LIV GOLF DALLAS

June 25, 2025

Jon Rahm

Tyrrell Hatton

Caleb Surratt

Tom McKibbin

Maridoe Golf Club

Legion XIII

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Please welcome to LIV Golf Dallas media center, the Legion XIII team, with captain Jon Rahm and his teammates Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Tom McKibbin. You currently lead the points standings after eight events, having won twice this season with a couple of second-place finishes.

Jon and Tyrrell, you guys come off top 10s at the U.S. Open. That makes you the first set of LIV Golf teammates to finish top 10 in the same major. Jon, you were the clubhouse leader for a long time, four hours or so, and you stuck around to greet Tyrrell after his round. What are your takeaways from Oakmont, both from your own performance and then watching your teammate in the mix down the stretch?

JON RAHM: I mean, it was nothing but a good week. Extremely difficult golf course. Extremely penalizing anytime you make a mistake. Finishing top 10 is always going to be a good week. Very happy to shoot under par twice. It's just too bad Friday cost me a little bit too much.

I would say as far as the week goes or the ending, I would say score doesn't always reflect the truth. I played Sunday with barely any pressure, so I could afford to take some risks and posted a score and never had to deal with the nerves or intensity that Tyrrell had. So playing that golf course under those circumstances is much different than if you go five hours before.

I would say it's not comparable. He played fantastic golf, and honestly, it was pretty apparent to me I wasn't going to win it. There was too many good players and somebody was going to post a lower score. But it's one of those things you have to stick around just in case and also I was staying around hoping Tyrrell would win it.

It is unfortunate such a good week for him came down to arguably one of the unluckiest breaks I've seen in golf. For his drive on 17 to land on such a severe downslope in the rough and not even move two feet forward in the bunker, it's a big difference.

There's no guarantee anytime of winning, but if that ball would have been in the bunker, there definitely would have been a much better chance of giving it a go.

Happy for him. Happy he played great. I think if he's playing this good in majors, it's just a matter of time of one coming. Hoping that happens.

Q. Tyrrell, you were obviously disappointed at the time, but have you had a chance to step back and reflect on the positives that happened to you that week?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, there was a lot of positives. That was my first time coming down the stretch in a major and having the chance to potentially go on and win. Ultimately it didn't work out for me. It was a tough break on 17, which was just unfortunate timing in the tournament.

I can deal with making bogey on 18 because I didn't hit a great tee shot there, and that's just kind of one of those things that happens.

It was nice to finally have that feeling of having a chance to win, to be honest. I think that was my 41st or 42nd major. It's fair to say that I've had enough experience now, and yeah, golf is a stupid game. I didn't do anything different. I didn't try any harder or anything like that. I just happened to play well that week.

I've proven in the past that if I play well on a given week, wherever I'm playing, I'll give myself a chance to win the tournament.

Q. What was it like to have Jon waiting there for you after your round? It seems to really epitomize the team spirit of Legion XIII.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, it was great. I really appreciated Jon. I know he had another reason to hang around, as well. But no, it was nice to see Jon after the round. He said some nice words to me, which meant a lot, and I appreciated that.

Q. Caleb, you're currently leading the league in putting. How many times a day do you remind the other teammates of that fact?

CALEB SURRATT: Say it again.

Q. You currently lead the league in putting. How many times a day do you tell the other guys about that?

CALEB SURRATT: Not much. No. I'm focusing on hitting more greens so I can hopefully maintain that putting average. But doing it hitting more greens. That's my big goal right now. I don't brag about it too much.

Q. How would you say your form has been this season?

CALEB SURRATT: It's been tough. I think I've put myself in a position that I've wanted to a lot more often at the start of tournaments. In Mexico and down the stretch, having a decent chance on the back nine, and then starting the week off nicely in Korea, there's times where I feel like -- even the first event in Riyadh where I've gotten off playing really how I want to but in the right head space and kind of hit a few unfortunate road blocks here and there. I know if I keep doing the right stuff and continue to try and make it more simple for me, I'm going to continue to get to where I want to be.

