LIV GOLF ADELAIDE

April 19, 2023

Brooks Koepka

Dustin Johnson

Bryson DeChambeau

The Grange

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Brooks Koepka, the captain of Smash GC; Dustin Johnson, the captain of 4 Aces GC; Bryson DeChambeau, the captain of Crushers GC. Welcome to LIV Golf Adelaide 2023.

All three of you guys have played in Australia before. You guys played at Royal Melbourne for the Presidents Cup, but this is the first time that we are in Australia for LIV. They've welcomed us with open arms. We've got sold-out crowds. How excited are you for the week ahead and to be back in Australia?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I've never been to Australia. I missed that Presidents Cup because I was hurt. Nice to be here for the first time. It's always been a bucket list thing for me to do, come to Australia, so super excited, and it should be a good week.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I've always enjoyed coming down here, been down here a few times, played Sydney and played Melbourne twice for Presidents Cup and played in Perth, also, so I've been down here a few times, and yeah, really enjoy Adelaide. I like the golf course. I think, like I said, the fans, we've got a lot of fans coming out this week, so everybody is excited about the golf being here, and I'm excited to be here.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I love the golf courses here. Sand Belt is always fun playing on, firm, fast conditions. I played here as an amateur back in 2016, as well. I've always loved it, the people, the golf courses, I can't say too many more good things because there's not much more good stuff to say. It's all there.

THE MODERATOR: We for the first time have a party hole on hole 12. I think there's going to be about 5,000 fans on that hole, and I'm told that you have walk-out songs for that hole. Do you want to give little insights as to what your walk-out song is going to be?

BROOKS KOEPKA: "Dreams and Nightmares" by Meek Mill is what I went with.

I'm excited to see the hole. Listen, I'm always loved playing Phoenix. I always thought having like an amphitheater type crowd around a hole has always been pretty special, and I guess I've had some success at Phoenix, too. Who knows, maybe this week.

I just love it. I love when the fans get a little rowdy. They're screaming, they're booing you when you hit a bad shot and cheering you on when you hit a good one. It's going to make that hole exciting. I think it should bring a different atmosphere, which will be cool, and like DJ said, it'll be most fans we've had so far, so it's exciting.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: 12 is a great setup. It looks great out there. I've played it a couple times now, but obviously no fans out there now. But you can see how much fun it's going to be. I think the fans are going to enjoy it, the players are going to enjoy it. My walk-out song, I'm kind of fluttering back and forth between a couple, but I'll figure it out here shortly.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I don't have a walk-out song yet, but I'm thinking about something. Then the 12th hole, I haven't seen it, either, but I've seen pictures of it. It looks pretty sweet. I love amphitheaters. Sawgrass is a great example, as well; when we've played there, it's been definitely interesting.

It can be difficult sometimes, but you've got to focus in and focus on hitting a good shot, and that's all that matters, and it's fun when the crowd is booing you or cheering you on. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. South Australia has some incredible things to do here. You can go shark diving, you can snuggle a koala, you can go wine tasting, you can go to AFL games. Have you had an opportunity to explore South Australia and do any of these activities, and if not, what's on your wish list?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I think we're supposed to go shark driving, but I bailed on that on Tuesday when I realized that it was all day yesterday.

Were you supposed to go?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I was supposed to go, as well. It was a long expedition. It would have been fun, though.

BROOKS KOEPKA: But would love to do that. We went to one of the AFL games on Sunday night. I know me and Dustin did, so that was quite fun, just getting to see it live. Anytime you watch guys do what they're amazing at, and it's a cool sport, it's fun. It's a real sport. Those guys beat each other like crazy.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Aren't the Crows playing? On Saturday or something? Anybody know?

BROOKS KOEPKA: That was pretty fun to watch. But that's all I've done thus far.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, same. Obviously we don't get -- it would be nice to be able to explore, but most of our time we're spending here at the golf course, a new place. Got to learn the course and get ready for the week. But yeah, went to the game on Sunday night. That was a good time. Yeah, I'd like to do all the other things, just don't know if I'm going to have time to do it.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: We're here to golf, obviously, but it would be fun Saturday night or something to go see the Crows. Something different.

