LIV GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

October 30, 2022

Dustin Johnson

Talor Gooch

Patrick Reed

Pat Perez

Trump National Doral

Press Conference

Q. Obviously a pretty good round and you guys won, so it was needed --

PAT PEREZ: Cam played obviously amazing, but we played great as a team. Yeah, all the push-back, all the negative comments, everything we've gotten, at this point I really don't care. I mean, I don't care. I'm paid. I don't give a damn.

My team played unbelievable this year. I feel like I'm really part of something that I've never been part of, other than me and my caddie, we've just been just us our whole life. To have these guys and their caddies and families and coaches and everybody, it's just one big family now. I just couldn't be any happier. It's unbelievable.

Q. Did you feel any pressure, though, today, a little bit more?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: He should have. We had to count his score. He better have felt some pressure.

PAT PEREZ: I feel pressure every time. I just do. I don't want to let the team down. I want to play well every day, and today I finally was able to show up. I birdied two of my last three holes coming in and had a great up-and-down on the last hole to get up-and-down. You know, it was an unbelievable feeling to hole that last six-footer kind of down the hill and it go in.

I thought we had a one-shot lead there, and P-Reed birdied his last hole and then Cap came down and had to make that four-footer. It was a great atmosphere. You've got Cap and Cam going down the last hole, you can't script it any better. Two best players, just unbelievable.

Q. Did you figure when you made that putt, it was going to be the difference? What were you thinking when it went in?

PATRICK REED: When I was walking off No. 1, there was a scoreboard right there, and it said we were up by two, so all I could think about going into 2 was you've got to hit the fairway and just hit the green.

The cool thing is I've been fighting kind of that 80 to 85 percent iron shot, missing it left, and I knew if I hit it left on 2, it was toast. To pull off an iron shot and walk up there and see 6-under, 6-under, and knowing DJ is playing the last knowing that water is definitely not in play, that kind of gave me a smile seeing that, having an opportunity to make the putt and leave it up to Cap.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I was watching that putt. I watched it go right in the middle.

Q. Did you know where you were?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Hell yeah, I knew where I was. I was watching him make his putt. I was like, all right, I've just got to two-putt and we win because I knew Cam -- I played with Cam. He hit it to 10 feet for par. He made everything he looked at so I knew he was making it. I'm like, I've got to two-putt.

I actually hit a great putt, good speed, just misread it a little bit, left it a little outside the comfort range.

PATRICK REED: You just wanted some stress?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I did not. I do not like stress, so that was a little more stress than I was looking for. Too, it's different; if that was an individual tournament, it would have been no problem, that putt. It's straight in from three feet. But with it being the team aspect and I knew the whole team -- like I had to make that for the team to win -- I didn't like it very much. My hands were not real steady.

It was straight, and I did -- I don't know where I hit it on the putter face, but it went in the middle.

Q. Did you ever think your success would lead you to doing a press conference in a gym?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't care where we do a press conference, but we've done them in some weird spots, so this is no different.

Q. Dustin, $35 million season, how do you sum up this year?

PAT PEREZ: That's split four ways, by the way. (Laughter.)

Q. For DJ, it's $35 million. How do you sum up this year in general?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's pretty good. I feel like it should have been a lot better, but I'm pretty happy with what ended up happening, obviously winning the team championship. That's what we came here for.

Personally, my season, yeah, you add up the numbers and it was great, but I played good -- I didn't play my best, so it always could be better, but that's golf.

But I'm just happy that the 4 Aces just won this tournament. That's all that matters.

Q. Pat, before the season started, you and I met and I interviewed you and you told me off mic a conversation you had with DJ before you joined. Would you mind to disclose that now?

PATRICK REED: Yeah, I was kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and DJ says, you have to come. Me having an option when I was coming, he's like, play this year on my team, and I'm like, yeah, of course.

After seeing London and watching a little bit of it on TV, I knew it was going to be a good decision, the right thing to do. I just needed DJ to push me over the edge a little bit, and it was an amazing decision, probably the best decision we made. Not only coming --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I was pushing for it.

