LIV GOLF TUCSON

March 19, 2023

Sergio Garcia

Carlos Ortiz

Abraham Ancer

Eugenio Chacarra

The Gallery Golf Club

Fireballs GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Sergio, how does it feel to win your second team competition? Did you feel like you were making a run for the Aces?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, definitely. Obviously super excited about getting another team win after last year in Bangkok, and super proud of all of them. Obviously especially Carlos the way he played today. Shame he couldn't get the individual win.

But what a great effort, and we're excited and looking forward to Orlando, keep the run going, and just build up as much momentum as possible.

Q. Carlos, tell us a little bit about your round today and how you climbed the leaderboard like that.

CARLOS ORTIZ: I mean, it was a good round. I played pretty solid. I think I did a good job on taking advantage of the easy holes, and I just tried to hold on on the hard holes.

I think days like this are easy to move up the leaderboard if you shoot low, and I just did a good job today.

Q. Did you guys really feel the depth of the field out there this week and playing in these tough conditions?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Yeah, it was hard today. It definitely played like another course the first 14 holes, and it's just nice. It's just nice to see how courses can change, and for me I've only been a pro for six months, so I didn't have match experience on courses changing much, and people still scoring really good like Carlos did. It's just a way for me to get better, learn, but I'm super proud of all of them.

Carlos today had a heck of a run and helped the team win. We were talking, Sergio and me, that we both played not great today. We didn't have our best, and pulling the team win with not even three of us having our best is something that makes this team and this group special, so I think looking forward for the rest of the season, and I like our chances.

ABRAHAM ANCER: 100 percent, yeah. I think as a team, we mesh really well. I think we all pitched in at the right times. Yeah, it's funny because today the 18 holes, Sergio, Chacarra, we felt like we didn't play very good at all, but Carlos definitely bailed us out today, and like I said, we did a really good job to play good at the right times as a team, and that's what's got us the trophy.

Q. Could you take us through the day? At one point you guys were up by 12 strokes and then it got a little close at the end. When did you guys know that you were in control of the tournament from a team standpoint?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, it looked -- obviously I was looking at the board and it looked like Carlos started really well, Abraham started fairly well, I struggled a little bit, and Chacarra also struggled a little bit early on. We knew that it was playing very tough, so it was going to be difficult for a team to put three good scores, so we got off to a big lead, and then I was fighting to try to give myself a chance at winning the individual but also at the same time to make sure that I didn't do anything stupid to hurt the team.

I think that obviously when I got to I think it was 13 and I saw that the team was leading by 10 or 9 or something like that, I knew that if we didn't do anything stupid, we had a really good shot at it. We had pretty much both hands on the trophy.

Q. Abe, was there a point where you saw that you guys had a healthy lead?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I was looking at the leaderboards all day, and it definitely felt nice to see the big lead, but once I'm there, I don't like to think that we can relax. The other way around, I feel like I kind of think that we're a little bit behind and we've got to put a little pressure and make some birdies coming in.

But it was tough, man. It was tough out there. The pins were really tough to get the ball close to them, and with the wind, that made it even tougher.

Yeah, I tried not to really feel comfortable seeing a big lead. Things can change very quickly, especially in a golf course like this with the conditions we had today.

Q. In terms of the chemistry of the team, obviously you won last year in Bangkok. Do you feel like the chemistry is even better or the same, or how would you categorize it now six months later?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Yeah, I think we're all really good friends and we all want to win. We know how good we are as a team and what are our chances, and we work hard all of us each day to get better and try to win trophies and win with the team. I feel like winning as a team is very special. I never played on any other tour because I was in college, so it was pretty similar to this, so I think winning as a team is more special than winning individually. Winning beside all these guys that are all friends and that are teaching me how to get better, not just on the golf course but just also outside. It's something unique, and I'm really proud of all of them. I'm very thankful for them for teaching me all the things they do.

