LIV GOLF HONG KONG

March 7, 2025

Max Lee

Hong Kong Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome our wild card player, Max Lee. It's his first time up here. What an impressive round of golf today. You're currently sitting at T2. You fired off an impressive 65 today, shot 5-under par. Tell us a little bit about your round.

MAX LEE: It's a pretty solid round today. After the first three holes -- the first three holes is a little bit of a struggle, and after the first three holes, I just talked to myself, just be calm and play shot by shot. And we got a good result.

Q. Do you have experience playing this golf course before?

MAX LEE: Yeah, actually we come here every year. The Asian Tour event is the Hong Kong Open, so yeah, I've played many times on this course, and I have many great memories here.

Q. Do you feel very comfortable playing around this course?

MAX LEE: Yes, it is.

Q. Are you going to be a little bit nervous tomorrow going out there knowing you're so high up on the leaderboard?

MAX LEE: I think I will, but I just try to stay focused and in the moment and enjoy it.

Q. What does the rest of your night look like tonight? What are you going to do to relax?

MAX LEE: Just do the same as yesterday. Yeah, have a good dinner, enjoy dinner with my girlfriend. Yeah, that's it.

Q. You joined us from the International Series. You won the golden ticket, and now you are here only three tournaments in, sitting at the top of the leaderboard amongst some of the greatest players in the world, sitting up there in the post round press conference. How does that feel?

MAX LEE: After the first two events when I come back home, I always talk to myself; I need to change a little bit my mind and try to control the tempo.

After that, today, I just feel more comfortable, not like the first two events. That's how it's different.

Question:

As for what you just mentioned, you've already played two rounds of LIV matches here. Since you've been here many times before, is there anything particularly special this time? Is there anything different compared to previous Hong Kong Opens, like the music or something else?

至于你刚刚也说你啊已经打了两站那个live了然后有没有什么东西，因为因为其实你来这里已经很多次了，有没有很特别的东西。 跟以前在Hong Kong open不一样譬如说那个音乐啊或者是什么的。

MAX LEE:

The course we're playing on this year is quite different from the past Hong Kong Opens. I feel that the greens are harder this year, and there's more bounce. Even after it rained yesterday and today, my team and I still feel that the greens are harder than in previous years when we played here. So, I think that's the biggest difference. As for other aspects, well, this course has always been challenging for me because of the wind. The wind is really tricky and hard to control. So, we've been focusing a lot of our attention on this aspect.

呃，其实，呃，今年打的球场其实跟往年的Hong Kong open其实不太一样，因为我感觉今年的国领是比较硬的，然后那个弹跳也比较多一点。那其实甚至于昨天下雨跟今天下雨之后国领我们还是觉得就是我的跟我的感地，还是觉得国领比往年我们在这里打还要硬。 对，那这个我是觉得是最大的不一样，那至于其他，因为啊，这个球场其实风一直以来对我来说都是一个很大的挑战嘛，因为风其实很很不好掌握那。 对，我们就是把很多的专注力放在这个部分对。

Question:

And what about external factors? Like the music, which isn’t usually present—have you gotten used to it?

那那那个旁边的因素，因为音乐就是平常的都没有的你已经习惯。

MAX LEE:

I feel that this week has been pretty quiet. Maybe it's because last week at the previous event in Australia, it was really loud. So this week, it doesn’t feel noisy at all. I've been able to stay very focused.

呃，其实我觉得这个礼拜还蛮安静的，可能因为我们前一个礼拜在上一场，在那个澳洲真的是太大声了对，那这个礼拜其实。 感觉其实不会觉得太吵，那我自己也很。

Question:

You’ve told us before that your goal is to finish in the top 24. So far, after the first two rounds, you're ranked somewhere in the 40s. Today, you had a good start. Do you think you'll achieve an even better result here in Hong Kong?

专注对你跟我们讲过，就是说你希望在那就是希望在前24名完成，然后so far里有大概四十多头头两站，那今天有一个很好的开始，你觉得在香港。 呃，会不会。 呃，其一个更好的成绩。

MAX LEE:

I haven’t set overly ambitious goals for myself, but I do believe I can perform well on this course. However, I'm just trying to make progress and breakthroughs with each match. I think I'll get better as the tournament goes on. I'm gradually getting used to the tour, and I hope to improve with every match.

呃，其实我没有给自己设太大的目标，但当然我在这个球场我认为我可以打出不错的成绩。不过我觉得我就是，呃，尝试着每一场比赛都有一些进步，一些突破那。 到后面的比赛应该会越打越好。我已经，呃，就是让自己逐渐习惯这个巡回赛。对，那我也是希望每一场比赛可以越来越好。对。

Question:

Sorry, excuse me—about the music issue you mentioned earlier. How do you manage to overcome such a noisy environment and stay focused during matches?

问题 (Chinese):

Sorry。不好意思，因为刚刚你说那个音乐的问题，你怎么样？因为虽然已经已经试过了，可是你怎么样克服这个这么吵的环境，然后来focus这些比赛？

MAX LEE:

The frequency of the music is pretty consistent. As long as it doesn’t suddenly get really loud or really quiet, it doesn’t affect me much. What tends to be more distracting is movement—like if there are a lot of people walking around, that has a bigger impact. But as for the music, since its frequency is steady, it doesn’t really bother me.

呃，其实因为音音乐它来的频率其实是都是一样的，那如果它没有突然很大声，或者是突然很小声的话，对我。 来说其实没有影响到很多。其实呃，比较多会影响的还是还是那个走动的感觉会比较多一点。对，如果如果很多人一直在走的话，这比较会比较会影响。 音乐的话，其实它的频率是一致的，其。 都不会对。

Question:

I noticed your putt on the sixth hole—it seemed like you hadn’t fully adapted to the speed of the greens yet, as the ball bounced a few times after landing. Considering the current course conditions, what adjustments will you make for tomorrow?

还有这，我今天打了六个包里，今天打的特别好，然后我看了一下你在六号洞的那个那个那个推杆。 是是，但是没有适应现在的果岭速度，因为我看到打上去之后还跳了几下。那么针对于现在的球场状况，明天会做哪些调整呢？

MAX LEE:

The grass on this course is quite tricky to read. Today, I didn’t handle some of the longer putts very well. So, later, I’ll probably make some adjustments to my putting. Other than that, I’ll stick to the same strategy as today.

呃，其实因为这个球场他的草文的判读其实是蛮不容易的。那我因为今天在几个长推杆的掌握其实没有那么好，那对于我来说就是等一下可能会去再做一点点调整在推杆的部分。 那其他的话其实就是照着跟今天一样的策略对。