LIV GOLF ADELAIDE

April 26, 2024

Danny Lee

Jinichiro Kozuma

The Grange

Iron Heads GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome our clubhouse leaders, Jinichiro Kozuma from Iron Heads GC and his playing partner Danny Lee, also from Iron Heads GC. Jin, you shot a 9-under bogey-free round of 63 today. Tell us a little bit about your round.

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: Today my putting was really good. It was really hot. I had some troubles here and there, but my putting was there to help me get through pars, and it was all about the putting today.

DANNY LEE: Trouble? What trouble?

THE MODERATOR: Danny, you shot a 64 today, 8-under. Tell us a little bit about your round.

DANNY LEE: Obviously any kind of golf course, if you start the tournament with an 8-under round, it's very good. Even with the bogey start, I tried not to freak out because me and my team were working very hard on my game. There was a big change with my irons and especially my putter, going back to a short one, and been working really hard on my putting because I haven't been putting that well.

Really glad to see it's hard work paying off, and hopefully I can keep this up.

Q. What is it about this course that suits the Iron Heads' style of playing?

DANNY LEE: I don't know. Maybe we're very strong in front of a lot of big crowds out here. I have a lot of fans that came over from New Zealand. Even Australians were cheering for us pretty hard out there, and we really enjoyed that. It's big fun out here.

Q. Jin, you have your family here with you this week. Is that giving you added motivation? I think this is the first time they've been out here watching you and supporting you watching you play since you came to LIV.

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: Yes, it was their first time here to the event, and I wanted to play really well in front of my family and impress all the family. I guess I got to do that, and I'm really happy about that.

Q. Jin, this was your first time experiencing the famous Watering Hole. Were you nervous standing over that shot with all those people around cheering for you?

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: Pretty nervous. I was nervous, but I think I hit a good shot, so I got through it.

Q. Danny, you were talking about the crowds out here and how fun it is. Tell us a little bit about the experience out here, how different it is from most golf tournaments and what you think of the Australian fans.

DANNY LEE: It's awesome to see a lot of fans out here, and we're expecting more people coming out tomorrow. I cannot wait to play in front of them.

Before we came here I told Kevin why don't we make this LIV event as like -- I reckon it's one of the biggest LIV events out here and fans love it. We're going to tee off from the first hole, so pretty sure we're going to have a lot of crowds out there cheering for us, so I'm going to try to do my best to catch up with Jinny tomorrow.

Q. What do you have to do the next couple days to break away from the pack and really take it home?

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: I got to play with my teammates today. Felt comfortable, and I think we fed off each other with the energy, and tomorrow I get to play with Danny again, so I'll be less nervous, and it'll be fun to try to keep up with him.

Q. Danny, what do you need to do?

DANNY LEE: I mean, there's a lot of birdie holes out there. All these players are going to make a lot of birdies out there. Whatever I was doing today and whatever Jinny was doing today worked out pretty good. We're going to just enjoy each other's company and keep our head down, keep making putts.

Q. Jin, you came to LIV by way of the Promotions event, and now here you are leading at the biggest tournament that LIV has of the entire year. Is this surreal for you?

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: I haven't been playing well the last couple tournaments, and I wanted to play really well. Coming to Adelaide, I wanted to try to do my best and try and get up there.

Q. Danny, you guys are obviously the best dressed today. That obviously would have given you some confidence. Your lowest round of the season, and coming in the opening round, that must give you a lot of confidence after some early struggles and coming off your wrist surgery in the off-season. How are you feeling and how can you keep going heading into the weekend?

DANNY LEE: First, I felt like I couldn't even break 80. I never had a body surgery before. I had some injuries and had some time off before, but never actually had a surgery, and I couldn't actually practice or hit balls for more than two months. That was a first. But because of LIV, gave us three months off, I was able to do the surgery, and that time off was really awesome.

I didn't have enough time to practice and hit a lot of balls because I was still adjusting with my new wrist, and I was kind of freaking out after the first two, three events. Me and my coach worked really hard on it, and I was starting to hit better, but my putting was still not there.

I made some changes after Miami, and it's been good.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the shirts. I don't know that I've seen you guys wear these shirts with the "win at all costs" before. Have you worn those?

DANNY LEE: Yes, WAAC was nice enough to sponsor us later last year, and it's one of the big sponsors for us. Kevin, before he came to LIV, he wore WAAC for a long time and they were nice enough to come front of us, and they wanted to support team Iron Heads, and that was very nice of them. We love our clothes, and it's only getting better starting tomorrow. So get ready.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your change in putters. Were you surprised it became so effective so quickly today?

DANNY LEE: It didn't came quickly. My caddie Grant lives in Dallas. He came to Las Vegas because we wanted to put more work in, and I don't like to go out on the golf course every day, but he came to Las Vegas and made sure I played every single day. We worked pretty hard on our putting.

Even before I came here, even during the practice rounds, I was making a lot of good putts and a lot of solid 20-footers, inside 20-footers, and making a lot of good short putts, too.

My confidence was there, and I've just got to believe in myself and just do it during the tournament rounds, and I did it today, and hopefully this thing never goes away.

Q. Obviously you're still searching for your first points of the season. Do you feel like this is a time to reset the rest of the year, especially with the start that you had today?

JINICHIRO KOZUMA: I haven't been playing well, so I'd like to get some points. But I don't want to think too much about the points. I want to just enjoy where I'm at right now and play.

DANNY LEE: Kind of a similar mindset as Jinny. Playing good golf takes care of a lot of stuff, and I don't like to think about that kind of stuff.

You can't get too caught up in that kind of stuff. I feel like that's only putting a lot of pressure on yourself, so you've just got to let it go and keep your head down and just keep doing what we've been doing.