LIV GOLF UNITED KINGDOM

July 28, 2024

Jon Rahm

Tyrrell Hatton

Kieran Vincent

Caleb Surratt

JCB Golf and Country Club

Legion XIII

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome the winners of LIV Golf UK by JCB. We are joined by Legion XIII, Caleb Surratt, Kieran Vincent, the individual champion, Jon Rahm, our captain, and Tyrrell Hatton. Welcome, guys, and congratulations.

Let's start with the obvious question. This win, Jon, has to be somewhat bittersweet for you the way it went down. Can you talk through how you're feeling right now?

JON RAHM: Yeah. Obviously you always want to win. Selfishly you always want to get that done. But you don't want to see a teammate and a good friend missing a putt for that to happen for me.

It's a bit of an unusual situation that I don't think any of us are used to. Team wins, I win individually, but still, having so much respect for Tyrrell, somebody who's a good friend and somebody I've experienced a lot with -- I can't really celebrate because I still feel for him for finishing like that.

Personally I will say a bit relieved, having top-tenned pretty much every time I've teed it up and given myself plenty of chances to win, and finally getting it done feels very good. Feels like I got a lot of weight off my shoulders on that one.

Q. Tyrrell, does having the team win alongside this soften the blow at all or does it hurt just as bad?

TYRRELL HATTON: To be honest, no. Yeah, it's obviously still pretty raw for me as an individual. It's kind of hard to put that to one side. As a team -- golf is generally an individual sport, and ultimately your individual results will reflect what happens within the team.

I'm really happy for the guys to have a solid weekend and for us to win our fourth event as a team, but it doesn't change how I feel towards my own individual performance.

It sucks to bogey the last in front of your home crowd to effectively miss out on a playoff. That's unfortunately the reality of my situation at the moment.

Q. You guys just secured your fourth win. You are having a dominance that is similar to the 4Aces the first year. Can you talk a little bit, Caleb, what it feels like to be on such a dominating team?

CALEB SURRATT: Yeah. It kind of softens the blow a lot on how you're playing individually if you don't have it going. Like today I was really grinding all day and kind of middle of the pack. When I look up on the leaderboard it's a lot less about where I'm at and how I can help contribute to the team on the way in.

It's pretty awesome. I think part of the reason why we're winning like this and have been and hopefully will in the future is having this younger team and guys that -- me and Kieran, who are probably not on Jon and Tyrrell's level yet, we're extremely hungry, and in no way are we ever satisfied. We're always striving to get better, and we have four guys with that mindset. I think it's going to add up to a lot of success.

Q. Kieran, how does this win feel for you?

KIERAN VINCENT: Yeah, I mean, we won. Four times, it's kind of hard to beat that. I don't know how many other teams have done that in a season. Whether it's record setting or close to it, I think this is pretty cool. So to be part of that team that's kind of record-breaking and just as four new guys into this league, I think we've taken it with open arms and running and enjoying this race we're running right now.

I think we're excited, and obviously super thankful for another good week with these guys.

Q. Jon, you've had some troubles off course this year, and this win really means a lot to you because of that. Can you talk a little bit about what you told your son before you left to come here and what you get to tell him when you come home?

JON RAHM: Well, it's also, first of all, my first win since the Masters last year, so a little bit longer than I would have liked, especially because I feel like I've put myself in position many times during that year.

Yeah, leaving right before I went to Valderrama, Kelley was telling me how Kepa said that he wanted me to bring a trophy home, and the funny thing is I played the Queenwood Cup in London with a friend of mine. It's a pro-member at Queenwood Country Club, and we won it, so I kind of made the joke to Kelley, well, at least I'm bringing some type of trophy home.

I feel like I played good enough in Valderrama and didn't get it done and put myself in position today and played the back nine I needed, minus 17, which was nothing more than a misread, unfortunately, for me.

Really happy I got it done. Did what I needed to do on Friday, which is something that I really -- I feel like I haven't done this season, take the lead or shoot a low one to put myself in a really good position to maybe where I can afford a bad Saturday. Instead of playing catch-up for the entire Saturday I was kind of in position.

I learned from the mistakes I made yesterday, I adjusted and played a fantastic round of golf today. There's not a lot that went wrong. Made a lot of good swings out there and had a lot of fun, which is kind of how you want it.

At the end of that, now that Kelley and the kids are watching, just knowing I'm bringing a trophy home for them, it feels good to see that it's coming home.

Q. You're heading to the Olympics next to go compete for Team Spain. The last couple weeks you've been playing a lot of golf. How do you feel heading into next week and does this win give you some confidence?

