LIV GOLF INVITATIONAL SERIES: BOSTON

September 2, 2022

Talor Gooch

Joaquin Niemann

The International

Press Conference

Q. Joaquin, I'm going to ask you what I just asked Cam. Golf is golf, you played your round today, it was your first round of golf here, but everything outside of the golf, the crowd, the music, the environment, how did you find it now that you have the first round in the books?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: No, it was so much fun. I was talking the whole round with Talor how nice it is to have a competitive golf round where you're really into it and you hit a bad shot or a good shot when you're walking and hear the music and have a different mood. I was surprised how young the whole crowd was. Yeah, it was a lot of electric atmosphere, so it was fun.

Q. Talor, do you think because you grew up in a boring state, that motivated you to get really good at golf so you could get the hell out of there?

TALOR GOOCH: Yes and no. Yes, so I could travel out of there, but no, because it's a boring state but it's a great state, and that's why I'm still there.

Q. Joaquin, what is going to be the meal of choice after the round, and why is it a smoothie?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: When you say what was going to be the meal, I'm eyeing the Chipotle that was next door.

Q. Talor, just wanted to ask you about your round. You were 7-under through 11, I think. What were you thinking at that point? How was it going? Were you thinking 60, 61?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, when you get it going that early, you start thinking, all right, let's put the foot on the gas and go --

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: You could shoot 54.

TALOR GOOCH: I wish I could have, golly. I wouldn't be here right now if I did. But when you get off to a hot start, you start thinking let's take this as deep as we can. Unfortunately we didn't get too deep today, but it was still a good day.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the Four Aces. I think the Hy Flyers are in first place. It looks like they've come to play this week.

TALOR GOOCH: Hey, I feel like the Aces kind of have a target on our backs right now, which is good. It's three rounds. Pat came in and had a good round today, so hopefully we can kind of get back on top the next couple days.

Q. Obviously you've never been here before, first time you've played the course. What did you think of the course, and how did it differ from other courses you've played?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I love this course. I like how you are on the tee box and you only see one hole. Normally you see a lot of grass all over the place, and here you've got a lot of trees and a lot of danger if you hit a bad shot. I think it's one of those courses where you've got to put it in play, and then from there you can shoot pretty low.

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, it's a beautiful course. I played at Oklahoma State, and the course we play there is called Karsten Creek --

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Oh, yeah, yeah. I've played that one.

TALOR GOOCH: It's kind of similar from a sense of the only hole you see is the one you're playing, and you have some room, but if you hit a bad shot, it's going to be costly.

I really like it, and it's reminiscent of what I grew up playing in college.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, and if it gets windy, you don't feel the wind, and then once the ball gets up in the air, it's like whoosh.

Q. What did you think of the reception you got from the fans?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, it was amazing. I was having a great time. Everybody was really excited that I was there, that I'm here. Yeah, I really appreciate the atmosphere of the fans, and yeah, it was something special.

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I mean, growing up a sports fan in Oklahoma, you always think of -- Boston, you think of the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, so you just think of what great sports fans Bostonians have.

It was a really, really cool atmosphere, and not too much heckling, which you always expect a little bit from Boston, so it was a blast. It was great.

Q. When you step on the course, you have like expectations for yourselves already, but is there any extra motivation just because you might want to set a bar for how the competition level and the quality will be in this new environment?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I mean, I was talking with DJ on the range before the round, like he goes, I'm more motivated now than I've been the last 10 years. I keep saying when there's only 48 guys, it's going to expose the guys that don't play well, and you don't want to be the guy that doesn't play well, especially for your teammates.

I think iron sharpens iron, and when your team is good, bad or anything in between, you don't want to be the guy bringing up from behind. That's what's so cool about the team aspect, I think, is each round you want your score to count, and you don't want to be the guy that has gone two, three rounds like hey, I haven't contributed --

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: You've been doing pretty good, though.

TALOR GOOCH: I've got a good team. But no, I think that team atmosphere just elevates everybody to a higher performing level.

Q. I'm not sure how many holes you could hear music on, but could you hear music on certain holes, and what was that like?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, not enough holes. I wish there was music on every hole. There's a few out there that there wasn't music on. I think last tournament at Bedminster, I think like every hole at Bedminster had music. We were talking about literally coming down the first hole after we teed off, he was just smiling, and I go, this is cool, huh, and he goes, I love the music. This is great.

I keep telling people, when every golfer is at home just golfing with your buddies, we all have music going. That's just what we do. I love it, and his smile coming down the first hole showed me that he loved it, too.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: But I would love to see some reggaeton music, Bad Bunny or something.

Q. Aren't people always telling people to be quiet when golfers are playing?

TALOR GOOCH: So I trust the music to keep doing the same thing. Fans, occasionally they will scream or -- when there's 20 fans, there's just like that little bit of noise here and there, it's different than when the music is just playing. That's where it can get a little bit distracting when it's an off sound where someone drops a phone or a phone goes off or someone starts talking to a buddy versus the music that's just going the whole time.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, if you know the beat of the song, though.

TALOR GOOCH: That's exactly right. It helps you get your rhythm right.