PATRICK REED: Really, I love team events. I've always loved playing for something other than just myself, and besides my team, being able to play for these guys and be a part of a bigger team and bigger family, it just means a lot. To come out and play the way we did through the season is unbelievable, and can't wait for next year to keep it going.

Q. You guys dealt with a lot of doubters, a lot of haters, everyone here on this Tour. Sitting here today, speaking not just for yourselves but the whole LIV Tour, where do things sit and how do you feel about the future?

TALOR GOOCH: How could they ignore us now?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Just look at what happened today. Obviously, yeah, it was a team effort, but coming down the 18th hole, it ended up coming down to me and Cam playing the 18th hole to see who wins the team championship.

You couldn't have drawn it up any better, but I think that's what LIV is. Look at all the fans. Look how much fun they have. I think this season went incredible, and I think next season is going to be even better.

Q. For you, Pat, obviously great team success this year. I was wondering which room in your house you're going to hang the photo of DJ?

PAT PEREZ: He's right over my side of the bed. He'll be right over me so I can thank him every night again. (Laughter.)

Q. DJ, when you put this current roster together before Portland, did you envision running the table in America, and are you going to petition to have all 14 events in the United States next year?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, I would love that. Obviously that would be less travel and probably a lot more wins for us. But no, obviously I talked to Pat, and we don't need to go through the whole thing, but we just -- I was talking to him like look, I need you on my team. I don't want to pick anymore because the selection of guys I had to pick from, I didn't really like, for one, until I'm like, I want good players on my team because I don't want to get beat every week. So there we go.

Q. Just talk about the entire team effort; everybody was 2-under, 2-under, 2-under, 1-under, so it wasn't this big spread.

TALOR GOOCH: We were talking about it, that's what's so cool about today. It shows how just deep and good this team is. We were all under par. I don't think any other team was. Everybody pitched in. It was a true team effort, and it was just super cool.

I got off to a good start and then I kind of slowed down and I saw that we were still rising and I was like, all right, the team is stepping up.

That's what we've done all season. That's why we've won as much as we've won and we've been the dominant team because everybody has risen when they've needed to, so it's been awesome.

Q. Do you feel like it was match play out there at one point between you and Cam?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I was just -- I kept looking at the leaderboard. I knew we were doing all right. But I played really good on the front, just didn't make any putts, and shoot 1-over. I knew I was playing well, so just keep doing what you're doing. Every tee shot I hit was six inches into the rough, which is not fun to play out of here. So going into the back nine, I'm like, I've got to step up for my team.

I knew we were right there, and obviously, too, in this format with all four scores counting, the leaderboard, we all four made birdie, they all four made bogey, that's eight shots that can flip in a heartbeat.

Just play your game, try to make some birdies, and just rely on the other guys to do what they do.

Q. You've got 14 of these events next year and four majors. That's a little more than you played this year. Are you up for that?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know, I'm getting a little old. I don't know if I can handle it.

Q. Pat, I just want to ask you, knowing that you needed to step up today, this probably isn't the type of course that would be at the top of your list. Could you just talk about the difficulty of playing it at this point and maybe what was going through your mind --

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I've played this course a lot but not since whenever we left. I don't think I've broken par since about '03. I knew I had my hands full getting here, but I got here last Saturday. Claude and I worked all week trying to get -- hit a shot and get the shots right, hit it down the center so I could be really comfortable by yesterday really, and today I knew if I just continued with what I was doing, I was going to be able to stand up on these holes that you have to be able to hit a shot.

There's holes out here like 10 you have to be able to hit a great drive, 9 you've got to trust it, 4 is the same way, 3. There's a bunch of them. I felt comfortable Friday night starting out Saturday when I played with Talor, I just knew I was going to be able to do it. I knew if I plugged away, plugged away, hit my spots -- the putter was great. I knew if I could stay with it and trust it that I was going to be able to play well today.

TALOR GOOCH: He played great. In our foursome yesterday, he played great. Like we shot even par as an alternate shot, which is just -- for the last month when we've known that that was the format, DJ keeps saying, out there just make a bunch of pars and you'll be all right. Technically we made 18 pars and we only won by one. We played great, so he balled yesterday. Pat Perez came through for us clutch this week. It was huge.