THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us. Welcome, Hy Flyers GC, to the press center. We're joined by James Piot, we're joined by Phil Mickelson, the captain of Hy Flyers GC, Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale. Welcome to Singapore. Phil, you've made comments in the past about how much you love Singapore, you love being here, you love this course. Tell us why you love it so much.
PHIL MICKELSON: There's a lot of things I love about this, going back to when it was the Barclays Singapore Open and coming here and playing here. I really love everything about it. I think one of the greatest leaders in history was Lee Kuan Yew. I love many of the things that he has done here and many of the policies he's implemented. I feel really good when I get here.
It's such a clean, beautiful city. The people treat us with such respect, and the golf course, it's as well maintained a golf course as I think I've ever seen. It's just incredible.
For such a small country to be able to bring world-class golf and have such a world-class golf course to host us on is exciting for all of us to be here.
THE MODERATOR: You guys are really finding your form. I believe last week you guys finished fourth. What's clicking for you as a team and individually?
CAMERON TRINGALE: Well, I think the one thing that we've done so well is really trying to spur one another on, so the more time we spend with each other, the more we get to learn each other's games, and really we have a lot of fun. We're comfortable, and we can really -- when applicable, like see things, give advice, try and build each other up and create just a team that's always getting better, always trying to find our best stuff collectively and individually.
BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I think for me, definitely echoing a lot of what Cameron said, we love being together. We have a ton of fun. We help each other a lot. We've got just a great relationship, and we really want to do it for each other.
Phil has made a big point of us helping each other to each win a tournament over the next couple years, and that's a huge goal for us, and we know that if we win individually, that really helps the team.
We've been trying to help each other do everything we can to do that, and I think Phil and Amy both just creating a great culture around us has really made everyone comfortable and feel great, and it's shown in our results.
JAMES PIOT: I just think the team has gotten better and better at carrying me. That's really what's happened. (Laughter.)
No, in all seriousness, like Steeley and Camo said, just the team culture. Everyone is pushing each other. We want to do well for each other. I think that's what's really unique about the Hy Flyers is going out there and proving ourselves every week. Seeing Phil play as good as he did at Augusta and this past week, it's pretty awesome to see, and it's motivating me, that's for sure.
PHIL MICKELSON: It's really cool to see the dynamic here because we've got one of the best putters in the game, Cameron Tringale, one of the best drivers in the game, Brendan Steele, and we've got this youthful upcomer with all this potential right here with James, and he brings a youthfulness to the team and an excitement level, and Steeley has really been the glue for us. He's really brought everybody together and created this great energy and feel.
What we're doing is helping each other be our best. If he's helped me with driving, I might help him with some iron work, or Cameron has helped me with my putting, and James keeps his energy young and youthful. We're trying to use this team aspect with such a unique dynamic in the game of golf to help us be our best.
We had it a little bit in high school, we had it in college, and in professional golf, you're so isolated, you're on your own, you have your own team, and then to have this team aspect has been a real benefit for us for a lot of reasons, and again, I like to say that we're trending because we've gotten better each week, and we continue to get better individually and as a team.
We're excited about this week. This is another opportunity for us to take more steps forward in the process of winning.
THE MODERATOR: James, I know Phil has been mentoring you quite a bit and you guys spent some time together in San Diego. Can you tell us about that.
JAMES PIOT: Yeah, it's been awesome. Even this off-season I got a chance to go over and get some short game lessons in his backyard. I was sitting there thinking about it, man, how cool is this getting mentored by Phil Mickelson in his backyard.
It's really the competition between us, too, and wanting to beat each other. He told me at the beginning of the season, hey, we've got something to prove, and let's push each other. Phil has really stepped it up, so that's motivating me. That last round in Adelaide, I was like, man, I've got to prove something to this team and Phil, so I want to let them know that the young guy can hang. So that's going to be the goal this week.