JON RAHM: It gives me a lot of confidence. Relief, like I said. Had I gone next week and performed well again and given myself a chance going into the last six, seven holes, maybe it might have felt different if I hadn't won, but having gotten over it, I think I would approach a moment like that with a little bit more confidence, especially after learning from what I could have done better today.

It's something I really look forward to. It's going to be a fantastic week to share with David, being another LIV member, a player that's become a really close friend of mine. It's going to be a lot of fun, and hopefully one of us has a chance to get the gold.

Q. Jon, I think I've been at every one of your press conferences this year in the majors and you've taken a lot of questions about not winning, whatever. Do you feel like -- I don't know if it ever bothered you, and if it did, do you feel like it'll quiet the critics now?

JON RAHM: It never bothered me because I don't think any of you guys would say something I wasn't already thinking. I'm my worst critic.

When it comes to that, no, it really bothered me. Most of it was I hadn't won in a while and I had given myself a chance and I didn't get it done.

I tried to use it as motivation and told myself if I put myself in that position again I was going to try my hardest to take advantage of it, so I'm glad I did.

For the most part, I feel like -- I've felt like from what I've read in media it's that I guess maybe my play hasn't reflected how good I really felt about my game. I felt like I was playing good, and I guess top 10 is not enough anymore, even when I didn't feel my best in some of the weeks.

Just because I had poor performances at the Masters and the PGA, I think I was taking a lot of criticism just for two weeks on how I was really playing and how I really felt. So feel really good to actually perform the way I did on the weekend last week and carry that over and win it. I'm happy about it, but you almost -- when you're in the public eye, you're going to get criticized. You almost have to use it as fuel to motivate yourself.

Q. You were pretty emotional right after today. Was it because of the family? What was going through your mind, and are you surprised that it was as emotional a win for you today?

JON RAHM: No, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised at all. Again, it hasn't been the easiest. I really can't remember many wins when Kelley and the kids weren't there. I think it was only one Spanish Open, and I think that's it.

I'm really happy that I had my first LIV Golf win, and under normal circumstances, Kelley would have been here, but unfortunately she couldn't. At this point I'm just happy that in one week I'll be able to share the moment with them and celebrate. I think that was the most emotional part of things.

Luckily every time we've had a child, it's come with a win around that time or shortly after, so I'm glad that I got this one before she came out.

Q. Tyrrell, when you joined LIV, you knew the format. I don't know if you thought that this kind of scenario might play out. If it did, what kind of emotions might you have? Is it what you expected when you joined LIV, that this is kind of a weird reality that we have out here?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I mean, I think until you actually experience it, you don't know how are you going to react. I don't think how I'm feeling now is any different to how any other player in the league would be feeling.

I don't know what else to say to that.

Q. Was there one shot out there, whether it was the last putt or maybe the double, that you would like to have had back?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, I mean, the double on 6 is not ideal. When I looked up for my final look, I couldn't see the pin. I completely lost my bearings, and I probably should have backed off there.

Then yeah, obviously bogeying the last. But I've hit a perfect tee shot over the line that we're all meant to hit. I'd say probably the 18th is one hole that I think 54 players would like to see changed before we come back next year. I don't think the tee shot that I hit there deserves to be in the semi and I'm playing a guessing game if it's going to come out with no spin or with spin. Obviously I guessed wrong and it leaves it in a really tricky position to two-putt, and unfortunately wasn't able to hole that five-footer to force a playoff.

Yeah, it sucks.

Q. Jon, I want to ask you about your tee shot at 12. Did you feel like that was the time you needed to be aggressive?

JON RAHM: I tried to stay as aggressive as I could throughout the day. But yeah, I had a chance, knowing that I tied the lead on 10, had a good chance on 11, you have to assume that the guys behind you are going to make birdie, at least one birdie on 12 and 13, so I wanted to give myself a good chance.

With today's pin, you could afford to miss it left and give yourself a decent birdie chance. I just decided to be aggressive. I hit a good tee shot that luckily stayed just inside the rough line and ended up in a really good spot for an eagle putt.

I think I did a good job of picking my spots today because I could have gone for the green on 10 and I didn't and ended up with a birdie, and then decided to be aggressive there with a 3-wood, which can't carry the water so I had to keep it left, and it paid off. Then the 3-wood after that on the tee and the 5-wood on 13, that's probably a key moment of the tournament, getting those two birdies while they hadn't really finished 12 yet is important.

