LIV GOLF LAS VEGAS

February 8, 2024

Paul Casey

Las Vegas Country Club

Quick Quotes

PAUL CASEY: I came my first year on LIV, there were some good results, but last year was disappointing, other than the team aspect. Love being part of the Crushers, but I don't feel I've done my bit contributing and having that individual success, as well.

Q. Obviously this is probably the coldest day we've played in LIV. Was it a big deal? Did you get --

PAUL CASEY: No, it's not that cold. There wasn't a frost delay. You see some guys in wooly hats and stuff, but I think it was a perfect day's golf, in the end. You know, crisp.

The thing I would add to Jane's question about if I've played this golf course before, I've not, but I think we're at 2,000 feet. This is like being in Phoenix, which is my home. Phoenix is I think 1,500 feet. Scottsdale is up there in the 2,000s.

I'm very used to this kind of altitude and how the ball flies in the desert. To me, this is like playing golf at home.

Q. Describe the golf course again in your words. What's the first thing that comes to your mind about it and what's it like playing it?

PAUL CASEY: It's got some history, this place. First million dollar event, you've got the FBI's plane in the lake. It's got its own very cool history which precedes it. I'd heard about this place before I'd arrived on property, and a lot of positive speak, and quite right. The architecture and the conditioning of this place is second to none. This rivals other golf courses in the city and in Nevada.

Maybe it doesn't get talked about quite as much, but I think it's got something very, very cool, a unique history, and guys are thoroughly enjoying playing it.

While we may have slightly tougher tests in terms of what the scores will yield this week, don't let that fool you that it's not a very, very good golf course.

Q. I think you holed out from the bunker for one of your birdies.

PAUL CASEY: Yeah, got lucky on that.

Q. I think you had a clean card. What was working overall?

PAUL CASEY: Yeah, unfortunately I didn't have a clean card. I had a three-putt bogey on my third hole of the day, No. 10. Silly error.

Then you said the hole-out bunker, which was on 18, after a poor second shot. Johnny my caddie said it had 5 or 6 written all over it and I turned it into a 3. Sometimes you need those little momentum-swinging shots.

But the rest of it was really, I felt -- I had confidence with the driver, had very good distance control today, and then I started to see some lines on the greens. They're simple little things individually, but I've not been able to put any of them together for quite a while.

So the fact that all these simple little things were coming together was beautiful.

Q. How important is the driver here since it's pretty narrow?

PAUL CASEY: I think pretty damn important, only because, look, you can make this more difficult if you want to by hitting irons and 3-woods off the tees; but then you're just going to be leaving yourself 30, 40 yards longer than everybody else.

Guys are go aggressive. I know -- I'll pick on someone like a Jon Rahm or someone that is going to be hitting drivers everywhere.

If I'm going to compete against somebody like that, I've got to do the same. Just get on with it. Pick a small target, as small as you can, and hopefully those smaller fairways play a little bit bigger than they really are.

To be honest, Mayakoba is one of the toughest tests in golf. I paced off the 12th fairway where I hit driver: 12 yards wide. This feels almost -- what's the opposite of claustrophobic?

Q. Generous?

PAUL CASEY: Generous, yeah, whatever word you want to use. This is a comforting feeling compared to the Mayakoba had a Jumanji as I would call it, jungle every side of the hole, as well.