It feels like I've definitely underachieved to my standards of what I want. But at the same time, I think I'm starting to learn that maybe trying a little too hard and wanting it yesterday could be what's holding me back a little bit.

Honestly, just trying to realize where I am, realize three years ago in my life I would have killed to be in the position I'm in now, and just started looking at it that way, not putting any pressure on myself, and just go be me because I know that that's more than good enough.

Q. Last week you were in Chicago and you said, skill will never overpower your mentality, and you said you learned that from Jon. Can you expand on that and the benefits of working with Jon and Tyrrell?

CALEB SURRATT: Yeah. I think we've talked about mindset a little bit, right? It feels like being in the right frame of mind, focused on the right things is so much more important than your skill set.

I think it doesn't really matter how great you're necessarily doing things technically, if you're not in the right head space. I think that's something all great players know and do very well.

Q. Tom, you're about to start your ninth tournament since joining LIV Golf. How would you evaluate your season to date and how much fun have you had so far?

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, it's been a little bit up and down. I played pretty nice at the start of the year up until Miami and then sort of since then I haven't really scored too well. I struggled a little bit getting off to a good start, and I've played a little bit nicer as the weeks went on.

The game feels quite nice and it feels like it's been quite similar throughout the year. I just haven't really scored as good the last couple of events.

I've had a lot of fun this year. It's been a whole different experience for me, something that I've enjoyed a lot. Really looking forward to these last six events of the year and seeing what can happen there.

Q. I was looking at the numbers; you guys are killing it in the second round. You're about 25 strokes better than anybody else in the league. Is there a reason why round 2 has been so productive for you guys?

JON RAHM: I would say mainly because -- especially the last few weeks. I think overall we've struggled in round 1. So I think you see a bit of that bounce-back, putting ourselves in position. That being the main reason, I would say. Nothing special over Saturdays. It's just I think none of us have played our best on a Friday, and the next day you see a bit of a reaction of wanting to be in that position.

Q. Jon, you've had a good season in terms of ball-striking and results are great. What would need to happen for you over the next two months for you to consider this a successful season in your career?

JON RAHM: It's always a tricky answer. But I would obviously expect to win at least one and give myself a chance for the individual title. But with Joaquín winning four times, I'm going to need a good effort down the stretch this year.

I was closer when I did it last year. This year, it's going to be a little bit harder. At this point I would say get myself actually with a chance to win going into the last nine holes on Sunday, not an outside chance three to four shots back and then hopefully get it done once or more times if possible.

Q. Looking ahead to the Open Championship where you've won twice on Irish links courses, do you think that's a course and a setup that should suit you?

JON RAHM: I like Royal Portrush. Last Open there I did well. I played a British Am there and had nothing but a good experience. It's a bit of a unique links because you don't usually have elevation changes in links golf, and it's not that it's massive, but that first hole you have anywhere between a wedge to a 7-iron with a massive upslope and massive crosswinds. That's not something you usually see.

The 5th hole is severely downhill, even the 7th going and up is not something you usually see. And then 16, 17, 18, with having to go over cliffs and falloffs and elevation changes, it's not something you usually get to practice in links golf. Usually it's perfectly flat, and there's other elements to worry about. So that's what makes Portrush to me a little bit more special.

It's a fantastic golf course where, like every other major, you have to do everything well. I've been lucky enough to play in Ireland and Northern Ireland, so I'm hoping that can carry on over into a major championship, as well.

Q. Jon and Tyrrell, you finished both in the top 10 at the U.S. Open. Given this is a couple weeks out, how do you capitalize on the momentum of that tournament?

TYRRELL HATTON: I'd say even though we've had a week off since then, at this point in the season, for me anyway, I had Monday and Tuesday off, and then I was hitting balls again from Wednesday and just trying to keep the same feelings that I had at the U.S. Open that worked well, certain things in my swing that we'd seen in the buildup to that that we were trying to make a little bit better and just trying to keep grooving that.