THE MODERATOR: That just struck something with me when you said, how cool is it getting mentored by Phil Mickelson his backyard, and I think that's something that's unique to LIV, right; without this team environment, that probably wouldn't be something that would be happening in your normal career trajectory, right?
JAMES PIOT: Yeah, absolutely, and for me that was one of the most appealing things about LIV is this team dynamic, and coming from college golf, it feels similar to it, but at the same time, traveling with Phil Mickelson, that's a big difference for me.
And obviously Steeley and Camo have been awesome. We've been hanging out every night, grabbing dinner in town, and it's really cool, the team atmosphere that we have with the Hy Flyers organization.
THE MODERATOR: I know you guys have been working together on driving. Can you tell us little bit about that.
BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I think that's maybe a little bit overblown, but yeah, we just try to help each other. We have similar tendencies, even though we have a lot of differences in what we do, as well. I'm not necessarily someone who is good at teaching, but I can tell him kind of what I feel and what I do and the tendencies can kind of help out, and it just kind of reinforced what Andrew was telling him and things that he's known for a long time but just reminders and maybe just a little different way to approach it that gets him excited, and when he's excited, he does really well.
THE MODERATOR: How excited is everybody to be able to wear shorts this week?
JAMES PIOT: I'm so excited I wore pants today. I can't wait.
Q. Phil, I wanted to ask you, when I saw you on the range last week, you had stopped to talk to one of the Torque guys, and it seemed like you were talking about his swing or your swing, whatever. Are you at age 52 still trying to unlock the mysteries of the golf swing?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yes, but what's interesting about the golf swing is that everybody has got their own personal swing and their own tendencies and their own way of doing it, and everybody's body kind of functions differently, and so their swing is going to look differently.
But the more data, the more input, the more insight you have into what things work for some and so forth, you can then see if it applies to you. So it doesn't always work, but if you hear a few things and you try to apply it to your own game, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You have to decipher that. But I always like hearing what players are doing, what they're trying to do.
That's kind of like Steeley. He articulated something, the same thing Andrew and I have been working on, but he articulated it just a little bit differently and a way that resonated a little bit differently for me on the golf course. Those are always things I'm trying to look at is things that might apply to my game, and then I have to decipher and go through it and see if it actually does make me better.
Q. Cameron, you talked about the putting. Phil ranked first in the field last week in putting. Are you taking credit for that?
CAMERON TRINGALE: Not at all. Phil has been a world-class player, putter, down the list, as long as you guys have been covering him and then some. Yeah, I take no credit. But definitely great for our team, great to see some lower scores, and putting is such a big part of the game.
PHIL MICKELSON: But Mike, in fairness, we talked in Orlando, I asked him a few questions, and I started working on it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before Augusta, and I putted very well at Augusta, and I putted very well last week.
It is something that we've talked about, and if you ever watch him, how steady, how solid, how rock solid his body is, how steady his head is and how consistent his stroke is and you look at the rhythm and timing and impact and all these things, how consistent he is, it gives me something to strive for, something to work on when I'm practicing rather than just putting at random.
I feel like now when I'm working on my putting, I'm getting better and better, and the stuff we talked about made a big difference for me at Augusta and last week.
Q. James, going back to working with Phil and the guys, what are some of the specific things that you have learned in your time working with these three guys?
JAMES PIOT: I mean, really everything. From Phil, how to chip, I feel like I've actually changed a lot in my short game since starting -- that just one week I spent with him in San Diego over the wintertime, and Steeley, just watching him drive the ball, and Camo, obviously putting.
I learn a lot through observation. I ask a lot of questions, but at the same time I just like seeing how guys get it done and what I could implement in my game and what I don't need, but at the same time, obviously any information I can take at this age and apply to my game, I'm trying to do that.
Q. Phil is obviously a big smack talker. Have you been able to take some lessons in that regard?
JAMES PIOT: Oh, Phil talks smack? I never knew that. Really? Yeah, I've taken some notes.