Q. Obviously Ripper has the home field advantage this week. Do you see them as your bigger competition with all of the fan support they're going to have out there?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, obviously I'd say pretty much everyone is going to be rooting for them, which is a good thing, right? They should. They should have the hometown advantage, the support, and everybody should be out there cheering for them, which will be good to see, just as far as like on a league level. I think that would be fantastic.

I don't know, we're just trying to play good, that's it. We've got to catch up to Dustin's team just because they're in first, I guess. We're just all trying to play catch-up right now.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously Cam, their Australia team, they're going to have a ton of support. I feel like we'll have a lot of support, too. I don't know, I just have that feeling.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. Either way, if you want to win, you're going to need all four guys playing well, so obviously whichever team does that is going to win.

Yeah, for us, we're just trying to get that first win of the season. I think it's looking pretty good for this week.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I mean, the Rippers are going to be tough to beat. They've played here their whole lives, so they're going to have a huge crowd behind them of support, but we'll see as the week goes on. We've got great teams up here. DJ's team is obviously playing well, Brooks is playing incredible. Our team is solid, Paul, Charles and Ban. Ban is coming off good play, and Paul played some good golf last week, as well, and Charles is always steady Eddie. We'll see this week; we've just got to keep it low and let it run and hopefully make some putts.

Q. I just wanted to get some more thoughts on the course itself. This is only the second time you guys have played a course under 7,000 yards. What kind of play do you see out there? Is it going to favor maybe the shorter hitters, or how do you see it playing out this week?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think shorter players do have an advantage because the ball is rolling so much. I have to lay back a lot of the times. I can't just blow it out there and hit a wedge on. It kind of puts me more in a box, which is fine. I've just got to have good wedging and putt it really well.

I think a lot of it's strategy out here, too. You've got a great hole like No. 8, you can go for it or you can lay up and still make birdie. If you go for it there's a lot of trouble over on the right. 9 is a great example, too, it's a par-5, I probably won't even hit driver off the tee. It's too tight up there and it's going to cost you a shot if you hit it over to the right, and it's better to just hit hybrid, hybrid onto to the green. It's difficult. It's different.

Q. You won in Boston at 6944. Does yardage matter to you really?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I don't think so. A course like this, it doesn't matter where you hit it, you've just got to hit it in the fairway. For one, it's Bermuda rough, and it's spotty but a lot of places it's pretty deep and it sits right on the bottom. It's tough to play out of.

But if you hit it out of the fairway this week, the course obviously it is fairly short and the ball is running. You can get a lot of wedges in your hands if you're driving it well.

For me, I think for a lot of the guys, if we're driving it straight, we're going to play pretty good around here.

Q. Brooks, your first look at a Sand Belt course; what are your impressions?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I haven't played the golf course yet. Tough for me to talk on that.

Q. Brooks, you said after the final round at Augusta that it would take you about a week or so to kind of find the positives. Have you been able to kind of process everything now, and are you looking back at that and looking at the positives that you were able to achieve that week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, yeah, it's definitely -- you just kind of take some time and digest it all. Did a good job of that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and just kind of relaxed and tried to think about why it happened, why I played bad on Sunday, or Saturday-Sunday, whatever it was.

I'm always pretty honest with myself, and normally it goes on what I was thinking, what I was doing. It was nice to get to the bottom of it.

Look, you tell anybody you're going to finish second in a major, especially where I was six months ago, a year ago, I'm not sure there, so I would have taken that, so it's tough to really argue with it.

Then reality, expectations and all that stuff gets thrown in there. But it was a good solid week and I can't really complain. Gave myself a chance to win, and that's all you can ask for every time you tee it up.