Q. There were not a lot of red numbers out there. What were you able to do that everybody else was struggling at?

CARLOS ORTIZ: Make more birdies than the other guys. (Laughter).

No, I think I took advantage of the, I guess, easy holes. They were still kind of -- you had to pay attention, but I birdied all the par-5s, and then the par-4s that were reachable, one of them I didn't take advantage but the other one I did, and the pins that were kind of accessible, I hit it close. I did everything right.

I'm happy I was able to come in for the team. Obviously I think we all played good at different times. Chacky was the one consistent at keeping the team right there, but Serge played great yesterday, Abe played great the first round, I played great today, so that's what you need to win, so we did it right.

Q. I followed you all week, and I saw so many Fireball hats, I heard so many "vamos," "vamos," "vamos,". What did that mean to you guys having so many Hispanic fans in the crowd and what would you like to tell them?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Well, I felt like we were playing in Mexico, seriously, it was really cool, in Mexico or Spain. But we definitely saw a ton of Fireball gear out there and everybody was really supportive, which is really nice. Yeah, we felt like we were playing at home I feel like.

SERGIO GARCIA: Not only the Latin people, there were a lot of Americans out there wearing the Fireballs hats and gear.

We've had a great support throughout these last eight or ten months, and we're very proud of it.

Q. I want to know what's it mean to the three young guys to have a leader like Sergio who obviously has a lot of respect in the golf world. He's earned that respect. What all have you learned from him since joining Team Fireballs? What's it like?

EUGENIO CHACARRA: Yeah, I feel like he's always trying to help us. He loves us, and he's like -- for me he's like my second dad. My family didn't play golf much, so he's always been supportive to me since I was little. He's trying to help me and help the guys on the team, giving us his advice on the practice rounds and everything, and he's awesome. I feel like he does a great job as a captain, and he's just not a great golfer like you said he's a great person. That's more important.

SERGIO GARCIA: I guess I could be his dad.

ABRAHAM ANCER: I'll go next. Sergio has been doing it for a while, for a while now. I'm just kidding. But he's got all the experience in the world, and more in the team aspect, too, if I'm not mistaken, I think you were the one that contributed the most points in Ryder Cup history. So having that competitiveness in him, and you can see it -- even when we play practice rounds, he is so competitive, and we have our little matches and practice rounds to get ready for the tournament. It's just awesome to see how much he cares and how bad he wants to win.

Just having drive, it's really cool to see, and I feel like he kind of transmits that to us. I feel the same way, and I feel like we mesh really well as a team, so it's been really cool.

CARLOS ORTIZ: For me, since I first joined the other tour, he's taken me under his wing. On the road I'd play practice rounds with him. He let me play with him. He's always been great to me. He's always been there for me trying to teach me, trying to show me how to do things, and I'm really grateful for that.

I really appreciate the way you've helped me become a golfer, a better golfer. He's a kind of guy, he might not look like it, but he's a kind of guy that if you ask him for help, he will be the first one to help you, on the golf course, off the golf course. I'm just happy to be part of his team.

Q. My question is really for all four of you. When you play individual, and Sergio, you alluded to it a little bit when you weren't going to be a factor for the winning title, but you said you still had to keep your head in the game because there's a team aspect. What does it mean? It seems like if you're playing out here on the LIV Golf league, literally every shot counts, all the way to the end. Could you guys touch on that a little bit, that even if you're out of it on the individual title, you still got to hang in there for your brothers?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, definitely. I think that's an aspect that you can't get anywhere else. I think that you're playing individually, but you know that you're also helping your teammates, and you can't -- like for example, for me today, even though I was struggling and mentally it wasn't easy, I was still fighting as hard as I could to make sure to not let my round go away, get away from me, because if one of them struggles, then the whole team struggles.

You try to find whatever you have inside of you to make sure that you don't let the round get away from you because you know that at the end of the day, a couple of shots here and there might be the difference between winning or losing as a team.