LIV GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

October 27, 2022

Sergio Garcia

Abraham Ancer

Eugenio Chacarra

Carlos Ortiz

Trump National Doral

Fireballs Press Conference

Q. Sergio, the first question about your knee; how is it now? Can you kind of give us an update?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, well, I had an MRI last week, and unfortunately I have a torn meniscus, but I can play through it. That's the good thing.

After our charity event in Austin beginning of November, then I'll get it cleaned up and we'll be ready to go for the beginning of the season. Thanks for asking, by the way.

Q. I did want to ask you, too, you've played in 10 Ryder Cups, obviously have a lot of other team events, but this is a pretty unique format. Can you just talk about your approach to this format, two days of match play, one stroke play and then also being captain and having to determine the lineups?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously it's a little bit of a different format, but it's a team event, and we're super excited about it.

The most exciting thing for me is to sit along with these three guys. They're amazing players, and for me as a captain, it's very easy to decide, obviously talk to them and to decide who to put where, because they give me a lot of options.

We're looking forward to it. Obviously we get the bye tomorrow, but then we've got to be ready on Saturday to play hard, and our goal is to make Sunday and then see what we can do there on Sunday.

It's very exciting, and we're thrilled to be here and have a chance of making Sunday.

Q. Geno, obviously you had to go right into another tournament after winning in Bangkok. You didn't really probably get a chance to celebrate too much. Have you had a chance to finally reflect on winning your first professional event?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Well, yeah, we had a nice dinner in Bangkok on Sunday, but then needed to go to Jeddah the next week, so like you said, I didn't do much, but I just tried to get better every day. It's nice to win, but I'm the same guy that I didn't win before. It's just a thing you always want to do, win, but I just tried to learn from it, like each guy out here, and these guys help me a lot. It's been a nice journey, and hopefully I can keep playing good and helping the team to do good things.

Q. For all of you, just talking about how the Fireballs have performed since you guys have been together, obviously had a couple of thirds and then last two events, a first and a second, can you just talk about the momentum you guys have coming into this event?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I think we definitely started playing a lot more solid as a team towards the end of the regular season, so that was nice to see. We felt like we were playing pretty good the whole season, just we didn't really put -- well, at the time it was just two and then three on the last day. I feel like going to counting three every single day was really good for us because we felt like we had a really deep team, and it was nice to see it all come together in Bangkok, and seeing Chacarra play that solid just his first year as a professional, I'm sure he was feeling all the pressure, and he was making a lot of clutch putts.

We were just feeding off each other. We were looking at leaderboards every single hole. To be honest, I wasn't even worried about where I was, I was just looking at where we were as a team and how many birdies we needed to make to stay ahead of second place.

Yeah, it's nice to get that momentum going into this tournament, which is all about feeling good and having a lot of confidence coming into this type of golf course, too.

CARLOS ORTIZ: We're playing unbelievable. As you've seen, we've actually come together as a team. Eugenio actually won in Bangkok, which is unbelievable, and we all helped him a little bit, as much as we could. But other than that, Sergio has been playing great. I think he's finished top 10 pretty much the last four or five tournaments, even with a bad knee. He might if he had a good knee be winning.

But yeah, overall we're coming together. We're playing good. Obviously counting three out of four cards is much better for us because I think there's a lot of teams that didn't have such a deep team and they were just using one or two guys pretty much every day, and now we were all day right there.

If we didn't have a score counted it was pretty much tied or right there, so it's finally showing up.

I think we have great momentum coming into this week.

Q. Sergio, you always reveled in the emotions of a Ryder Cup and a team event. I know this is fresh and new without the history, but can you ever see a day where this could sort of tap in and create the same emotions as that?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yes. I mean, obviously the history of the Ryder Cup, it's second to none. I think at the end of the day we're super excited about what we're doing here. I think we're all winners here. We're trying to kind of keep building everything that we're trying to do here and make it better and better.

I think the emotions are going to be there, and as we go along, it's going to catch more and more momentum, and it's going to get even more exciting.

We're super thrilled to be a part of it, and I'm sure you'll see starting tomorrow -- like I said earlier, in other weeks, for me, playing team events, it's always been a lot of fun. It's what I've always thrived on.

You can see it throughout the season, even on first rounds and stuff like that, when it's stroke play, I get excited when I make a putt because I know it's not just for me, it's for these three guys, too. I think this week is going to be even more exciting because of match play on Saturday. Every shot counts. Then obviously on Sunday even more because all four rounds count.

I think you're definitely going to see a lot of excitement out there.

Q. It was obviously a big decision for your career to come and play here. I just wonder about your year in general; what have you seen that has matched your expectations, superceded your expectations? What has made you so comfortable that you've made completely the right decision?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I feel like we've -- I can only speak for myself, but I've definitely made the right decision. I feel like I'm where I want to be.

