Daniel Berger: “I'm happy to be back. I love competing.”

Daniel Berger was part of the incredibly successful US Ryder Cup team that defeated the Euros at Whistling Straits in the fall of 2021. And then came the pain from a bulging disc in his back which was finally diagnosed by Stuart McGill, a spinal specialist who had helped Luke Donald. Donald had his own back woes, and McGill helped him.

Anything is worth a try when pain comes calling. And Berger didn’t want to have surgery.

“I know people are like, you know, why isn't he playing good and this and that. It's just a matter of being patient and eventually good things come around,” he said to media after firing a third-round 66 at the RSM Classic.

Because he was unable to play for so long, the time ate into his exemption on the PGA Tour.

“I won in 2021, so I had a three-year exemption at that point,’ he explained. “I missed half of '22 and all of '23 and I got no credit for that from the Tour, so basically, I just gave up a year and a half of status. For whatever reason, you can't take a medical when you have a multiyear exemption.”

According to his calculations, Daniel Berger missed 19 months and then played 23 events.  

He didn’t expect to come out and have the same results as he had before the injury.   

“Regardless, when I play well, I'm going to be fine,” he said calmly. “If you think about it, when you miss that much amount of time, like it takes a little bit of a while to get back.”  

In addition, as he said after his round, golf changed while he was unable to play. There was the LIV situation, the change to Signature Events, change in courses used, and because he didn’t have the same status when he returned as when he left the tour, he had to play events that he had never played on courses he had never seen. But he is taking a positive attitude and doing what he can do to get back to where he was, which was 19th in the world at his peak.

However, Berger’s not afraid of the competition. Typically, no golfer is. So don’t take his next comment the wrong way.  

“When I play 1/10th of what I'm capable of, I'm at a level that's -- it's going to sound terrible, but I think I'm just at a different level than some of the other guys I'm competing against,” he said. 

Well, he was a pick for a Ryder Cup team, and that’s usually the top 12 players in the US. 

When asked about his routine these days to take care of his back, his answer was as much about self-awareness and maturity as anything else.

“It's probably what I should have been doing the first seven years I was on Tour,” he added. “It's called being a professional. At 31 years old, like I don't think anybody that's playing professional sports feels perfect, but I literally feel 100 percent.”

As 2024 wore on, he said he felt better and better, compared to previous years when, by the end of the season, he felt worse and worse.

He’s also added a personal trainer and gone to a swing coach.

The personal trainer is Ben Shearer, again someone who worked with Luke Donald.

“Pretty much from the day I started working with him, that was like the change of when I started to get better,” Berger noted.

He also started working with Mark Blackburn on his swing. Blackburn was named PGA's 2020 Teacher, Coach of the Year.  He is also a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher. 

"I've had five caddies this year, I've had two coaches," Berger admitted about the changes. "It's just like a million things have changed, and I have whatever you want to call the status thing looming over me. It's just like you just have to forget about that stuff and give yourself the time."

Berger definitely has the talent, and he always seemed to be one player who has never been afraid to hit shots, in the Rickie Fowler mode. If his body continues to cooperate, the winner's circle shouldn't be far behind.