LIV GOLF UNITED KINGDOM

July 27, 2024

Andy Ogletree

Cam Smith

Tyrrell Hatton

JCB Golf and Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our leaders. We have Cameron Smith, the captain of Ripper GC, Andy Ogletree from HyFlyers, and Tyrrell Hatton from Legion XIII. Cam, we'll start with you. You fired off another 5-under today, currently sitting at 10-under. Tell us a little bit about your day.

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it was good at the start and then a little bit wobbly at the end. That was about it.

THE MODERATOR: Andy, currently sitting at 12-under, fired off two 6-unders yesterday and today. Tell us about your round.

ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah, it was fun. Got off to a little bit of a slow start, made a couple good lag putts on 1 and 3 and then the putter warmed up and played some super solid golf. Bogey-free around this golf course is always a good day, and try and keep that momentum going into tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Tyrrell, you are currently sitting at 10-under, tied with Cam. You also shot 5-under. Tell us about your day.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, so pretty frustrating start to the round. Played some really nice golf and just felt like I was putting to thin air. Didn't feel like there was actually a hole out there. It took until the 10th hole for a putt to drop, and I kind of gained a little bit of momentum there and ended up shooting 5-under, which is a good round of golf around this golf course.

Yeah, bogey-free, as well, which is nice, and go again tomorrow.

Q. Currently there's a lot of guys up at the top. Really could be anybody's win tomorrow. What do you guys need to do tomorrow? Have you guys looked at the weather? Do you have a different strategy? What's the plan going into tomorrow to try to take home that win?

CAM SMITH: I think much more of the same, really, to be honest. I think fairways are important out here, and the greens are really good. You hit good putts, they go in. Just plenty of birdie looks when you can, and when you're in trouble, just kind of don't make a double. That's really about it. There's plenty of birdie opportunities. You know you're going to get one or two to drop, and just hang in there.

Q. Andy, this is the first time you're leading going into the final round at LIV and you're surrounded by some of the greatest golfers in the world, major champions that are right on your tail. Do you have an extra set of nerves tomorrow on that first tee?

ANDY OGLETREE: I was a bit nervous today, just bigger crowds than I'm used to out here. There's not a lot of people watching the guy that's in 48th, and that's kind of where I've been this year. It's a lot better to have people watching and clapping for your good shots.

I've just enjoyed it. I think I'll be nervous, but I'll look forward to that. I'll run towards that pressure and embrace it, and I think everyone is going to be nervous coming down the stretch. Whatever happens, I'll accept it and learn from it and move on.

Q. Tyrrell, having secured your first win on LIV, does that give you any additional confidence heading into tomorrow?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yes and no. This is a new week. Yes, because I won recently, sort of proved to myself that I can do it. It had been a while since the last win. In that sense, yes.

But in fact tomorrow is a new day, and that will present its own challenges throughout the way. All I can do is go out there and try my best and try and make some birdies and put some pressure on our leader.

Q. There's been a lot of talk in the media center about the crowds out there and how rowdy they are and some of the things they've been shouting at some of the players. Can you give me your experience with the UK crowd?

CAM SMITH: I like it. I embrace them. I think they're a very intelligent golf crowd, but they've also been pretty rowdy out there, and a lot of banter has been thrown both ways. It's been pretty good.

I love the UK. The fans are always nice to us over here. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Q. Andy, how has the experience been for you?

ANDY OGLETREE: It was fun. Today the crowds were massive, and playing with Jon, they were kind of on him, not really on me. I enjoyed watching all the banter and listening to some of the things -- they're very clever and some of the songs they make up are pretty interesting. It adds a good fun to it, and I hope they all have a good time and enjoy because without them we wouldn't be sitting up here.

Q. Can you share any of those clever things?

ANDY OGLETREE: They created new songs like every hole, but it was like "Jonny, Jonny Rahm," every hole.

Q. Tyrrell, are you feeling right at home with this rowdy crowd?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, it's good fun. They create a great atmosphere for us to play golf in. I expect more of the same tomorrow. You just want to go out there and make birdies and hear the roars and stuff. They're great.

Q. Do you feel you'll have extra crowds pulling for you tomorrow since it's a home game for you in a sense?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I'd like to think so, but we'll see what the atmosphere is like tomorrow. I guess for me personally, I need to try and sometimes engage more with them and maybe give them something to work with rather than just sort of keeping my head down all the time and walking from the green to the next tee and effectively throwing out custard pies along the way and they're all asking for high fives or whatnot.

That's just something that I could do better, and I've tried to actually make an effort with that this week.

Q. Andy, it's been quite a 180 from two years ago when you were here in England. That journey that you've had for the last two years, what would it mean to complete the journey tomorrow with a victory?

ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah, I think you kind of said it best, complete the journey. It's been a crazy road from playing in the first event here to going to the Asian Tour, earning my way back. I haven't had the season that I wanted to, but I still had some good finishes and had some good glimpses.

