LIV GOLF WASHINGTON DC

May 26, 2023

James Piot

Trump National Golf Club

Hy Flyers GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome James Piot, Hy Flyers GC. You had an incredible round, shot 66, sitting at 6-under, only one off the lead. Tell us about your day and how you're feeling right now.

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, it was kind of a crazy day. There was a lot of bad shots in there despite the 66. The putter got really hot, probably the best I've putted in a long time, and just kept making them. It felt like as soon as I was on the green, it's going in the hole, so just kept the momentum going until the finish there.

Q. I heard a little rumor that you played with Sasha from the Lakers yesterday, and he's all about the mental game, and you spent the whole day with him talking about how to get your head in the game. Can you tell us a little bit about that and if that affected how you played today?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, he's just big about hey, man, go out and do it. If you're out here, you're competing, you want to win, and that's what it is about being hungry and just wanting it. So talking with him he's like, dude, there's no reason why you can't win pretty much. Clearly he had some effect on me after round 1 here.

Q. James, yesterday you guys were on the range, and Phil was wearing flip-flops and kind of working with you. What was the scene there, and what are you guys working on specifically?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, so we've been talking a lot about my short irons. Obviously my results this year haven't been up to what we expect as the Hy Flyers. He kind of took it upon himself personally, he's like hey, let's get these short irons figured out, so we were working on the lies and lofts of my irons, so we were doing blind testing. He was out there for two hours just charting where every shot I hit went, and it was pretty cool just having him take two hours out of his day.

We got it dialed in clearly, and it was the coolest thing in the world to have that experience with him yesterday.

Q. Obviously top 24 after the end of the regular season automatically qualify for next year. How aware are you of that right now and kind of where your position is and how you probably need to make a move in the last half of the season?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, it's in the back of your head, obviously, when it's time to go you've got to go, but at the same time for me, my goal is I'm 24, keep getting better, keep improving. Obviously I would love to play on the LIV Tour as long as possible, but for me as long as I keep improving, that's really what I want to see right now. That's my focus. Today was a good start, and hopefully we keep it going.

Q. Do you have family and friends out here this week?

JAMES PIOT: I do. My mom and dad are out here. They're No. 1 supporters, so it's the coolest thing in the world, the first thing I hear every time I make a putt is my mom yelling. That's always my favorite.

Q. Have they been at every tournament?

JAMES PIOT: Not at every tournament, but yeah, I can hear 90 percent of the time, yes.

Q. My question is about your long-term relationship with your coach, Brian. Obviously things are clicking in today. What have you guys been working on, your game, to get you to this point?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, I mean, it's fixing the simple things without losing identity of who I am and what got me here. We've just been lately trying to keep it simple, just get wider in the backswing and let it flow from there. Obviously I've worked with him since I was about 10 or 11, so he knows me better than anyone else and couldn't be happier to have him supporting me and always being with me.

Q. What was the putting today? That just clicked in, man. You were putting lights out.

JAMES PIOT: Yeah. When you're hot, you're hot sometimes, and it just felt like today we were reading them right, the speeds were good, and everything just looked good. I grew up in bentgrass conditions, so for me this kind of feels like home a little bit, and the putter just got hot and kept going.

Q. One of the things I was thinking is I looked at your background, and you're the 121st U.S. Amateur champion. That's a great pedigree in itself. You were all-Big Ten academically. Just your thoughts on what this tour has done to open things up for not just young players but players that were going to be on the Tour who were playing the Korn Ferry on the PGA TOUR and how it's kind of helped the game of golf in that sense.

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, I mean, LIV Golf for me, I can speak personally, has given me an opportunity to succeed. I mean, there are so many good golfers out there, and just to be one of the 48, I feel like one of the luckiest guys on planet earth.

It gives young guys another opportunity is the way I see it. For me, experience and just being in this team format is one of the coolest things in the world, and that's what makes LIV Golf so unique to me and everyone else watching.

Q. You've always been known as a great putter; what has been the difference, like today I don't know how many putts did you have, 27?

JAMES PIOT: I couldn't tell you. Not a lot.

Q. Was there something about the greens, something about the course setup, something that kind of locked you in?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, today just a similar grass to home, being from Michigan. You get those bent greens. It just felt like everything was right. I was seeing putts really well, and my caddie was going a great job reading them. I've got to give credit to Dan. Everything was going right, and like I said, it just seemed like, just get me on the green and I've got a chance.

Q. When you're not playing, how are you living it up?

JAMES PIOT: Honestly, I love golf so much that for me, if I'm not golfing, I'm usually on the couch watching TV. I'm a pretty boring human being. At least that's what I'll tell you on the mic.

Q. I know you went home and were with some of your -- your coach from Michigan and some college teammates. Were they just picking your brain, asking you everything about LIV? Are they interested in coming and playing with LIV?

JAMES PIOT: Yeah, I was up in East Lansing watching the regional there and I had a lot of college guys that I played with my whole career that were like, hey, man, how is it, and a lot of how can I get out there, and I was like, I wish I could tell you.

But it was really cool to see the guys up in East Lansing and for me to get back home and see my family and friends. That's what it was all about for me.