LIV GOLF MEXICO CITY

April 23, 2025

Joaquin Niemann

Carlos Ortiz

Mito Pereira

Sebastian Munoz

Club de Golf Chapultepec

Torque GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Torque GC, Sebastian Muñoz, local hero Carlos Ortiz and Mito Pereira and Joaquín Niemann.

We have really big news that's just hitting the airwaves right now. We're announcing it live. The Torque GC team is now officially sponsored by Ping. It is only the second team out here at LIV Golf that has an official equipment sponsor, so we're going to talk a little bit about that to kick this off.

I know all of you guys have played Ping pretty much your entire careers, even your amateur careers. If you can just talk a little bit about if you remember your very first Ping club and your relationship with Ping from the very beginning. I'll start with you, captain.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, first of all, it's really exciting having Ping on board with the team, and yeah, we actually were talking about it yesterday, for how long I've been with Ping, it's been all the way since I was 15 years old. It's a brand that is really special, and it's always been involved in my career.

So yeah, it's a really exciting moment for us and for the team. All of us are Ping players for a long time, as well. We feel really comfortable with the brand, with the stuff that they do, and yeah, it's special.

MITO PEREIRA: Yeah, I didn't start as young as Joaquín with Ping. I started probably seven years ago. But it was for sure an upgrade in my game. I feel really confident with Ping. The guys at Ping are very good guys. They work hard for us. I think they are a really, really good company so I'm really happy to be with them on LIV, too.

Q. Carlos, do you remember your first Ping club and how long you've played their equipment?

CARLOS ORTIZ: I think I've been using Ping clubs since I was like 11, 12. My first real set of real clubs, it was Ping, and since then I've always played Ping clubs. I've really always liked the way they do their clubs and how consistent they are, and also one part that Mito touched on, the people you work with at Ping, they're great persons. They're great to work with. They really care about you.

For me, it's always been a great relationship with them. Even though I haven't had an official contract since 2014, they've treated me like family, and I've always appreciated that.

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: Yeah, great, same as the guys. My first Ping club was the G2 driver, which I had probably when I was 12, and then when I went to North Texas, my school had a deal with Ping, and that was the first time I went full Ping on the bag.

Just as the guys said, it's a great partnership with Ping. They have great values. They're people that we like and they're there for me, and they just care about delivering a great product that just helps us in our golf game. I feel like we accomplished that, and we're really happy that they're supporting us now in LIV and looking forward to a great deal of success.

Q. Ping actually pioneered custom club fitting more than 60 years ago. You guys are obviously all professional golfers, so that's natural to you to have custom clubs. Talk about how important it is to have custom club fittings for all golfers, amateurs included.

CARLOS ORTIZ: I honestly for some amateurs, it doesn't really matter what clubs they use, but when they're getting seriously -- I'm being honest. But when you talk about the top players, when they're really looking to improve their game, it's everything. If you have the right driver with the right shaft, the right fit, it will change your game. It will make a ton of difference.

For people that are really trying to get serious into golf, they all should get a fitting, and I feel like that's where Ping do a great job. They have clubs that are really forgiving. That's why you can see most professionals that don't really have a contract, they're using Ping drivers, and it's just because of how good they are and how easy it is to fit for different kinds of players.

I would definitely recommend for players that are getting serious into golf that they all get a fitting because it will change the way they play the game.

Q. Mito, anything to add about the importance of club fitting?

MITO PEREIRA: No, I think he said it all. It's really important. Like he said, for players that are trying to get that little bit extra better out there, swing or game, it's going to be a game changer for them.

Q. Clearly it is working, so Joaco, Seb, Carlos, you guys are all sitting in the top 10 in individual standings. No. 1, Joaquín, how important are your clubs in achieving your success out on the course this year?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, it is massive for sure. What Ping has done obviously their entire career, other years, they are known for their consistency in their products and how easy it is to switch from the old year to the new year. Since whenever they launched the new driver, I was really excited to try it out, and I put it in my bag the first week, and I was able to win my first week with the new driver, with the 440.

They do a great job in that, and also having all the Ping -- having Spencer, who's the Ping rep of LIV, who's here almost every week, weeks like this week with the altitude, they're able to manage the clubs, to change a few things on the club face. Maybe they can put some glue, put more spin to have it more in the air. There's a lot of stuff that they know how to transfer that information to the player in a good way. Yeah, it's been massive for all my career. Like we said before, they've been with me my entire career. They've been following and supporting me every part of my life, so it's been great to have them here now, as well.

Q. Let's talk about Mexico; this is our third stop in Mexico, our first time in Mexico City. Golf is growing really fast in Latin America. You guys are the only fully LatAm team. How do you see Torque GC and LIV Golf contributing to that momentum in LatAm and specifically in Mexico?

SEBASTIAN MUÑOZ: I believe being the only team that's full of Latin American players in LIV, it's awesome. It's really an opportunity to showcase what we have, to show that even though we have different cultures in some sort of way, we can really put it together and form a great team and deliver a great product in golf.

I feel like LIV definitely catches more of the attention of a young audience. I feel like having the music and having the teams and having the fast-moving pace that we move in, I feel like it attracts new fans. It attracts new golfers in the region, and I feel like we have a big responsibility in showing what can we do and where can we take it.

So I feel like it's a blessing that we're able to do this. Really happy to be part of it.

Q. If you guys had one piece of advice for young Mexican or Chilean or Colombian golfers that want to become professionals, what would that piece of advice be?

CARLOS ORTIZ: Honestly, you can never work too much. You have to work as hard as you can, and if you want to get results better than most, you have to do a lot more than most.

I think there's not really any trick, any -- I don't think there is any magic or anything that has to happen. You have to work, believe in what you're doing, and it really helps if you have a good team around you.

MITO PEREIRA: I think that one is probably the most important one, the one Carlos just said. You can never work too much. It's a long career, so you'll have plenty of opportunities, so don't take just one bad week or one bad tournament ruin you. You've just got to keep working and try to visualize your success.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, that's what we talk about every time on the team, and I think that's one of the biggest values of Torque is we all have a similar work ethic and we believe in the same values, and like they said, if they see a young kid, I don't think there is anything else to say, just to work hard.

Q. About the golf course this week, it obviously hosted WGCs from 2017 to 2020. All of those were won by LIV players in Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed. Who do you think this course suits this week from a course standpoint?

CARLOS ORTIZ: It's whoever is hitting the ball straight and making putts. Honestly, I feel like we have a good chance this week. We're going to feed off of the people, and I know they're behind us.

You know golf; whoever is playing good that week -- obviously Joaquín has been playing unbelievable, hits it long enough, hits it even longer here. I think we all have been playing great, and I feel like it will be a good week to maybe get the first win for Torque.

Q. Joaquín, do you feel extra pressure playing for Carlos this week?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: No, I feel like the other way. It's pretty cool to be here in Mexico having the support of the people, having Carlos on the team being from here. Sebastian and Carlos, they both had great weeks before on this course, so yeah, it's going to be a great challenge. It's going to be exciting. Hopefully we'll be up there on the leaderboard with the team and it would be really cool to be fueled by the crowds, and it will be fun. I'm excited for it.