Q. Greg earlier this week suggested that there's a long list of players queueing up to join the Tour. I just wondered if you guys had got any feedback about player feeling at the Masters, and as Greg suggested, do you concede that this Tour still needs further depth to make it more viable?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know if there's any other -- I don't know, I haven't spoken to anybody that's on that level to be like, hey, are you coming over to play. It's not my style. It's not usually how I approach anybody.

Look, I'm sure there's a bunch of guys who are still looking to come over, whether that be college players, younger players, to guys that play on the PGA Tour or DP Tour. I'm sure there are people looking to join.

But yeah, you can always add depth to anything. The stronger we get, the better we are.

Q. Other two guys, any thoughts?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I think same. Obviously the better players we have playing, obviously the stronger LIV gets, and it's better for the game.

As far as I haven't talked to Greg this week, so I don't know -- I can't really comment too much on what he was saying. I didn't see what he said, either.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I can't comment. I'm in a lawsuit, so I'm not about to speak.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm not, but...

Q. Just a question to all of you, from the Masters experience it seems that you guys were generally welcomed there within the cohort and also the fans. Do you all sense I guess a bit of a thawing, not so much between the PGA and LIV but from a fans' perspective and your cohorts? Do you think the relationships are thawing now, particularly sold-out crowds here? Aussies are a pretty pragmatic bunch. Your thoughts on that?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think it was the best thing for the fans to see what happened at the Masters. We kind of experience it all behind closed doors, and I know when I'm home, I can't speak for Bryson, but when me and DJ are home, we see Rory there at Grove --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: J.T., we see all of them there.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Keegan, Matt Fitzpatrick. Patrick Cantlay lives on the same street; Fowler does, as well. I could run into 15 Tour guys if I wanted to in a day, and nobody has really had any negative feedback, any negative thing to say, and that would be the time to say it.

But I think it was good just for the fans to see that we still communicate, we still play together, we still practice together, do everything the exact same. We're still the same people.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm the same. Obviously where we live, I think half the golf world lives in South Florida. I see all the guys all the time. It was nice to see at Augusta, see a few of the guys that you don't see in Jupiter or out here on LIV, a couple buddies I got to see and hang out with. But yeah, the fans were great, heard a lot of "go Aces," and I think they were really good at Augusta. Obviously that is one place where fans are always very respectful. They don't really have a choice, either, but yeah, it is the Masters, and I think everyone just respects Augusta and the Masters. It's more about the golf than what Tour you play on. I think that's how it should be all the time.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Yeah, I'd second that. At the Masters it was awesome. Everybody that I had previously had relationships with, nothing changed from my perspective. Like I play out of Dallas National, and I see Spieth every once in a while, and we don't have any issues. There's no problems. Will Zalatoris, same thing, there's no issues. I think a lot of it's the media sometimes, not necessarily you guys. Australia has been fantastic.

But sometimes that's just what it is. I understand it. I think we all do. But at a certain point in time we're all golfers. We still play great golf, and as you can see at the Masters you had three of the four up at the top were LIV players.

Q. Australia is obviously a proud golfing nation, but we don't get a lot of opportunities to see the quality of you blokes. Have you sensed a genuine thirst from the Australian public to see you guys, and following on to grow the game in an area like this?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I definitely have just from being at the game on Sunday night to just being around for the last two days. You see a lot of people just passing by you, either in the hotel or things like that, and at the game. I think it's fantastic. I think everyone is just super appreciative that we made the trip down here and we're playing, because like you said, it's been a long time since anybody has really been able to see the quality of field that I think we're bringing this week.

It's exciting. It's going to be a big thing for Cam's team, the Rippers, it's going to be a big thing for LIV and a big thing for Australia, and I think that's amazing.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, same. I felt very welcome down here, and I think, like I said, everyone is excited for us to be here. We're excited to be here. I think it's going to be a great week.

