LIV GOLF CHICAGO

September 22, 2023

Jed Morgan

Sergio Garcia

Anirban Lahiri

Rich Harvest Farms

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our other three leaders. We are joined by Anirban Lahiri from Crushers GC, Jed Morgan from Ripper GC and Captain Sergio Garcia from Fireballs GC. You guys are all sitting at 5-under. You guys are in a five-way tie for the lead. I was told there are 19 guys within two shots of the lead, so it's very, very tight up there. Tell us a little bit about your day.

SERGIO GARCIA: Great day, obviously. Started really well. My first probably 10 or 12 holes I was right on, and then a couple of shots here and there, a couple of tougher holes that I had to play, managed to scramble quite nicely. Shame I didn't birdie the last, but other than that, I'm happy with the day I had.

JED MORGAN: Yeah, I was the same. I started quite nicely, as well. Obviously playing with the boys is always fun, and we never really have a shitty time out there.

Doubled 16, and then from there managed to hole a few nice putts coming in, and shot 5-under, obviously.

ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, it was a bit of a scrappy day actually, but it was nice. Paul and Chucky got off to great starts, and I was like, come on, I need to pull my socks up, and kind of steadied the ship four or five holes and played nicely. Probably feel like I left a couple coming in, but yeah, I'm happy with my score. Could have played a little better, and I guess that's what I'll have to do on the weekend.

Q. With it being such a tight spread at the top, what do you have to do tomorrow to get out in front of the pack?

ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I think it's the same. You see the conditions today, it's been overcast. There's no way this golf course dries out. Nine out of ten times you're going to have ball in hand, which allows you to be a little bit more aggressive with the greens being soft.

I think last year was a little bit harder because it was firm and windy, but with the conditions being like this, anyone can go out, have a hot day with the putter and shoot 8, 9. You just have to go out there and give yourself a lot of looks. Greens are rolling nice, make putts. That's about it.

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, Anirban put it quite nicely. With the conditions the course is quite gettable. I'm actually surprised there wasn't a couple lower scores today. I could have shot one of those, obviously.

But yeah, it still is the kind of course that you still have to hit the ball well to score. It's a good mix, but if you strike the ball nicely, it feels like you can make a lot of birdies.

Q. Jed, love seeing you up here. You are fighting for your LIV Golf card in the last couple weeks. How much is that on your mind as you're out there playing? Does it add extra pressure?

JED MORGAN: I mean, you can let it if you want to, I think. I don't know, I just look at it in the face really. I know where I am and everyone keeps reminding me where I am, so it's pretty hard to get away from it, so there's no point in me trying to act like it's not there in my head. It's obviously there.

But I know if I play well enough, put myself in the position I think to make putts for birdie, then that's really all you can do. What's going to happen is going to happen.

Q. Is it motivating?

JED MORGAN: Yeah, but playing good is motivating me more than getting out of that position. Winning the tournament is more motivating than getting out of the bottom four. That's what I want to do.

SERGIO GARCIA: One thing takes care of the other.

JED MORGAN: Exactly. Gooch said this one good thing to me. He said, it's the rule of 67. You'll never be in treat if you keep shooting 67. Take what you want.

Q. How was everybody's experience with the party hole today?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, it was great. It was really nice. Obviously we had that in Australia, and it was great there.

I enjoyed it. I thought it was another cool experience. The people were having a lot of fun, but at the same time they were quite respectful, so it was nice to see.

ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, I think -- I don't know if it's fair to say we got lucky or unlucky we were there early because we started on 15, so guys were kind of in a chill mood when we got there. But I think it's a great hole. I think even the par-3 with the tee that we're playing actually makes it a better hole, and obviously the atmosphere is fantastic.

I think on the weekend now with more people coming in, I think there will be quite a buzz. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Jed, I know you loved the party hole in Adelaide. Did you have a good experience out there today?

JED MORGAN: It was.

Q. What's your walk-up song?

JED MORGAN: "Send it" by Hooligan Hefs. No one here would know it. It's pretty good. They're like an Aussie DJ band. It's good.

But yeah, a few more people would be nice there tomorrow and make it a bit louder. Should be good.

Q. Sergio, your overall thoughts on the golf course itself. I know it's a little wet out there. There's been a lot of rain the last week, but overall conditions and what you're finding?

SERGIO GARCIA: Conditions are great. Obviously it's wet because of all the rain that we had most of the last three days, but the course itself, it's in great shape.

I would probably say it's even better than it was last year, and last year was great.

I think they've done a good job, and I'm sure that all the greens crews are the first ones that are hoping for the sun to come out and dry it up a little bit.

But they've done a great job.

JED MORGAN: It's funny, we were having dinner with Greg last night, and Jerry came over and apologized obviously for it being so wet, and we were like, Mate, it's unbelievable still. They're the fastest softest greens I reckon I've ever played on. Like they're still amazing. Turf coverage around the place is still top-notch.

It's just unfortunate that the weather has been the way it has been. He apologized. We were like, Mate, you've got nothing to apologize for; it's awesome.

ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Not much to add there. The golf course is in phenomenal nick. Considering the weather, it's about as good as it's going to get.

I honestly think with the moisture, it probably makes some of these greens a little more playable because they're extreme, so I think that's why you'll see a lot more -- you'll see lesser 5s and 6s than you would if they were dry and firm. It's probably good for the scoring, as well. People are going to see better scores.

I think it's fine. It's the same for everyone. You've just got to go out and do what you need to do.

Q. Ban, it seems like you've been knocking on the door recently. Do you feel like you're in really good form and it's just maybe inevitable that one of these weeks it's going to click for you?

ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Well, that's the attitude I've been playing with. I'm just sticking to my processes, sticking to what I've been working really hard on over the last couple of years. Not getting too bothered by the results. There's been some good results, obviously, but the win has been a bit elusive, but if I keep doing what I'm doing, obviously I'm doing some good things because I'm playing good golf. That's all that matters. Results will take care of themselves as long as I do the right thing.

That's my attitude; go out there, do your best, contribute to the team, stick to my process. That's it.

Q. Jed, at Bedminster you had the low round on Sunday. You didn't seem to be able to build on that overseas but now you're back here. Can you walk us through your thought process since Bedminster, how important it was to get that low round?

JED MORGAN: I don't know, I think what felt good to me was obviously helping out the team so much on that Sunday. I obviously helped on the first day, but I didn't shoot under par, and you want to shoot under par and help at the same time I feel. You don't want to shoot over par and help.

Even though 1-over was not too bad around there, but since then, I've just tried to build on whatever it was I found that day. The International Series events I played okay but just didn't quite capitalize on obviously the easy conditions over there. But yeah, I don't know, I just worked hard on my break and tried to get my head in a good spot.