LIV GOLF TULSA

May 12, 2023

Branden Grace

Brendan Steele

Cedar Ridge Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Branden Grace from Stinger GC and Brendan Steele from HyFlyers GC. Welcome, guys. You guys both had incredible rounds today. Branden, you shot 9-under, a bogey-free round, and Stingers are currently leading at 17-under. Tell us a little bit about your day and what you guys are going to do as a team tonight to get ready for tomorrow.

BRANDEN GRACE: We're going to have another braai, a barbecue. We've been having it every night. Louis is on duty. He's cooking. It's been good; it's been working. If he's going to try to get out of it, it's not going to happen.

But it was good. Had a nice day, been working hard grinding it the last few days leading into this event, and just nice seeing the hard work pay off. Played really good from tee to green, was nice to see the putter warming up, and when those things happen, you free up and you just enjoy it. That was what it was today.

Q. Brendan, you shot 7-under today, had another amazing day out there. What were the crowds like, and tell us a little bit about your day.

BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, the crowds were amazing and the energy was great. So exciting that everybody showed up and is having a great time out here because we think we have a great thing going, and I love to see people in new places come out and check it out. So really exciting to see the turnout today.

Q. You probably didn't get the results you wanted overseas. What did you work on after you got back from Singapore and what was working today?

BRANDEN GRACE: It's just hard following up a good season with the kind of season I had last year out here. Came out playing pretty nicely with a third and 11th in the first couple. It was all right, a little bit iffy in Orlando, but just kind of fall into bad habits, not working -- I'm doing the same things but maybe not putting as much emphasis on the things that I should be doing.

Just went up to Sea Island, saw my coach for a couple of days, really worked on what I needed to work on coming into these events, and just grinded the last couple of days. Just trying to work on the routines, not let bad things sneak to your head at certain times and things like that, and today was a really good day. Managed to keep everything the way I should have, and it's just nice hitting good shot after good shot and give yourself some opportunities, especially on a golf course like this.

Q. You've got the lowest round ever shot in a major. Now you've got the lowest round ever shot at LIV. Is it just a matter of how many records you want to break?

BRANDEN GRACE: Listen, this for us is majors at the moment, so we'll take it. But it's good. Every time you can shoot low numbers, it's good, and it's nice to see the team playing well, as well. It's not just for me this week. It's nice to see the guys pulling their weight, and seven shots ahead going into tomorrow is quite big, and I believe we can just keep this momentum going.

Q. On the blue ribbon, obviously wearing that for John Bland?

BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, obviously very good mate of mine. We live on the same golf course -- well, we lived on the same golf course. I've known him forever, John Bland, golfing hero, South African legend, passed away a few days ago.

Just thinking about him. His favorite color was blue. He supported the Blue Bulls, and I reached out to his wife that I know pretty well, and thought if there's a collar ribbon what he would have liked, and blue it is. I got the team, the caddies, the whole staff, we're all thinking of him, and maybe he looked down on us today.

Q. Brendan, obviously you got off to a really good start the first two starts of the season. What did you kind of get back today that you hadn't had maybe the last couple of starts?

BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I've had some good rounds but haven't put together three rounds the last couple events. Haven't been driving it as well as normal. That's normally a strength for me. It hasn't been there.

But worked really hard on it in the off week and really starting to exactly where I want starting to see the shots coming off the way I want them to. Iron play has been pretty good for a while, and just need to make sure I'm giving myself enough opportunities off the tee and not chipping out of the trees like I was in Singapore at least a lot.

Q. Brendan, the leaderboard is varied in terms of styles of play, some ball strikers, some distance, some good putters. Is that a good sign for a golf course, that it doesn't lend to maybe one specific style of play?

BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I think that's the best compliment a course can have is that every style of play works, and if you hit the right shots and if you play well, you're going to be up there. It's not like it's only a putting contest or it's only a ball-striking contest or just a bomber's course or anything like that. I think the layout here is fantastic. It makes sense why you're seeing that.

BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, I think if you can be aggressive and you really back yourself off the tees, you can go in with a lot lower irons into the greens. The greens are quite tricky. They're quite severe with the slopes and things. But if you can just stick to your game plan, try and hit your spots and kind of forget about the pins and try to give yourself the putts, the greens are really good. I think they're running maybe 12 or something out there. It's a great golf course. It's the second time here, so we've enjoyed it so far.

Q. Branden, how would you compare the atmosphere here and the fan turnout to some of the other American stops on LIV Tour?

BRANDEN GRACE: I think this is probably the best one we've had in America to be quite honest. In Australia it was fantastic. Singapore was really good, as well. We came out there with a warm welcome, and you come to Tulsa, the guys are really loving it out here. They're sport hungry or event hungry if I can put it that way. I've only heard the one, the PGA that was here last year. So coming back here was great, and seeing all the guys coming out.

I've heard for the first time in America where -- the U.S. where you see where the guys are going to go this week; are they going to support the PGA TOUR or come out to LIV, and I heard a hell of a lot more people saying they're coming out to the LIV and seeing what it's all about. Just shows we're doing something right.

Q. Who's going to Lainey Wilson?

BRANDEN GRACE: I think I'm going to hit some putts first, and we'll see how that goes.