I don't know when the last time or if Adelaide has ever had a big golf tournament, so yeah, I think everyone is excited for us to be here.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: When I played yesterday, the volunteers were awesome. They were so appreciative that we were here. They just watched every single shot we hit and with great authority and just genuinely loved us being here. It felt good for us because it was like, man, they appreciate what we're showing. A lot of fun. I think it's going to be a great week for Australia.

Q. With the Masters just a week or two ago, how do you think Grange is going to compare in terms of the atmosphere here in Australia, especially with the party hole?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Definitely more rowdy, which will be fun. I'm excited for that.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think, yeah, the atmosphere is going to be great. I mean, with the amount of fans that will be out every day, I think it's going to be an awesome atmosphere, and as golfers we love playing in front of as many people as come out and watch. The more people, the better. Yeah, I think it's going to be a great week.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, same thing. I think there's been a lot of hype around it just on our side from players hearing about whether it be how many people are going to be out or just from seeing people. Same thing. I second what they just said.

Q. There has been that constant talk, especially from human rights activists saying that LIV Golf is just a sports washing exercise. What do you make of that?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Well, we talked about that last year, and we already kind of kicked that to the curb. It's something that I truthfully believe is completely inaccurate. People have their opinions and their perspectives on it, but we certainly don't feel that way. We're playing golf here.

Q. I'm just wondering who did the seating arrangements up there today? DJ, you're in the middle of Brooks and Bryson, and I am certain the memes will come out, PGA and LIV. But no, in all seriousness, the Masters preparation you would normally be in America playing the usual lead-up tournaments, not doing a lot of travel. This year you've had to travel overseas to play in LIV, different commitments, different areas. Is it a strange feeling to have to do that before a major?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, I mean, I think as golfers, we're all used to traveling around the world and playing, whether it's traveling all over the U.S. or different countries. So the travel is not really a big deal.

I can't speak for these guys, but like for myself, just playing, it's just taken me a little while to get back into things this year. I had a very nice off-season where I didn't do much, on purpose, but yeah, as far as the travel and our playing schedule, it really doesn't matter what Tour you're playing on. You're traveling to different places, playing different courses.

I think just the playing part of it is what gets you ready going into a major no matter which one it is.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think it's more about just reps, right. It doesn't matter where you get your reps, as long as you're getting them.

But yeah, I look back when I started my whole career, I was in Europe. I've played everywhere. I couldn't even tell you how many countries I've played in. It's part of the job. You just get used to it, traveling around. Whether there's a tournament you go play. It doesn't matter, you just try to win it from there.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I second that. As an amateur I played from Australia, Qatar, Middle East, a few other places. I'm used to that. I've been used to it for six, seven years now.

Q. Bryson, your favorite Australian red, have you picked one yet?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I mean, there's some great white wine here from what I've heard, but I'm not much -- too big of a white wine guy. I like red wine. I'm always a Malbec type of guy.

Q. DJ, I wanted to ask about the hoodie you're wearing right now. I don't recognize that logo other than the 4 Aces. I know you guys signed a new deal. Can you talk about your deal with that new company?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Extracurricular? It's a clothing company. They're making all the clothes for the 4 Aces. I think they also do all the merchandise for LIV. But it's just a new company, and yeah, we partnered with them, and yeah, they make great stuff. I'm excited. We just got a new shipment of shirts for this week. But it's kind of just getting started, so it's all kind of new. It's going to continue to get better.

The stuff we're making right now is great, and I really like wearing it.

Q. Where can the fan of LIV Golf pick up that stuff? I know you have to come to an event and it's in the merchandise, but is there some --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It has a website, but I'm not real sure. Website, though.

Q. Extracurricular's website?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah.

Q. You can pick up 4 Aces merchandise there?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I think. To be honest, I don't know.

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Not yet. I think they're still working on all that. We're getting close to all that.

Q. Are you guys working on a deal, as well?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I can't speak for Brooks, but we're all working together to make this the most successful league out there, and I think one of those big pieces, one of those big dominos to fall is getting that website up where people can just buy online and we're working towards that, and we're getting very close.