Q. The 4 Aces obviously won last week. They were in first most of the season. Other than just shooting low scores, what do you think they've been able to uncover that everybody else seems to be searching for?
BRENDAN STEELE: I mean, their team is very solid all the way through. They're getting good rounds and good tournaments from everybody all the time. I don't think there's a big secret there.
I think everybody is trying to figure out how this team format works the best for them and how they can help each other, and I think as far as we're concerned, we've helped each other a ton, and our trajectory is fantastic, and it feels like we're getting a lot out of each guy, and we just are so excited about the opportunities that are coming for us, and we feel like we just keep doing what we're doing and things are going to go really well for us.
Q. Phil, just a few questions from me, starting with number one, your rounds, the final round at the Masters, 65, and then the two double bogeys and then shooting a 69 in Adelaide. Can you just have a look back at those two rounds and say what it meant to you, having those two rounds?
PHIL MICKELSON: So if you look at the final round at Augusta, it wasn't -- I might have made one or two little mistakes, like I might have -- I had a three-putt on 5 or a missed short putt on 8 but I hit so many shots, I made so many birdies without any big mistakes.
If you look at the final round in Adelaide, I made two bad swings off the tee on 9 and 10 that cost me four to six shots. They're par-5s you need to birdie, and I make two doubles. Those two swings right there ultimately cost me a chance to win the golf tournament.
Those are the little things that I've got to clean up, which is one or two things throughout a round. I've got to be focused 100 percent on every shot, not 95 percent throughout the round, and that's a perfect example of what the difference is. That 65 on the final round at Augusta to the 69 at Adelaide, two swings. That's what I'm trying to clean up right now.
Q. Given the result of the LIV players at the Masters and how successful Adelaide was, I've got to ask you the OWGR question again. What do you think is happening over there, and do you have any idea of when that thing is going to come through and how much you guys deserve it?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's going to all iron itself out because if you're one of the majors, if you're the Masters, you're not looking at we should keep these guys out. You're saying to yourself, we want to have the best field, we want to have the best players, and these guys added a lot to the tournament this year at the Masters. How do we get them included.
We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the World Golf Ranking isn't going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way. Maybe they take the top 5 or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they're going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what major championship is about. So they're already looking at that.
If the World Golf Rankings doesn't find a way to be inclusive, then the majors will just find another way to include LIV because it's no longer a credible way. So it will all iron itself out for the simple reason that it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players.
Q. This golf course, Phil, you've had a huge history with it, played four or five years the Barclays Singapore Open, but it's been kind of an unsolved mystery for you; you haven't won it over here even though you've played so well and consistently.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, there's a couple of areas of focus on Sentosa. There are a couple of -- how do I explain this? To play Sentosa effectively, you're going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well. If I want to play well here, those are the areas that I really need to focus on. So that's what I've been working on coming in here.
Having played Sentosa a number of times like I have, knowing the golf course the way I know it, it has given me time to prepare for the shots that I have coming up, and I've spent a lot of time in those areas trying to be sharp for this week and to try to, like you say, solve that mystery.
Q. Adelaide was so good for LIV and for golf, how can we replicate Adelaide in all the tournaments going forward? I know it will be difficult in a place like the U.S., given all the opposition, but how can we replicate this model going forward?
PHIL MICKELSON: There are many places throughout the world.
BRENDAN STEELE: I think for me it comes down to providing a great product and show people what we're doing out here and I tell all my friends and everybody that I can that they need to come out and see it and decide for themselves, and I think they'll be really impressed. Anybody who comes out to an event, the response has just been fantastic, and I think as we move forward, we're just going to see more and more momentum and more and more people wanting to show up and throw their support behind us.
CAMERON TRINGALE: I agree.
JAMES PIOT: Yeah, I agree, same thing, especially as a 24-year-old just getting younger people watching LIV Golf and the game, all my buddies from college, they absolutely love it. Every week they're following it. I think it's really cool what we did in Adelaide last week, even the party hole. Obviously it's tough to replicate every week, but I thought that was one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of.
