LIV GOLF NASHVILLE

June 23, 2024

Tyrrell Hatton

Jon Rahm

Kieran Vincent

Caleb Surratt

The Grove

Press Conference

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THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome both our team and individual champion, Legion XIII. We are joined by Kieran Vincent, our captain Jon Rahm, our winner, Tyrrell Hatton, and Caleb Surratt.

Welcome, guys.

You shot a collective 40-under, five shots ahead of Crushers GC. Obviously a battle out there. How excited are you to be taking home your third team trophy as captain?

JON RAHM: Very excited. Some of the guys just heard it right now but I think I was telling Jeff, our GM, earlier in the week, I didn't think this was particularly a golf course setup suited for our team. Not that we can't, but so far the two wins that we had were on the two more challenging golf courses, Mayakoba and Doral. So those birdiefest-type events so have not been our thing, and of course after I say that, we wind up with a win.

And luckily this time we didn't stress down the stretch with mistakes. My mistake at Doral on 1, and Caleb having a mishap at Mayakoba, right. We secured the lead and that was never a stress. It was nice to at least walk down the last hole knowing that it was pretty much done. It's never safe.

But very proud of everybody, and of course, Tyrrell. What a week to get his first win in a few years and win by six in an absolutely dominant performance the way he did. It's absolutely incredible, so I couldn't be happier for him.

THE MODERATOR: A dominant performance, best way to describe this week. You shot 19-under cumulatively, six shots ahead of second-place Sam Horsfield. You looked like you just owned the golf course out there this week. Did it feel that way for you?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, to be honest. Yeah, it was still, in my head, it was stressful. You know, early in the back nine, ended up hole a really good par putt on 10. I hit it in the bunker off the tee and these guys know, but I'm internally screaming in fairway bunkers. I either fat it or knife it, and I knifed it over the back.

So then obviously chips on to like six feet and I have a sort of downhill left-to-right, which isn't a nice putt to have, and holing that was really nice.

And then the par save on 13, as well, I ran my first putt quite far past and managed to roll that one in. I felt like that was a key moment for me.

After 15, I guess I enjoyed it a little bit more.

THE MODERATOR: So you had a commanding lead pretty much all day. Were you leaderboard-watching and did you ever feel you were safe, or still felt like you had a battle out there?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I mean, I kind of -- I was in between. I was trying to avoid leaderboards and then I kind of wanted to see what was going on.

And yeah, I mean, when I got to the -- I think it was the 17th green, I looked at that, and I think it was a five-shot lead at that point, and I had a sort of 10-, 12-foot birdie putt, or whatever it was.

Yeah, it was nice to play the last few holes and it not be super tight. I guess having not won for 3 1/2 years, it feels -- you wonder if you'd be able to do it again in some way.

So I was happy that I had sort of proved to myself, and especially like bouncing back after the disappointment of last Sunday where that was -- that was going to be a really important day for me, and I struggled the way I did.

So to put that behind me and to come out here and play like I did, and certainly how I putted this week, certainly won me the golf tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Does this give you extra confidence and momentum heading into The Open in just a couple of weeks?

TYRRELL HATTON: To be honest, no. We have two weeks off, and I'm going to enjoy my time in England. And we've got our little lads' Guinness golf tour in Ireland the week before Valderrama. So nice to have a bit of downtime.

Then yeah, it's just a case of trying to get ready for Valderrama, and then take some momentum into The Open.

THE MODERATOR: Hometown week for you. How sweet is it to have a team win in front of your friends and family in your home state?

CALEB SURRATT: It's just awesome. I think a year ago today, I never would have guessed that I would be here this week playing this week, and let alone winning.

So it's a pretty crazy turn that my life's taken, and couldn't be more thankful for all of the support and platform to be out here. It's been amazing and looking forward to the future.

THE MODERATOR: This is your third victory for the team. Talk about how this team gels and what makes it click so much?

KIERAN VINCENT: Look at us, we are basically like family. We all look the same. We're, like, identical.

No, I think it's a good mix of everything we have here. I think we have a lot of good humor, Tyrrell, especially. And I think it's just a great, light-hearted -- but at the same time we know when business is, and we know when to get serious. Obviously we showed it on the golf course the last three days.

But I think there's still more in us. I think there's still that hunger. There's still that want. There's still -- like there's a job that's not quite finished.

Obviously I couldn't thank these guys to my left anymore. Caleb coming out in front of his home crowd and not having his best stuff but still beating after the field shows what a calibre of player he is.

