LIV GOLF WASHINGTON DC

May 27, 2023

Kevin Na

Mito Pereira

Trump National Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have Kevin Na, the captain of Iron Heads GC, and Mito Pereira from Torque GC. Mito, you are 5-under for the day, sitting at 9-under total in solo lead, and Torque is also in solo first. Tell us a little bit about your day.

MITO PEREIRA: Well, solid day, just a few errant shots, missing to the right basically, but putting and off the tee was pretty good. Pretty happy and just ready for tomorrow.

Q. Kevin, you are 3-under for the day, sitting at 7-under total, third place, only two off the lead. Tell us about your day.

KEVIN NA: I had a good time out there. We had a good group. All of us played pretty well. I played pretty well, really solid. Last few holes I had chances, but these greens are so difficult if you're on the wrong side, and I had some downhillers that I couldn't take advantage of. But at the same time I couldn't get too aggressive.

Q. Going into tomorrow knowing that you're in the solo lead, Torque is in solo lead, are you going to be watching both leaderboards?

MITO PEREIRA: For sure both. The team aspect, it's really cool to watch it out there, and it can get you off your own game, so it's nice to have that in the background and just hope we can take the win again.

Q. Kevin, you're really close to the top. What do you have to do tomorrow to battle it out with Mito?

KEVIN NA: I think I've just got to play solid and make some putts. These greens are rolling nicely, and if you're putting well, you can make some putts out there.

Q. Over the years a lot of great pros have said that if you can play good four or five times a year, you're really capturing it in the bottle. Your thoughts on that process? You played really well this time of year at the PGA Championship last year. Is there something about the biorhythms that get you going and help you play a little better?

MITO PEREIRA: I haven't really thought about that, but I guess, yeah, if you're in professional golf and you play four, five times really good a year, you are doing it pretty well, so maybe that's me. I don't know yet. So we'll try to play good tomorrow.

Q. Kevin, how are things going? Your ball speed, 176, pretty consistent, huh?

KEVIN NA: No, that was my career ball speed.

Q. So you're getting stronger as you get older?

KEVIN NA: I don't know about stronger, but I'm trying. I'd like to hit it far as Mito, but I don't think God gave me that. I'm working with what I've got. I feel like my driver is close to where I want it to be --

MITO PEREIRA: It goes pretty far.

KEVIN NA: I can sneak it out there. I can hit some runners out there, keep it within somewhat of a firing distance.

My game feels good, and it's turning around, and you know what, it comes down to making putts.

Q. This is really for both of you. Was the golf course playing harder today?

KEVIN NA: I thought it was playing tough with the breeze, greens firming up. It was tough to hit it pin high, and at the same time, I'll tell you what, those downhillers were not easy.

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, for sure greens started getting a little bit firmer than yesterday, and the wind kind of switches sometimes, so it's kind of tough to guess it. I'd say it played a little tougher than yesterday, yeah.

Q. Mito, I know you're battling allergies. There's a couple of guys out there battling. I saw a bunch of sneezing. How much does that affect you?

KEVIN NA: Don't take any pills. It's working.

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, today was -- I started on 9. I think it was really, really bad. I just tried to keep myself together and tried to play good and just take the allergy how it is.

Q. Talk about the crowds out there today. We had huge crowds, double what we did yesterday. Did you guys feel the love and support out there?

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, we actually said something about -- yeah, a lot of people, so it's fun.

KEVIN NA: They're all pulling for the Iron Heads.