LIV GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MIAMI

October 21, 2023

Bubba Watson

Bryson DeChambeau

Dustin Johnson

Trump National Doral

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome the captains from the four winning teams today. We have Bubba Watson from RangeGoats GC, Dustin Johnson from 4Aces GC and Bryson DeChambeau from Crushers GC, Joaquin Niemann from Torque GC is on the way. He will be here. Just imagine him.

Congratulations, guys, you guys are all moving into the final round. Bubba, tell us about your day and about your team's day.

BUBBA WATSON: Well, the team played great. I struggled. I just didn't make any putts. I had a three-putt. Sergio, he made four or five birdies. So he just stayed just ahead of me all day. And then all I could do after that is pull for the team. And the dream is still alive because we are here talking to y'all, so it's good.

THE MODERATOR: Went down to the wire with you and Phil. Tell us about your day.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Nice shank on 15.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was solid. Right square on the hosel. I actually played pretty well. Phil played really nice. I gave him 14 and 15. That's kind of how -- we were even standing on 16 tee. But birdied 16 and 17 to finish it off.

But yeah, I mean it was a really good match. I've played a lot of golf with Phil and I knew it was going to be a good match. And it always is.

Yeah, it kind of went how I thought it would. Other -- the shot on 15 wasn't really what I was envisioning but other than that, the rest of the day was pretty good.

THE MODERATOR: Bryson, you guys had a pretty good day out there. Have you had a chance to connect with your teammates?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Paul played lights out. Proud of him. Haven't seen Ban or Chuckie yet, but I know they it gave their all and they are ready to go tomorrow.

Played pretty good up against Martin. He actually played prejudice solid. Had a couple of missed drives. Other than that, he put some fresh on me three-fourths of the way through the match. Then I just stepped on the gas and never let him have a chance to get a couple back.

It was a good day of play for me, and let's it translate it to tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Moving to stroke play tomorrow, all four scores count. Do you have a different mindset going into tomorrow, and what are you guys doing as teams to really make sure that everyone steps up to the plate tomorrow?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'm just going to putt it around the water tomorrow off the tee just to be safe.

BUBBA WATSON: Play safe.

THE MODERATOR: Do you guys have a different mindset going in?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: The same.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Still got to play golf. Just like match play, I mean, obviously, if you hit a bad shot you can just pick it up.

But yeah, I mean, you've got to -- to play solid, all four guys got to play well if you want to win. It takes a whole team effort tomorrow. I like it. It's four teams and we're battling for the trophy.

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, exactly what he said. All four of us count, so we've got to stay in there and keep our head in the right position and hopefully at the end of the day we have a chance coming down the stretch.

Q. Was there ever a point when you realized it was coming down to you and Phil versus the overall?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I pretty much knew that through about seven holes. I think Double-P and Pete were 4- or 5-up early I think. And Patrick Reed was 4-down early, and I don't think he ever got better than 4-down. There's plenty of screens out there. You can see how your guys are doing.

I knew it was going to come down to me and Phil.

Q. Just in terms of getting to this point where obviously you guys didn't get a chance to get to this point last year, how much does it mean to have this opportunity to win the team championship?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: It's a huge opportunity for us. Last year we left pretty sour, and this year is a different story. We've got some guys that are playing some better golf and I'm playing a little bit better.

Hopefully I can do that tomorrow and give ourselves an opportunity to win. We've been prepping for this all year. And look, it's 18 holes of golf. Anything can happen really and we've got a good team, we've just got to show it tomorrow.

Q. You weren't even playing here last year, and now your team is reconfigured and now you have a chance. How much would it mean for you guys to tack on a team championship along with the individual championship?

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, it would be amazing. I mean, that would be a great start for the RangeGoats. It would be a dream come true.

But it's the same for everybody. We've got to just battle, and they are trying to do the same thing we are trying to do. We've got to get four good scores and hopefully that's enough.

Q. Obviously the three of you, you're the only team that has some experience in the final round here. Does that mean anything? Do you think there will be any kind of advantage?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I mean, well, Pete played -- he was just on a different team. But yeah, tomorrow, like obviously we've got the four teams that are playing tomorrow who were the four best teams all year. It's going to be tough.

I think it's going to come down to the last couple holes. Obviously all four guys have got to play well. I think it's pretty evenly matched starting out tomorrow.

Obviously it's golf, and so anything can happen. But you know if we all -- if everybody plays well, then it's going to come down to make a birdie on the last to win it.

Q. You made your choice to play Casey in the singles, really paid off today. What went behind that when maybe the two others from a numbers perspective might have been a better choice?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Paul has a history and record of playing really well in the singles matches in the Ryder Cups that he's been part of. I trusted him with that and he told me, "I'm ready to go," and I never questioned it. Ban and Charles have played last year, and they are comfortable with each other in their games. So they we just stuck with the same format as last year.

Q. Is there any advantage to the players who played in the singles and not the foursomes going into tomorrow where everyone is playing all 18?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't think so.

BUBBA WATSON: No. They are all professionals. We've done it before. It's all good.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: They are probably better rested than we are.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Probably.

DUSTIN JOHNSON: Less shots. Saw the course, though.

BUBBA WATSON: I ended early, so I took a little break, too.

Q. There's a significant amount of money at stake tomorrow and most of it actually goes to the teams. Can you describe maybe how important that is going forward? Does it give you more flexibility in the off-season to do some things, or do you guys even look at it that way as far as what it means for the actual team?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well any time you can create value for the team, the crushers, it's huge. We've done well this year. We've all done well this year. But I think having that capital can allow us to do things a little differently.

For my team, I know it's probably not going to change. So that actually gives us more flexibility in knowing what we all want to do for next year.

And also, it just gives us a nice little, I guess, cushion, you could say, for being comfortable with where all the finances are and moving the Crushers GC in the right direction.