LIV GOLF MAYAKOBA

February 23, 2023

Sergio Garcia

Abraham Ancer

Carlos Ortiz

Eugenio Chacarra

El Camaleón Golf Course

Fireballs

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Hi, everybody. Welcome to LIV Golf Mayakoba 2023. We are joined today by team Fireballs. We have Abraham Ancer, who's from Mexico; Sergio Garcia from Spain; Eugenio Chacarra from Spain; and Carlos Ortiz from Mexico. Welcome guys.

First for Carlos and Abe, how excited are you guys to be playing a LIV Golf event in Mexico?

ABRAHAM ANCER: We're definitely pumped. Me and Carlos are huge fans of this golf course and hotels. It's always been a treat to come here.

Having an event of this magnitude in our home country is absolutely amazing. I know I'm going to be a little nervous to play. I really want to play good in front of my people, but it's also very, very special to play an event like this in our home country. We're going to really, really enjoy it.

THE MODERATOR: Carlos?

CARLOS ORTIZ: We're really excited. I'm really excited to be back here. Obviously after everything that happened, we didn't know when we were going to play back again here in Mexico. Somehow you guys made it happen.

So we're super excited and grateful that you guys really made the effort to bring a LIV event here to Mexico. I love this place. I've always played great. I'm really excited to show all the Mexicans what LIV is about.

I really think they're going to love it. It's going to fit perfectly with the culture. They like partying and drinking, and I think there's a lot of that around here. So it's going to be a good time.

THE MODERATOR: You guys had a really good season last year. You guys won one event. Eugenio, you won the individual for one of the events. How do you guys feel about your games and coming in as a team this year?

SERGIO GARCIA: Obviously, I can speak for myself, but I love these guys. I think they're amazing players, beautiful, beautiful people. We're really excited about the new season. Obviously it's a little bit longer season. So you have to be at a high level consistently.

Yeah, I feel good. I know that they feel great too. So we're super excited to start here in Mexico, and hopefully we'll get started the right way.

THE MODERATOR: Eugenio, how are you feeling going into this year coming off a great season for you?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Yeah, it was fun. Sergio said pretty much everything. We all love each other, all of us, so it's nice to be back. It's been a long preseason, but I work hard with my team. I know they did as well. I played with them 18 holes this week, and they're all playing great.

I'm excited to start. I'm feeling good. My body feels good. I'm hitting the ball good, and my mental game is back good.

Hopefully I can help the team to have another week, and hopefully like Sergio said, we can start in the right way.

THE MODERATOR: Were you guys able to play together as a team in the off-season at all?

SERGIO GARCIA: Not quite. I think we played maybe once or twice, played with Abraham. But got to see Carlos a little bit in Florida when we went to do the shoot for LIV, and obviously saw all of them at our charity event in Austin. So that was really nice.

We kept in touch obviously, checking on each other and making sure that everyone is in good shape.

Q. Essentially you guys have two home games, here and Valderrama. How important will that be to take advantage of these opportunities especially as you're trying to catch the 4Aces?

CARLOS ORTIZ: What do you mean catch? They're not --

SERGIO GARCIA: We haven't started yet. Did they win already? We haven't started (laughter).

EUGENIO CHACARRA: I think we -- speaking for myself but obviously the team, there are two weeks we want to do good. I think having the people on our way helping us, and I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of people following Carlos and Abraham because obviously they're playing in Mexico.

Sergio and me, we also feel like we can help them to raise the trophy at the end of the week. Hopefully we can all play good, be ourselves, and if we do that, I think we're going to be in a good spot coming into Sunday.

ABRAHAM ANCER: I think both countries are very passionate and very passionate about team sports too. I think that's going to be big for us. Hopefully we can channel that energy for good play, but I think the energy is going to be very equal from me and Carlos and Chacarra and Sergio. I think everybody is going to be pulling for the four of us pretty equally.

It's going to be nice to do that and to have two tournaments where we're going to feel at home and have the energy and push from the crowds.

Also two golf courses that I -- this one I love, but I haven't played Valderrama, but since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to be there. Just talking to these guys, who have been there quite a bit, and they say I'm going to love it too. So I can't wait to be there.

