LIV GOLF HONG KONG

March 8, 2024

Abraham Ancer

Hong Kong Golf Club

Fireballs GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Abe Ancer from Fireballs GC. Abe, well-played today, our co-leader at 7-under par 63. Can you talk us through your round and any highlights from the day?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, it was really solid. I feel like I did pretty much everything really good. I felt very comfortable out here off the tee, which you need to be in the fairway. If you're in the fairway, you have a lot of chances to make birdies.

Just stayed patient, took advantage of the holes that I needed to, the par-5s, and I think I did a good job with my ball-striking, as well. I guess I was just trying to not be perfect and just play some golf and enjoy it. It paid off and played really nicely.

Q. The support out there was awesome from the crowds here in Hong Kong. Can you talk about the atmosphere and the fan reception out there?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, everybody has been I feel like really excited about this event. This golf course is really cool. I feel there's a lot of shots that you have to hit both ways. You've got to shape your ball.

Everybody seems to be having a great time, very supportive. They acknowledge good shots, which is awesome. It's a good time, and it feels like everybody is having a great time, as well.

Q. You went obviously bogey-free there. A lot of the leaders, I think there were several bogey-free rounds out there. Can you talk about the course itself and were you surprised at the scores? At one point there were 12 guys that were tied for the lead.

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I didn't think there was going to be that many low numbers, but I don't know, I guess it's just playing perfect. The greens are really good. There's just a lot of guys that are playing really good at this time I feel like. Plus the golf course is in great shape. You're hitting it good off the tee, feeling decent with the putter. You're going to see some low numbers. Maybe we'll get a little bit more wind because if it gets really windy, it's actually very tricky. That's why I felt like the numbers were a little bit lower than what I expected.

But yeah, just a lot of good golf going on.

Q. Do you feel like a course like this, it's shorter than what you guys usually play, kind of brings in a lot more contenders into the field?

ABRAHAM ANCER: I think so. I think it's definitely a golf course that everybody likes. Like Dean was saying, even the long hitters enjoy it, as well, because if they're going to hit some irons, they prefer hitting irons over 3-woods whenever it's a really tight fairway.

I think it just brings everybody in. It's a great golf course to showcase where everybody is at.

Q. When I was talking to you yesterday, you made it a point to say that you were almost trying to keep your expectations too low. Even though your stats and other things suggest this should be a golf course up to your liking. Do you do something specific to keep your expectations low, and were you happy with whatever you did yesterday and leading to this day?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, definitely. I feel like sometimes when I show up to a golf course that stat-wise I should be very good at, sometimes I don't have a really good tournament. I feel like I put expectations and things don't go my way, I try to be too perfect and stuff like that. I just said, I'm going to go with a fresh mindset, I'm going to go and think this golf course is the worst for me and I've got to figure it out and be on point in every single shot, and I think I did a good job with that. I didn't really get too caught up on I need to play really good here because it suits my game.

I just went out there and had a good time and played some good golf.

Q. Given that it's quite a congested leaderboard at the moment and you were saying that there's a lot of opportunities out there, what's it going to take to pull away from the field?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Just got to shoot three rounds like this one. I started with the first one, and two more rounds like this, it should be enough. But you never know. There's been some crazy numbers out there that I feel like everybody is playing with a lot of confidence.

Definitely if the weather stays the same and it plays the same as today, there's going to be obviously more low numbers. You just can't be thinking about that. Just have to go out there and play. But yeah, just going to have to make a lot of birdies.

We've seen 58 to 59s; people are playing some really good golf, and this is a golf course that if you're on and you're seeing the lines on the greens, you can definitely make a lot of birdies.

Q. Is a 58 or 59 gettable out there?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Maybe, with no wind. Absolutely no wind and the conditions stay the same, yeah, definitely somebody out there can shoot a 58, 59.

You never know. There's golf courses where you don't see it -- like Mayakoba, I didn't see a 59 there ever, and Joaco shot a 59, which was extremely impressive. Yeah, I feel like any golf course now that we play, anybody can shoot that, which is pretty crazy.