Obviously Tyrrell, I think most of us wanted this win for Tyrrell more than I think even he might have. I think he's one of the best players both on and off the course, and I think it just shows the immense talent that he has combined with just the nice guy that he is off the field as well.

Obviously Jon, with probably half a foot still being able to dominate the that he does, just walking around in HOKAs this week. You're not going to see that very often.

Yeah, we are super grateful for this team and obviously the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to allow us to be out here and play tree golf, and so we are just super grateful to everybody. Obviously this team, we are almost family here.

THE MODERATOR: Last one from me. Is this win slightly bittersweet? Obviously the team won. Your best friend won and you are battling out there, I know you wanted that win. Is it a little bit bittersweet for you?

JON RAHM: Yeah, there is a little bit of that feeling. Individually, you want to do well. You want to win. But I would have needed a very impressive round to go to get it done, right.

So I think even if I had a very similar game to what I did yesterday, maybe it would have been more enticing down the stretch but I still have would fallen two, three shots behind. I think it would have been nearly impossible to catch him this week. It's easier to focus on my shortcomings this week. I had four penalty strokes, one out-of-bounds and three balls in hazards. That's what I'm going to be focusing on more than anything.

He earned this win and he deserved this win. I'm going to be focusing on how well we did as a team and carry on with that. Knowing that we have a couple weeks off and then we are going to Spain and playing Valderrama, that's definitely week that I want to do well.

Q. Of your 11 professional wins, this is obviously the biggest margin of victory. Do you feel like this is your most dominant performance as a pro, or even going farther back into juniors and those days?

TYRRELL HATTON: I mean, how the score ended up finishing, yeah, it seems like it was a big one. But it didn't feel like, when you're out there playing, like you can't switch off. I tried not to get too far ahead of myself. Certainly with not winning for 3 1/2 years, you kind of naturally question if you can do it again.

So I'm just proud of myself to be able to get through that and play the way I did. Going out with a three-shot lead isn't the easiest thing to go out and play with because you know guys are going to be trying to chase you, and I got off to a nice start and that settled me down.

But I think my first win on the DP World Tour at St Andrews in the Dunhill Links, I think I won by, was it four? I was going to say five. Glad you corrected me.

Yeah, I guess some of the wins I've had have been by a few shots but it certainly is never easy.

Q. How long did it take to you get comfortable with the LIV environment? It's obviously a lot different than the other tours. Was there a transition period there for you?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, I think we are all still kind of working our way through it to be honest. Just with our warmup times and when you want to be on the range, sometimes it can be a little bit awkward with the space, and trying to just figure out how to be ready to go.

So with it being three rounds, you have to get off to a decent start, and you know, the standard of golf out here, it doesn't really allow you to be slow out of the blocks to be honest, otherwise you're always playing catch up. Thankfully for me this week, it was my week that I started off pretty quick and managed to keep going. Yeah, I think we are all sort of trying to figure it out still but that's the fun part.

Q. Can you talk about the evolution of what you've seen from Tyrrell the last few years, being alongside him for a lot of pressure-packed tournaments?

JON RAHM: Evolution? I don't think he's changed one bit. He's Pretty Steady Tyrrell. I think that's how you can explain it. That's the beauty of it. He's a fierce competitor and when he gets up there, he has that mentality and intensity that you need to get it done.

I didn't know it was 3 1/2 years ago the last time he won. I'm quite surprised because he's that good a player. It shows, in the week it's difficult, he's come through many times and majors, when they haven't been the easiest and he's winning Bay Hill.

Obviously we've shared some big stages in the Ryder Cup and seen him hit the shots when we needed to make them, right. Just personally has not really changed but obviously his game proved slightly in everything. There's not really any shortcomings when it comes to his game. He's good at everything. He'll probably tell you there's a few things doesn't like but that's just an everyday thing.

I think today just shows how good he can be, right. Obviously it's never easy to win, and to win by six in three rounds is quite impressive.

Q. So Caleb, as the resident country music fan, does Tyrrell look the most like a country music star?

CALEB SURRATT: You know, so yeah, he comes in after the U.S. Open, and instead of coming out of the golf course, he goes to downtown Nashville for two days and we are seeing pictures of him in the tee shirt, you know, the hat.

I told somebody that, like, if this guy was walking in downtown Nashville, you'd never know he's a professional golfer.

Yeah, if that answers your question. But yeah, he could pull it off.