PHIL MICKELSON: When the Premier, Peter Malinauskas, took a leap and said we want the best players in the world, and let's face it, LIV has some of the most characters, some of the best players as well as some of the best characters in the game, whether you love them or hate them, they're interesting and people want to watch and he took a risk and said we want them to come here to Adelaide and be a part of it and you saw what happened, and then the cities in Australia that initially kind of weren't interested, now they are interested and want to bring it, and I think we're seeing that not only in Australia but other countries in the world where, yeah, we want to have the best players here; we know who's going to be here.
That's a big asset that LIV has being able to show and guarantee who's going to be there.
Now a lot of other countries are wanting us to go there, so it was a big step in Adelaide in showcasing what it can be, what LIV Golf can be, and how much fun it can be and how much fun the people have with a different energy and vibe to professional golf, and it's just going to take off from here. There's no stopping LIV Golf now. It's on a vertical trajectory, and it's pretty exciting to be a part of it.
Q. Phil, the first thing you said when you walked in here was about your admiration for Lee Kuan Yew, so obviously your country is thousands of miles away from America, so how do you come to know of him, and what made you interested in the things he's done?
PHIL MICKELSON: He said something when he was asked in an interview what was the greatest invention in the 20th century, he said air-conditioning because it made all of Asia a real force in the workforce, and I thought that was fascinating that of all the things that have been invented that air-conditioning was the most impactful.
Then I look at some of the policies implemented where he required many of the -- every worker to put 10 percent in their retirement account, where you have to own and operate your own company for 10 years before getting into politics and then you look at how well run Singapore is, and it's these little things that he had the foresight to implement, and then he started a country that had no natural resources and he makes it one of the largest import/export docks in the world. I just thought his vision and his ability to implement his vision is just remarkable. I think he's one of the greatest leaders in history.
Q. To all four, Brendan, Cam, James and Phil, obviously it's only the second season of LIV. Where do you see LIV in 10 years, and what sort of legacy do you want to leave on this Tour?
CAMERON TRINGALE: I can start. I think the legacy of LIV is innovation in a game that's been around for so long. It's really created something that's a lot different than what we're used to seeing in professional golf.
I think it's going to continue to grow and grow exponentially, just the attractiveness of what the product is, sort of creating that festival type atmosphere. That's what people want. I think the next generation is looking more for a good time, and to be entertained, just as much as they are for quality golf, and you get both of them with LIV.
As far as legacy, I think innovation.
BRENDAN STEELE: I think for me really it's mostly about the franchises and where the franchises can go. If you look at sport across the world, like yes, it can be player driven, but fans are fanatical about their teams, and that's what we want to create here, and that's where I see it going is that regardless of who's playing where, like you become a Hy Flyers fan, whether all four of us are playing in 10 years or not, and that's your team and that's who you pull for, and that's where I see it going, and that's what I think we're trying to achieve here.
JAMES PIOT: Yeah, I'm kind of with Steeley on this one. People pull for their teams, and just being a Hy Flyer itself, I have a lot of pride in that, and for me, I think the goal is just to be a Hy Flyer as long as I can. It would be cool to be like, hey, I was a 20-year veteran at LIV one day.
But no, it's been absolutely awesome, an innovation like Cam said, changing the perception of golf and making it more of a -- I wouldn't call it a party, but at the same time, fun and youthful. That's been the biggest thing I've noticed being out here.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I think they answered it very well, yeah.
Q. Is mentoring these three guys and helping them as a team, is that going to help you capture your seventh major victory?
PHIL MICKELSON: It is 100 percent making me better and 100 percent helping me get back to a level of play that I believe I can play at, and I think I'm going to give myself quite a few chances now in some upcoming majors because my game is coming around, my driving is getting significantly better, my putting is getting significantly better, and the areas of my game are getting much sharper. Although I haven't had the results for a long period of time, it is on an upward trend, and I'm looking to add to it this week. With a stretch of a lot of golf coming up in the next three, four months and a lot of great major championship opportunities with my game coming around, I expect to participate and compete and contend in these events.
