LIV GOLF GREENBRIER

August 6, 2023

Joaquin Niemann

David Puig

Mito Pereira

Sebastian Munoz

The Old White

Torque GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Torque GC. We are joined by Sebastian Muñoz, our captain Joaquin Niemann, David Puig, and Mito Pereira. Welcome, guys.

Are you getting tired of winning? Did you guys ever think at the beginning of the season -- again, I've asked you this before, but you're a brand new team, you're the youngest team on the Tour, average age of 25, and you guys have won four events on LIV, which has never happened this year with any other team. How are you processing all of this?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I mean, it's not a new team. We all knew each other. We all knew that we got enough golf to beat all the other teams, and we're proving that, and we've been playing great golf this season, so I think it's a mix of everything getting together and showing the results.

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: In an interview I said three, at the beginning of the year. We're trending. We're playing good. Our rookie, David, is playing great. He's fighting for tournaments.

I feel like we could make a couple more.

Q. Mito, you came in second place today. You were knocking at the door all day long. Tell us about your round today and what was going through your head.

MITO PEREIRA: Well, started the right way, made a 2 on the first hole, so that was an eagle, made it from 159. It was pretty good.

We had the team lead all day, I think, and obviously at some point Bryson just stepped it up in the individual. It was like -- he's like 10-under through, I don't know, like 15 holes.

Really nice week. Happy for all four of us. They played great, too, so really nice week.

Q. David, you have been playing incredible golf. You played so well this week. What did it feel like to be in the final group? I know we asked you yesterday if you were going to have any nerves. Were you nervous, and were you nervous throughout the day?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, it was a good experience for sure. I wouldn't say I was nervous, but for sure it cost me a little bit to start the day. I didn't hit it very good for the first eight holes.

But yeah, I kept fighting, and obviously seeing Torque up there, the leaderboard helps for sure, seeing these guys playing very good.

It was for sure a learning experience, and now I know I have the game to play for tournaments.

Q. What was it like to experience firsthand, be in the group with Bryson and watch that history-making 58?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, it was insane, honestly. I think he was beating me by eight strokes after seven holes. I'm like, there's two things here; one, I suck probably, and two, he's insane.

But yeah, it was crazy.

I think he obviously shot 12-under, so he pretty much didn't miss anything, but at the same time it didn't look like he made pretty long putts or anything. He was hitting the ball very good and making the short putts that he needed to, and it was awesome to see him making that final putt for 58 for sure.

Q. Joaquin, David has more than pulled his weight for Team Torque this season. He's a rookie out here. How happy are you with your pick to bring him on to your team?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, obviously really happy. He's been helping a lot the team to get all these wins.

Especially this week is a really special week for him being in the last group on the last day, playing with Bryson, how good Bryson played and how David fought all day since he didn't have the right start.

Yeah, it was great to see on the leaderboard how -- obviously it didn't look the right way at the beginning how he started, but then how high he finished on the leaderboard the last couple holes. Yeah, he pushed really hard on the last ones, and pretty happy to see that.

Q. David, how much do you credit the rise in your game to being on a team and being surrounded by these guys who are obviously incredible at their craft and Joaquin being an excellent captain?

DAVID PUIG: Everything. Honestly, everything. Being in college at ASU, I thought it for sure helped me a lot to get to where I was or where I am today for sure, but playing with these guys every day and seeing them hit the ball and how they compete and how they score, it for sure helped me with everything.

I'm learning every day new stuff and how to score better, and yeah, I owe them pretty much everything of my success this year for sure.

Q. You guys secured your fourth win. You guys are still, I think, eight points off of the Aces, which I don't even know how that's possible, but how does that make you feel, and does that light more fire underneath you every week to go out there to try to surpass the Aces?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I think it's nice. We won four times and we're still second place. I don't know. I mean, I think it gives a little fire to what's coming next.

Q. Seb, does that motivate you a little bit more knowing that you're chasing them?

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: Yeah, absolutely. It's a running joke on this team how the Aces keep going in front even though we keep winning. Mito says the score is biased, something, there. But really it just shows how good they are, how consistent they are, how solid they are, and we are attempting to beat them. Here we are, and we're on that quest.

Q. Mito, is it on your mind when you go out there?

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, today I finished and I was with Sebastian, like I can't believe we're still second. It's like, something is wrong here.

But I guess they're really solid and getting points every week. We're really close, and we hope to get to the last tournament close and beat them.

Q. I think they were in 11th place, so I don't think they got points this week.

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, we're still second.

Q. Mito, I don't know how much you were looking at the leaderboard throughout the day, but was there a time where you kept making these birdies but you weren't making up any ground on Bryson, and you finally said, well, it isn't going to happen today?

MITO PEREIRA: Well, I mean, at some point like on the seventh hole, I saw he was -- I was making birdie and he was making birdies, and then I think it was on 13 I made a bogey on 12, and look at the leaderboard and he was already 19-under or something and I was 14. It was like, okay, I guess today is not my day.

Kept trying, and obviously really good result, solo second, and happy that I helped the team these last two days.

Q. Speaking of the scores, you guys got to 50 under at one point, I think you finished at 49. When you have a healthy lead as a team, what continues to motivate you to keep building on that and not really putting it in cruise control, because you guys could have easily done that the last six holes or so.

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: Yeah, I feel like making your day count, you want to post a round that helps the team, so that definitely -- like I didn't have a great start today, and I got to 4-under, and I knew I was kind of helping the team, so that kind of motivated me, even though we were nine ahead or ten ahead.

It didn't matter. I just wanted to put my number out there for the team to count. At the end of the day, David eagled 17, so my round didn't count. It's just those little things that keep us pushing towards our goals, and that's why we are achieving them, I think.

MITO PEREIRA: The thing is if you win by nine as a team, it's not like you're winning by nine as an individual. You make a bogey, they make three birdies, and it's like, we're already in third. We won by three at the end, and we were leading by nine with one or two holes to go.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: And we're still second.

Q. Joaco, you came into this week as the unofficial defending champion. You still get to walk away with a trophy. Do you feel like in some way you actually did defend it successfully?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, in some way, yeah. Hopefully they put the locker also there, the trophy there. They should do it, actually.

Yeah, it's nice to be back here at the Greenbrier. I think it's a place that I really missed for the last four years.

I think everything from this place is nice. Since the first week we came here, we've been doing outdoor activities, playing practice rounds, having nice dinners.

Everything of the Greenbrier, just being here is fun.

Q. David, is there one moment during this round that made you have an interaction with Bryson, something that you'll take away as something personal, a personal moment with Bryson today?

DAVID PUIG: Well, we actually didn't speak much. He was pretty focused the whole day, obviously.

But yeah, in some way, seeing him playing that good and so was Matthew Wolff, it for sure helped me to keep going on my round because I was, as I said, 2-over, but they were a few under par, both of them. Bryson was actually a lot under par.

But it was for sure helpful for me to see these guys playing good, so it kind of motivated me to keep doing my thing, and lucky enough, I ended up playing pretty good.

Q. Seb, I saw you out there with your baby at the end. How did that feel to have your first child out there watching you win for the first time?

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: It was so cool, especially being here first week out, getting a team win and getting her -- my parents already made the comment that they saw her on TV. It's pretty special. It's something that I'm going to be able to tell her later and things that we'll have to share for a lifetime, so it's pretty special.