Q. Caleb and Kieran, how much did you look at the leaderboard today, especially from a team standpoint? Also, you saw that Jon and Tyrrell were kind of neck-and-neck there. How much did it cross your mind that they may have to have a playoff for the individual title, or were you just focused solely on the team at that point?

CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, it was definitely interesting. I kind of got two parts to that answer. It was interesting, at one point they were both tied, and we were right there tied on the team side, and I was thinking about how awkward it would be if they had a playoff and it was a team playoff. Because I had never thought of that scenario in my head.

But when you're looking at the leaderboard and you see what our team score is and then how these two guys were playing, it just makes you think of how great of an opportunity me and Kieran have to learn and compete with the two best players arguably.

That's a blessing in itself. It was pretty great golf to watch.

KIERAN VINCENT: Yeah, it was funny, I told my caddie on hole No. -- our first hole of the day, I looked up and I said, who do you think is going to win today, Jon or Tyrrell, and it basically came down to that because I knew the guys were going to come out hot and firing, and they did. It was super awesome to watch, and I think obviously me and Caleb were observing it regularly, but also we're looking at the team standings like, hey, they may be drilling out something; we need to do our job. Even though it may not look like we had flashy scores today, we still put in good scores for what we had this week, so I'm proud of Caleb and obviously the rest of the guys.

Q. Looking ahead to the Olympics, obviously you'll have spoken to previous people who have won gold medals. What would it mean for you if -- you've won here, you've won majors. Where would it stand in your career if you came away with a gold medal next week?

JON RAHM: I've thought about that question and I've been asked that question. I really don't have the perfect answer because the Olympics, unfortunately, were not a possibility for any of us until 2016. Ever since then there's been two additions, and with me not being able to go to Tokyo because of COVID, I might have been a little bit better watching that. Hard to position myself on where the magnitude of something like that may be, but to be able to say that you have a gold medal or an Olympic medal for that matter is something that a very small group of people in all human history can say.

I don't think it might have the recognition it could have yet, but in the future this may be one of those things that means a lot more than we're aware of right now. Just to be able to add to a Spanish medal count would be absolutely amazing.

I can't put it in a ranking based on majors and things like that yet, but if I were to get it done on Sunday, ask me that same question and I'll be able to tell you because you can usually tell on the 18th green how it feels.

Q. John and Tyrrell, obviously you guys made a big decision at the start of the year to come over here. As you near the end of your first season with LIV, how do you reflect on what you have joined, what is the outlook for the future, and how happy are you with the decision that you made?

TYRRELL HATTON: To be fair, I wasn't listening to that question. Sorry.

JON RAHM: How would you reflect on the decision of joining LIV?

TYRRELL HATTON: You go first.

JON RAHM: I was trying to gain time by getting you to go first.

Well, it's a different scenario for us because I signed and instantly tried to recruit him. He can be quite hard-headed, so it was a lot of insisting to try to get him to join the team.

But again, I signed in I think it was November or December and faced enough criticism for doing so. Then we got really busy with building the team and the brand and actually having a team, which that in itself took a lot of time, and then trying to get ready for Mayakoba.

There was a lot of question marks when we started the year, but I have to say I'm extremely satisfied with how things have gone. Had I won today or not, we have a great team, great group of people together, not only us by everybody around the team that makes it so much fun. We started the first week with a win and then followed it with three more, and two of us here have won individual titles.

I really don't think there's going to be much to be negative about. It's been in my experience a fantastic experience. It's been a wonderful year. It's been a lot of fun. Just looking forward to hopefully finishing the year with more wins and really ending it with a bang.

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I think the easiest thing to say because this year was always going to be a bit of a learning experience. Going into something completely new for us. Obviously we knew exactly what it was like on the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour and things.

I think it's been a fun year. We've been fortunate to go to some pretty cool places around the world and play some nice golf courses and enjoy cool moments as a team. Then as an individual, for me to win in Nashville last month was a huge relief just to win again as a professional because it had been such a long time.

To have that experience and do it, I think it was the best turnout attendance-wise for LIV in the U.S., so it was fun to play a tournament that had a really good atmosphere.

I think each year that goes by, I think we'll see more and more fans coming to tournaments and creating a fun atmosphere for us players to play in. Ultimately at the end of the day that's kind of what we want. We want a good atmosphere, and the crowds this week really were fantastic.

I'm not sure what the true number was, but it felt like there was a lot of people out there, and I think the exciting thing is that it can get bigger and bigger. It's fun to be a part of.

Q. Jon, you're chasing Joaco at the top of the season standings. How do you rate Joaco as a competitor, and what would it mean to you to lift that season title?