Obviously I knew some of the things that might happen if I joined here, but at the end of the day, as we're seeing, you can see that some of the guys on the other side don't really want me there. I don't want to be a burden to anyone and even less in a Ryder Cup. I'd rather be away from that as much as it hurts and make sure that Europe has the best chance of winning than me being there and three or four guys that are going to be there are going to be upset or something.

I think the Ryder Cup is bigger than any of us or me for that matter, even with my record, and I'm happy to be able to be here and enjoying my time with my three partners and trying to build something that is very exciting and that we're extremely proud of.

Q. Carlos and Abe, we talked about having maybe an extended off-season. I don't know when you guys plan to play again. My guess is it's two and a half, three months, whatever the case may be. What are you going to do? I'm guessing outside of injury you've never run into a situation where you've had two or three months off as a professional?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I'm actually really excited. I don't think I've had an off-season ever since I turned pro. It's going to be nice for my body for once. I'm going to have some time to really work on it and feel absolutely fresh and get even maybe a little bit stronger, maybe a little bit faster if I can. I've got to keep up with these guys. I'm only 5'6", 5'7", so I've got to squeeze everything out of my body to keep up.

It's definitely going to be nice. I'm going to spend obviously some time with my family, which is going to be nice. I'm going to be probably at my ranch a lot just enjoying it and working on my game, obviously. I'm probably going to play maybe a little bit here and there. I just don't know where or when.

But yeah, I'm excited for these next couple months coming up.

CARLOS ORTIZ: Yeah, same. I think finally having an off-season is awesome, being able to spend time with my girls, my family, and work on the game. It's always hard when you only have four weeks off to take time off, have an off-season, practice and rest at the same time. So we're finally going to have time to do everything, and I'm actually pretty excited. I don't know what I'm going to do with so much time off. I'm looking forward for that.

Q. Rory was saying yesterday that he's afraid that if things carry on with this kind of us and them that things might be beyond repair in golf. What you were saying about the Ryder Cup and wanting to stay away, not to be a distraction or whatever suggests that you feel it is a little bit beyond repair. Do you agree with that, or do you see some hope that people could get round the table at some stage?

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't have a problem. You're asking the wrong person. That's all I'm going to say. I don't have a problem with any one of them.

Q. Sergio, I feel like you have taken your captaincy the most serious and the Fireballs team really seems like the most collective team. You guys really do everything together, and it just shows. For the other guys, how has Sergio been as a captain?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Sergio is pretty damn fiery. He's super competitive, and I feel like that rubs on us quite a bit. You can tell, if we're playing ping-pong or playing just a birdie game or anything really, he's extremely competitive, and that carries on obviously to golf. We played together in Boston, and that was a lot of fun. I've never really had that experience playing stroke play with your teammate and we were just fist pumping making pars or making a birdie and we were just pushing each other to perform better.

I think he's a great captain. He absolutely loves this team -- this aspect of team golf. I think he's done a great job, and it's been a lot of fun to play on this team.

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Yeah, I think he pretty much said everything. Sergio is doing a great job. He's helping each one of us. He's always involved, looking for each one of us, and he's trying to make us better players but also better persons, and I feel it's been great so far. We all love him so much, and I think we've always been a part of his family but we are now and we are just trying to make him proud, make him like he put us -- like he let us be in his team and he trusts us so we're trying to just give him back all the trust he gives for us, and I feel he's doing an amazing job for all of us. I think we're all very thankful for being in his team and being around him.

CARLOS ORTIZ: Copy/paste. No, I'm just kidding. He's been great.

Obviously we've all seen how passionate he is when it comes to teams, but before that he's always been a great mentor. Since I made it on Tour, he's been there for me, he's been teaching me the ropes. He's been a captain to me even before I was on his team, so for me it's an honor playing for him and being led by him.

I'm going to make him proud.

SERGIO GARCIA: Thank you. You are. You all are.

Q. Sergio, your team gels so well. You guys really do act like a family. When you were picking the guys for your team, what went into that, and are you impressed? Are you proud? What are you feeling right now sitting up here with your team, how you've been so successful in this first season?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I'm super proud. I couldn't be prouder of them. Obviously I wanted to have the best quality players I could have, but at the same time I wanted to have good quality guys that we could get along, that we would have a good camaraderie between all of us. I think obviously we're all friends, and that definitely helps and it shows.

Like Abraham said, unfortunately I haven't played with Carlos and Eugenio yet together, but we've played a couple of times, Abraham and I, through the series, and it's fun. I love it. I love to be there for my teammate, to push him, to try to help him when he makes a bogey and cheer him on when he makes a birdie or something like that.

It's great fun. I've loved every minute of it. It's great to be a part of this team with these guys that, like I said, they're great players, but more than anything they're even better people. That's the most important thing.

Q. Sergio, I believe you are playing with the President this afternoon. Have you played with him before and are you looking forward to it?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I've played with him a couple times before he was President. But yeah, I'm excited about it. It's always an experience. I think I'm definitely going to be safe out there, well taken care of. No, but it should be great fun, and I'm excited about it.