Q. Well, the demand is there. I'm seeing a lot of comments just on my stuff, like hey, where can I get this stuff?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Same thing here. I think we all have experienced that. There was people saying stuff at the Masters, where is this, where is that. It's everywhere.

Every week we play I feel like they're asking for that, and we're working hard behind the scenes to make that happen. It's not as easy as just plug and play. There's a lot of logistical things that have to go through first before that can all happen.

BROOKS KOEPKA: You can get my shirt at Nike.com.

Q. Following on from that a little bit, you guys are now in the second season, you've got a feel for LIV, how it's been received. How big do you think this Tour can get? What would be your optimum number of players? How many tournaments each year would you like to see? Where can it go?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: I think it's all something that's up for discussion in regards to how big the field sizes can be. How big can the league be? As big as it can be. We're looking to make this the biggest league out there, and I don't say that softly, either. I think we all see the vision. We see the potentials with the teams and the franchises and all that. We think this could eventually be the norm for the game of golf.

Q. Could you give us an idea of how many teams you think would be the optimum level, how many tournaments --

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: That's not my position to say. That's for upper management to say.

I think in regards to --

DUSTIN JOHNSON: There's room for a couple more.

BROOKS KOEPKA: I think if you realistically think about it, if you want to keep the shotgun it's difficult to get over 14, 15 teams. Just think about it that way. It would be tough to have that many people out on the golf course all at the same time.

Q. What about the number of tournaments each year?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I'm fine just where it is.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think right now it's just perfect. We've got 14 here and then four majors. 18 is a pretty good schedule.

Q. I was just wondering, I heard Phil talk yesterday about the greens. He said it reminded him of Augusta in terms of the speed and the undulation. Mainly for DJ and Bryson because you played the course, we touched on the length, but where do you see the difficulties out there tomorrow and for the weekend?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, like I was saying earlier, definitely driving because you've got to be able to -- you've got to hit it out of the fairway here because you've got to control the golf ball coming into the greens because they are fast, they are undulated.

I think if you obviously got a bunch of rain on Saturday, but the fairways are still firm and fast. Greens are -- they're a little soft. I think -- but they're fast. If they can get those a little bit firmer, I think that's the defense of the course with all the run-offs around the greens.

Like I said, if you're coming from the fairway, obviously you can control the ball a lot better, I think that's kind of the defense is the narrow fairways, the rough, and obviously having firm, fast, undulating greens is going to -- that's where it -- but if you're driving it well, the course plays pretty short. You can definitely shoot some good scores. But if not, you're going to struggle.

Q. Got a number for us do you reckon?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I have no idea. As low as I can shoot.

Q. For Brooks and DJ, Bryson, you touched on the footy. The Crows are actually in Tazzy, so the Power is playing, their crosstown rivals, so you might piss off a few people with that. For you guys who went to see the games, just your thoughts on the physicality and the speed, and have you seen AFL games before?

BROOKS KOEPKA: No, never seen one. I think I've watched a little bit on TV, occasionally just being I think in Bali a few times. They had a few games on the TVs when we were at the bars.

But yeah, it's a man's sport, man. I mean, the hitting going on is pretty impressive. Sometimes you just wonder how the hell they walk away from it and they just get up and shake it off and keep moving.

It's impressive. They're tough.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I enjoy the game. I've seen it a couple times on TV, but watching it on TV, especially when you don't know a sport or don't know a whole lot about it, seeing it live was a lot better, just to see what's all going on and understanding the game a little bit more.

I sat down with the Premier for a few minutes and he explained to me kind of the game, and so I understand it a lot better.

Yeah, it was fun, and like he said, it is a man's sport. I'd like to --

BROOKS KOEPKA: Nobody up here is going to be playing it. I'm made of glass, so I've got no shot.

Q. There's a women's league, as well, so the women actually do play it. They're tough as nails.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Is there? I wouldn't want to --

BROOKS KOEPKA: They'd knock me out.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys so much. Good luck this week, and welcome to Australia.