JON RAHM: I don't know how far away I am now, but he still had a fantastic Sunday and finished tied for second, so I didn't really catch up as much as I would have liked. He has two wins, right? Two wins and an incredible season so far.

He's a fantastic player that clearly last year he didn't have the year he thought he could have had, could have been better, and at some point in the post-season figured something out because he finished the year by winning overseas and then continued that great momentum into LIV Golf, winning early on a couple times. Not only that, the weeks he's not winning he's pretty much always up there.

He's a great competitor, great golfer, somebody that has all the tools to keep putting himself in great position and giving himself chances. Hopefully I can keep doing my job and do it well and keep putting myself in a good position, hopefully get more wins, and maybe we have a nice little show there going on the last day in Chicago for the individual title.

Whoever gets it done so far, it's been an incredible year for either one.

Q. A couple of questions for Jon. I've had some chats with Kieran, and he always talks about how good you are as a captain, how motivating you are, how much knowledge you keep imparting. I wanted to ask you, David has played a lot of golf with you, in Arizona, as well, and he's going to be your kind of partner at the Olympics. I don't know if you followed his scores today or not. He really played great golf until the last couple of holes. How are you going to mentor him in Paris?

JON RAHM: Well, thank you for the kind words, Kieran. I try to be myself. That's all I can say. Whenever they have a question, I try to be as honest as I can.

With David, I think it's a little bit of a different dynamic since we're both Spanish, and I'll say the Spanish love language can be very different. What we do to each other is give each other about as hard a time as we can and make fun of each other as much as we can, and that's how we get each other ready basically.

When we play together and we're together, if we had subtitles, you would not believe the things we're telling each other. Always with respect and knowing that we're both kidding, but there's been plenty of times where he's asked for my advice and I've given it to him.

He's a fantastic player, still very young, with an incredible amount of firepower on the golf course. He's in the process of learning how to handle that and how to use it, but when he gets things going, he's very tough to beat. He's responsible for some of the most impressive rounds of golf I've seen in Arizona. He shot a 61 at Whisper Rock, missing two putts inside five feet, where I still can't believe somebody shot that score on the day that we had and had many other chances.

I'm hoping next week will be one of those because it's a golf course where you just have to play incredibly well. It doesn't matter -- if it's in the conditions it usually is, there's no hiding. Every part of your game needs to be good. When you have the length that he has, you can take advantage of some holes better than most. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing him do well, and hopefully we both end up in the medals. If not, and if I don't, I'd love to see him get there.

Q. Given Kelley's background as a javelin thrower and a track & field athlete, are you first going to watch javelin throw at the Olympics if you get a chance, and secondly, do you guys discuss your sports, and have you learned something from her sport that you have tried to apply to golf?

JON RAHM: Well, she's done javelin and tennis, tennis for most of her life when she was younger. There's parts of the process that you can learn from, but I consider myself extremely lucky to have found somebody like her because when I turned pro, there was no hesitation on her on doing what needed to be done to help me out, and she understood what the process of a professional athlete looks like.

I can tell you right now, even when we're home now with the kids, she'll be the first one to tell me, if you're going to spend all this time practicing and improving yourself and treatments and this and the other thing where you're not spending maybe as much time with the kids and her that we could, you'd better go and win. You'd better go and perform.

It's her own little way of making me laugh in that since and knowing what to say to motivate me, as well, and what needs to be done to make sure I'm keeping a regimented lifestyle to become better. Not specifically sports-wise, but she's always understood the process, and it's made my life a lot easier in that sense.

I don't know what stadium they're doing javelin throw in, so I don't know how far we are and how easily we'd be able to commute because Paris is not easy to move around. And when the dates are. So as of right now, I know tomorrow and Tuesday towards the afternoon/evening a lot of swimming finals are going on so we might be able to go and watch that. The head rental house we have is I think 20 to 30 minutes from there, so if traffic isn't too bad it seems a little bit more doable.

In my mind I also want to see if I can see Carlos and Nadal compete. It would be nice, but I don't know if they're playing while we have days off or any Spanish national basketball team or a couple others, other friends that I have in the Olympics would be nice, but while you're competing I don't really know how much free time we have to be able to go and watch. The schedule is probably not very cooperative.

Q. I asked you because the best javelin thrower in the world in men's right now is an Indian called Neeraj Chopra. I don't know if you have heard about him, but he's the gold medalist and really good.

JON RAHM: I have not. Even she doesn't follow in javelin. She doesn't follow javelin close. She was never that serious about it, so I don't think she follows it in that way.