It's just been more so putting 18 holes together. I've had 13, 14, 15 good holes in a lot of tournaments, and I've had a few holes holding me back. This week I've kept the momentum going and kept the pedal down. Putter is feeling great, and I'm driving it well around here.

I don't know exactly what it would mean. We'll see. But for now, just focus on tomorrow, focus on taking care of the things that I can control, and we'll go from there.

Q. Cam, obviously you won in England on a different course here last year. You must like it over here, no matter whether it's a links course or inland.

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I do like it. I think it throws some different challenges at you with weather and conditions.

I kind of like when it's windy and gusty and kind of hot and cold. You get all these different things that you have to think about, and I think that really kinda switches my brain on, and then you really just kind of engage in the shot and hit it.

I like the challenges that it gives, really.

Q. How much of a shock was it with Leish today or last night?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it was a massive shock, really. I played with him yesterday. He mentioned something to me early in the morning at breakfast that he might have just had a bit of a belly ache from dinner the night before, and that was kind of the last I heard of it. He played well. He struck it well, putted well, did everything good. Didn't complain once.

Yeah, it goes to show how tough he is, really. Then after the round just the doctor here told him that he had to go to the hospital, and it was kind of a bit of a shock for everyone because he'd played so well.

I think he's done with surgery now. Looks like he's come out the other side good. I'm pretty sure he'd want to be in Greenbrier competing, and we definitely want him on our team, too.

Q. Tyrrell, just your form recently, obviously you followed up the win with a third, I think. If you could talk about your form right now and how it's compared to previous hot streaks you've had.

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I missed the cut last week, so --

Q. Well, I didn't want to mention that.

TYRRELL HATTON: That's at the forefront of my memory, to be honest.

Yeah, I played nicely in Nashville and at Valderrama, but sadly, just didn't really have a good week last week, and that was frustrating.

Coming into this week, I still felt like I was struggling. Just from some videos that I saw on Tuesday at The Open, I just was trying to find -- trying to fight something that maybe I didn't really need to fight and just let the club kind of go where it wanted to go, because that's what I had done in Nashville and Valderrama, and it worked pretty well.

I kind of just went back to that from yesterday morning because I scuffed it all over the place in the pro-am and in practice on Wednesday. Yeah, just trying to be comfortable over the ball, and so far it's kind of been a lot better.

Q. Andy, since the first of November, 2022, you have more professional victories than either of the two guys to your side. Will that help you tomorrow with your mindset going out with the lead?

ANDY OGLETREE: I don't exactly think I'm playing against who they were playing against in those tournaments, but wins are wins, and I was definitely playing some great golf last year.

Yeah, I would say I know how to win golf tournaments, and I'm comfortable with the lead, and I'm looking forward to the challenge, but I don't think that having more wins than someone else is really necessary or something to think about, especially when the competition that I was playing against was definitely not on this level.

Q. Why do you like the British weather so much?

ANDY OGLETREE: Kind of like Cam was saying, there's a lot of slopes over here. The golf courses usually fit the prevailing wind. You can use the slopes to your advantage and hit different ball flights and different shot shapes. I love the grass. I love the bentgrass greens and overseeded fairways. I love hitting different shot shapes and trajectories and controlling my spin around these places.

Q. Tyrrell, you've played one European Tour event so far this year and you have to play four minimum to be eligible for the 2025 Ryder Cup. Do you intend on doing that by the end of the season?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, I'm down to play British Masters, Spanish Open and Dunhill Links. Before but pretty much around obviously signing with LIV, those conversations were had, so the DP World Tour kind of knew where I stood with wanting to obviously maintain my membership and things like that, and the Ryder Cup is obviously very important to me. I need to be a member of the Tour, and I'm hoping that I can earn enough points in those three events that I just said to be able to play Abu Dhabi and Dubai in November.

Yeah, once the LIV season finishes, then obviously my attention turns to the DP World Tour to try and gain the points that I need to gain, and Ryder Cup points start the week of Dallas. Yeah, that's another incentive to go play.

Q. Tyrrell, you mentioned how you felt that you needed to interact a bit more with the fans going around, and obviously a very lively audience out there today. Is that an adaptation that you're still making since you've moved to this tour from the previous one?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, not really. I think just me as a person, I'm just quite a shy person, so I would struggle to be more --

CAM SMITH: Engaging?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah. I can't think of the right words. But yeah, I find that really hard. That's just me as a person. I go through days where I'll be more responsive and interact, and then other days where I'm just in a different mood and feeling more like wanting to be in my own shell, and then I might walk past people and might not want to put my hand out or high five. That's just me. I try my best.

Q. Do you think that might change the longer you're on the LIV Golf Tour?

TYRRELL HATTON: To be honest, no. I think that's just me as a person and how I deal with those situations and certain moods that I'm in. If I can allow myself to be more -- not so closed off, I guess.