Q. Sergio, obviously you didn't need to make a lot of roster changes but the other teams did. Do you feel like it won't be a dominant team this year, but it will be more competitive? Looks like a lot of the teams got stronger.

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think there's been a lot of good players coming in, in some of the other teams that obviously needed a little bit. So it's going to be fun to see how everything develops.

Obviously I have an amazing team, super happy with it, so I didn't have to look anywhere else. I think that we look really strong. We feel great about each other.

But I definitely think that there's going to be -- there's definitely going to be two or three teams that maybe last year struggled a little bit and they're definitely going to look -- they look stronger on paper starting the season.

Q. One last question for Carlos. You have a really good track record here. How different do you think the course will play this month versus in November when you usually play here?

CARLOS ORTIZ: I actually think it's a lot different. It's probably the best shape I've seen it. The rough is high. The greens are firmer and faster. The wind is a little bit stronger. I think overall the golf course plays faster. I think it's going to be a good challenge. I'm excited.

I think it's the first time it's going to be a little bit more challenging.

Q. Sergio, as the captain, have you found yourself having to get involved a little bit more in the business aspect of the team model? In that regard, what have you done, and what can you say you're perhaps looking forward to having happen?

SERGIO GARCIA: Obviously we have our team managers that take care of most of that, but yeah, without a doubt I've been -- as a captain, I have to be a little bit more involved and kind of give them my opinion and what I think we should do here and there, obviously within the parameters that we can do things.

And at the end of the day, I'm just trying to fight as much as possible for the team and for these three guys to make sure that they're happy to be on the team, that they're willing to give everything not only for themselves but for the team, and that's pretty much the other thing that I've been working on and trying to do.

Q. Eugenio, you're one of the few players who joined LIV straight from being an amateur. Have you talked to other amateurs about what that move has been like, and if so, what do you tell them about your experience with LIV so far?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: People saw I was the first amateur to make the move to come to LIV, and there have been questions on everything. All great things to say. I definitely think I made the right decision. I think I'm getting better just not as a player, but also as a person. I'm learning from pretty much the best players in the world every single week.

I mean, I'm not saying every one is here, but I'm pretty sure most of them are here. And I'm lucky to have Sergio, Abraham, and Carlos got me on this team, and I'm learning a lot. This has been unbelievable. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited to be here. Like I say every time, I'm just learning and getting better.

That was my goal when I wanted to turn pro after college, just get better as a person and as a player. I think without LIV and without these guys, I wouldn't be where I am right now. Definitely was the right decision. Every college player friend that asks me, I always give them my advice.

I'm super happy to be here and excited to start the new season here.

Q. Any regrets about waiting a little bit to try your way on the PGA TOUR at all?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Not at all. Here's where I want to be, and hopefully I can be here the rest of my life. I'm happy and learning and playing with friends and playing for a team just as well as for myself. It's where I want to be.

I'm lucky enough to be here, and I'm always going to try to help the team get better as a person and as a player.

Q. A bit of a different logo. A couple of changes. What do you guys think compared to last year's?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, we worked on it obviously with LIV and their production team. We're really happy. I think that -- I mean, we like the logo from last year, but I think this is, like talking to friends of mine and businessmen and stuff, they've all told me this logo, they feel like it's a logo more people can wear. The other one was nice, but it was probably a little bit more kid related, a little bit too young maybe.

So that's a good feedback to have from businessmen that have done great things in their -- where they work and everything. So we're obviously happy to hear those things.

Q. Sergio, you're a big factor in team sport within golf, in the Ryder Cup. This is a new development, never tried before in professional golf. So how do you feel the team dynamic changes the experience of playing golf for you?

SERGIO GARCIA: For me, personally I love, like you were saying, I love team play. I always have, obviously even before I had the pleasure of playing the Ryder Cup. But I've always loved soccer, and that's the ultimate team sport.

So obviously to be able to kind of replicate a lot of the feelings that you get in a Ryder Cup every week with four guys that you're friends with, that you care about, and that you spend a lot of time with, it's amazing. For me it's a dream come true because I've always loved this kind of team format, and that's one of the biggest reasons why we're here.