothing that other athletes don't go through, but you really have to have a great team around you and a good support system around you to be able to kind of endure those tough moments.
Q. Is an example of that the way that you finished after the bogey on 5, you were able to kind of finish it strong and still
DANIEL BERGER: Yeah, really just hanging in there. You know that the course is going to be tough, you know that it's not going to take 25 under par to win the golf tournament and you're going to hit bad shots out here and you just have to bounce back.