Again, I have a unique opportunity to do things in a game at a later point in life that many aren't because of the simple reason that I've kept myself in good shape, I have been fairly injury free, and I'm able to work and practice the necessary amount to play at a high level.
Q. Just a fun follow-up, you're officially known as "Lefty" and I've heard you called Brendan "Man of." What are these two guys' nicknames?
PHIL MICKELSON: "Camo" is a pretty easy one, and then we've got "Riot" or "Young Master Riot" I like to call him, and it's very fitting because he brings this energy, this excitement. When you first turn pro and you first come out, everything is just amazing, you just can't believe it, and it keeps us young and it keeps us appreciative of the many great things of playing professional golf.
I look at the off-season that Camo had, and it's remarkable the levels that he progressed with his game, with his body physically and with the elements of his game in the last six months, and then I look at the way Steeley has just come right on to LIV and has contended, competed, was in that playoff with Danny Lee, and all of that is very motivating for me.
Q. Phil, obviously LIV Golf has divided opinions across the golfing world, and you being a prominent face of LIV Golf from day one, how have you been dealing with criticism of LIV Golf?
PHIL MICKELSON: I knew it was going to be a part of it. You can't have change without disruption, and I think in the end, it will all work itself out, and it's going to all be a really good thing in the long-term.
But I'm very appreciative of what LIV has provided for professional golf. I've been a part of it for a number of years, and I'm very acutely aware of a lot of things that go on behind the scenes, and I'm appreciative of how LIV has really helped change a lot of it.
Q. How important was the performance for you at Augusta this year, given that you had missed it last year and it was your first time as a LIV Golfer?
PHIL MICKELSON: So whether it was the final round at Augusta or just a random round in general, I needed a round where things just kind of clicked, where I was present on every shot and didn't make that big monumental mistake like I had made twice on Thursday's opening round at the Masters or the final round last week in Adelaide or what have you, and having it click has made the game feel much easier, and now it's starting to come together much easier. So it was a big step. Like I always say, winning is a process, and that gave me quite a few steps forward in that process.
Q. Did you look at it as an opportunity to make a statement?
PHIL MICKELSON: I wouldn't say make a statement, no. It was an opportunity to play a major championship, which we were all grateful for, to be a part of it. It was an opportunity to progress in my game, and I took advantage of that opportunity, and I'm looking to continue that like I did last week and this week and heading into this upcoming season here with three big major championships and the rest of the LIV schedule.
Q. Just wanted to ask, with all the criticism that LIV has endured, what did it mean to receive the kind of reception in Adelaide, and do you believe that maybe the mood towards LIV is shifting now?
CAMERON TRINGALE: Well, the atmosphere last week was great. The fan support as a player I think is really distinctive and great tournaments. For me, I would say just seeing so many people in support of what we're doing just is affirming and feels good to see people enjoying what we're out there to do, which is show them a good time and put on a performance. Really affirming last week just to see how many people were behind it.
BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I mean, last week was incredible. Obviously we knew that was going to be a big event for us, and I think it blew away all expectations that anybody had.
But it's definitely nice when you have that support. It definitely shows us that we're on the right track, and we think that we can really do that moving forward and get that support all over the world, and just show people that we're here to show them what we can do on the course and give them a great product, and we're really excited about that.
JAMES PIOT: I would just agree with both of those guys. In summary, last week was awesome, so it was really cool to be out there and see what direction LIV is moving, and that's pretty much it right there.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, as people experience LIV, they are enjoying the different way of presenting golf in a much more fun, vibrant energy. Now that people see what it can be, they're wanting to be a part of it, and it's just growing from there.
It was a big step to showcase what the potential is for LIV throughout the world, and we've had a lot of interest now from other countries, other golf courses, other cities that want to be a part of it because of that, and now that they see the potential, I think it's just going to take off even more.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports