LIV GOLF PROMOTIONS

December 12, 2024

Max Rottluff

Riyadh Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Had you played out here before?

MAX ROTTLUFF: No, I have not.

Q. So it must have suited your eye.

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah.

Q. How did you feel going around the course? Seemed like you turned it on on the back nine there.

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah, it was nice. I played pretty solid. I didn't feel like I had my "A" game, especially early on. Hit a couple errant shots that caught me a little bit by surprise. Wedge game was really nice, so that was great to kind of rely on that. I felt like I hit all my lines with my putter, had the speed down pretty good, for the most part at least, so was pretty happy overall.

Q. Obviously you're safely into next round. You're leader in the clubhouse but really you only needed to finish in the top 20. Were you keeping an eye on the leaderboard?

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah, there was a leaderboard on 9 that I saw, just kind of getting a feel for overall how it was playing out. Along the line I was like, okay, 2-, 3-under is probably kind of the number. Ultimately I felt like obviously there's nothing I can do about it, so I stuck to my game plan, stuck to my game, and it was nice to execute some good shots coming down the stretch and make a couple more birdies than ultimately I needed, but it's always good to see the ball get close to the hole and make the putts, so I draw a lot of good out of that.

Q. Did you feel like you were in good form coming into this week?

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah, I had the last I think four weeks off, spent about two and a half weeks working on my yard.

Q. Where is that?

MAX ROTTLUFF: In San Antonio, Texas. So I did that. It was really nice after a long season on the DP World Tour to kind of reset the mind. Then this opportunity opened up for me, and really kicked in the practice, ramped it up a little bit more the last couple weeks. I felt like my game has been in a good spot. I played nicely the second half of the year I would say all around, but it was just a long season, and I needed a little bit of a break and a mental reset.

Q. How did you get to San Antonio?

MAX ROTTLUFF: My wife is from there. I was in Arizona for a long time.

Q. You played mostly on the DP World Tour this year. How was that? That's challenging travel.

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah, it really was. It didn't make it any easier. It is what it is. Ultimately you've got to do what is needed to do. But I think I would much rather prefer playing a lighter schedule. Happy to travel worldwide, obviously, but San Antonio isn't -- it's tough.

Q. You don't want to look too far ahead, but what would it mean to land this spot this week?

MAX ROTTLUFF: It would be a dream, to be honest with you. It would be a dream come true. I have a lot of friends -- my two college roommates, one, Jon Rahm, being a captain, the other, Alberto Sanchez, caddying for David Puig. We still talk quite a bit and whatnot, so it would be a dream come true to join those guys. It was fun seeing them at a couple events at the end of the year on the DP World Tour, and to join them out here would be phenomenal.

Q. What years were you rooming together?

MAX ROTTLUFF: We were there 2012 to 2016.

Q. All four years?

MAX ROTTLUFF: All four years, yeah. We roomed together the first three years. My senior year I kind of removed myself from that. But we had a blast. We had a good time. Our coach was Tim Mickelson. He obviously was out here.

Q. You still keep in touch with Jon?

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact, he's probably one of the reasons I'm still out here doing what I'm doing right now. I was considering giving it up back at the end of '22, and I spent a week with him, and that really kind of straightened out my head, and went out and won two times that year on the Challenge Tour. Kind of went back on a better trajectory again.

Q. What's your status right now? Do you have status for next year?

MAX ROTTLUFF: Yes, I do. I finished 123, 124, 125, somewhere in that range on the points system, barely missed out. I think it's category 18 or 19, something like that. Scheduled to play -- currently I'm not in the field for next week, but I think I will be in Mauritius in the field. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at right now. I call it the Challenge Tour "deluxe" category, so I kind of play a mix of Challenge Tour and DP World Tour. We'll see. That's the beauty about this game; things can change rapidly with proper rounds of golf.

Q. Just curious if it doesn't happen for No. 1 but you get in the top 10 this week, would you play International Series?

MAX ROTTLUFF: Absolutely, yeah. Actually I played Asian Tour Q-school back after I saw Jon. I went over to Asia, as a matter of fact, played Asian Tour Q-school, so I did consider that. Went to final stage, didn't get my card. I would love to do that. Everybody I've talked to that's played International Series, obviously played LIV events, everybody is loving it. That's the goal, obviously, being here is to get that No. 1 spot, but playing Saturday, I think there's a lot to play for.