Yeah, I played a couple of rounds at home last week and felt like I generally hit the ball pretty nicely. The thing for me is if I feel in a comfortable space, I just want to keep doing it regularly. I'm not the kind of player that can have a bunch of time off and just go straight back into it and all is well.

I guess little and often is the way forward for me, but we'll see how I go this week. Trying to maintain the same feelings from the U.S. Open and last week practicing. Like always, we'll try our best.

Q. For Tom and Caleb, what is your initial thoughts on the course? What are you guys seeing? Obviously the heat is going to be somewhat of a factor. How do you adjust to that?

CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, it's really good. I'd say it's perfectly maintained. I've actually spent a decent amount of time here in the past, and this is definitely the best I've seen it.

After the first look yesterday, I definitely think it will be pretty tough, good challenge, got to leave it in the right spots and be aggressive when you get the chances. Pumped to have a go at it.

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, very similar to what Caleb said. It's in perfect condition. Greens are really nice. Fairways are nice to hit off.

I've been here once before a long time ago, and I remember how hard it was, and yesterday playing nine holes definitely reminded me it's going to be a good test of golf this week and something that I think we're all looking very forward to.

Q. You've been in the game a long time and you know the value of personal relationships with people and sponsors. Can the personal relationship that Scott O'Neil has with the new Tour CEO, Brian Rolapp, the relationship, going back to business, can that help the two tours, the fact those two guys have a relationship of some sort?

JON RAHM: I feel like that's a question for obviously both the CEOs, right. Whatever I say is speculation. It's not what they know.

I would hope that them having a close relationship from the past should help facilitate at least the dialogue between them two, but at the end of the day, it's not just up to them. There's also people behind them and higher up than them that would ultimately make the decision.

Things are never as simple as they seem. But I would like to be positive about it and think that that would help it out.

Q. Jon, we just released the Duels Virginia earlier this week. I wanted to get your thoughts on that as well as the secret to changing Phil's range finder.

JON RAHM: The secret? I'm amazed that he's been in golf for this long and he has no idea how to change it from yards to meters or anything at all. He kind of started it, right? He did it to Grant on a video which I don't know how he did it because he has no idea how to change it himself. Then Josh did it when we did the 2-v-2, and from then on I figured it would be a fun one.

I've changed Phil's range finder. I've changed Grant's. I've changed George Bryant's. But George caught on really quickly after that happened. I changed four that day, but not all of them would work because FP and Henrik were paired together, and I believe Henrik still does meters so he would have been able to tell you, hey, that's wrong.

There can't be a GPS. If there's a GPS they can just look at it and find out that something is off. Just trying to be sneaky about it whenever they're not looking. But I think my chances are up. I think everyone now is going to be looking after it and it's not going to happen again, so I'm going to have to come up with something else.

It can't be too invasive. The next idea I had which is the easiest thing would be changing a driver setup. You can easily go with a wrench, change it and put it back and affect somebody pretty badly. But if I do it to a pro, it could mess him up for the whole week, and I don't want to do that. And if you do it to the wrong pro, even though it's fun and games, it would be bad. I need to find something else to just have a little bit of lighthearted fun.

Q. Do you enjoy it?

JON RAHM: Of course. It's a lot of fun to be a part of it. It's a bit of competition before the tournament which will never hurt to practice in actual competition when there's something on the line, even though it's a scramble. I enjoy it. I think it's something outside the ordinary, and I think it's good for the viewership. It's good to grow the game.

I've spent quite a bit of time with some of the YouTubers. They're all great golfers in their own right and a lot of fun to be around.

At least for me personally, it's bringing another positive aspect to the game.

Q. Tyrrell, have you ever changed anybody's range finder?

TYRRELL HATTON: I haven't needed to, no. I wouldn't be thinking that far ahead, if I'm honest.

Q. Tyrrell, obviously amateur golfers saw what you went through on the 17th hole. How would you speak to them and junior golfers about how to put that behind you on the biggest stage in the world?

TYRRELL HATTON: You've probably asked the wrong person out of the four of us that are up here.

Yeah, I don't know how to answer that, if I'm honest. Yeah, I don't know.