THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our LIV Golf team Miami selection show and press conference. Welcome, everybody. We have an amazing weekend ahead as we will award the very first ever team champion in LIV Golf history. Now, this tournament will be a little bit different than the previous seven events, as this is a straight team tournament consisting of all 12 teams competing.
Here's how it's going to work: The 12 teams who are ranked based on how they did in the previous seven events and the top four teams have a bye, and those teams are the No. 1 seed, Four Aces GC; No. 2 seed, Crushers GC, No. 3 seed, Fireballs; and No. 4 seed, Stingers GC. That leaves us with eight teams to play on Friday head-to-head with four teams advancing to Saturday.
Each matchup on Friday consists of three matches, two singles matches and one foursome match. Each match consists of one point, so if you win two points, you advance to the next stage.
Captains must play each other. There's no choices there, okay, in a singles match, so there will always be one of the singles matches lineup. Pretty straightforward.
Now, one of the caveats is that the captains up here joining me at this table will get to choose which team they want to play. The highest seed gets to pick first, then the next highest seed will pick the following.
With Smash GC finishing as the fifth seed thanks to their performance in Jeddah, they will get to pick their opponent first. Before we turn it over to Brooks to choose who he will play, let's introduce all eight captains this morning starting with Smash GC captain, Brooks Koepka. Next up is your Majesticks GC captain, Ian Poulter. Then you have Torque GC captain, Joaquin Niemann; Hy Flyers GC captain, Phil Mickelson; Iron Heads GC captain, Kevin Na; Cleeks GC, Martin Kaymer; Punch GC captain, Cameron Smith; and Niblicks GC, Bubba Watson.
Okay, so let's begin and find out which teams will face off against each other on Friday afternoon. Let's get this thing kicked off and started. We're going to start with Smash GC, Brooks Koepka. Brooks, who did you choose to play the quarterfinals with?
PHIL MICKELSON: Let me just clarify that he doesn't have to pick from the last four, he can pick from all seven teams, so if you want a rematch of like the '21 PGA, you could pick our team and we could play each other. I'm just clarifying the rules because I don't know if everybody understands.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'll continue. But if you want to play, we can play, but I would bring those -- you probably don't know this because you've never been No. 1 in the world --
PHIL MICKELSON: That's true.
BROOKS KOEPKA: When you finish at the end of the year they give you a little trophy. I've got two of those, so I could bring one of them to show you.
PHIL MICKELSON: That's a beautiful green shirt. Do you have a green jacket?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I do not, but I will, though, don't worry. I will.
Anyway, we did not choose Phil's team, but we chose the Niblicks.
BUBBA WATSON: What? I've got a green jacket, Phil.
THE MODERATOR: Brooks, I have to ask you, why did you select Niblicks?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, let's hear it.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I just thought they matched up better. Booba has been calling me the wrong name all year, Bruce, so I felt like it was a good opportunity to get back at him.
BUBBA WATSON: I'm not worried. You might have more injuries than me. You are getting older.
THE MODERATOR: Bubba, tell me what you're thinking. You're the first team to get picked. I don't know what they're insinuating here, but tell us what you're thinking.
BUBBA WATSON: Harold told me he's definitely getting a point against Bruce.
THE MODERATOR: There you go, that's your very first matchup, Smash versus Niblicks.
Next up is Majesticks GC. Now with Smash and Niblicks off the board, you, captain, Ian Poulter, who do you have?
IAN POULTER: We chose Iron Heads.
THE MODERATOR: Ian, first of all, why did you pick them?
IAN POULTER: Well, I figured Kevin and I hit it really short, and we could just hold hands down every fairway, so if I pick one of the other boys they're going to be 50 yards in front, and it's going to be a pretty miserable day. Kevin and I can reminisce and hold hands and just get along real nice.
THE MODERATOR: Kevin, I'm sure you know of Ian's track record with his singles matches --
KEVIN NA: I heard that he's the captain this week because nobody wanted to play the foursomes with him. You know, their team average age is like in the 50s where I've got some young guns, and I think we're all right.
THE MODERATOR: There you go, Majesticks GC versus Iron Heads. That's going to be good.
Next up, Torque GC, Joaco, who are you selecting?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: I have the Cleeks.
THE MODERATOR: Cleeks, okay. Torque GC versus Cleeks. I have to ask you, why did you choose the Cleeks? Are you comfortable in your matchup against Martin Kaymer?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Because I didn't want to pick the Punch.
BUBBA WATSON: That's a good answer.
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: They didn't give me more choices.
THE MODERATOR: Martin, you obviously know you're playing with Joaco. How do you feel about the matchup and the fact that Joaco actually chose to play with your team?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, it's a little bit disrespectful, but that's how it goes here, I guess. Also he had a very good year. The last few years, he's playing solid golf.
But I think my experience maybe will help me the next few days, especially Friday morning. I have a very good team, and they're in good form. Your mistake, I guess, but we'll find out Friday afternoon.
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: We'll see. We'll see.
THE MODERATOR: That leaves us with two teams, and this is going to be a very, very intriguing lineup. Hy Flyers versus Punch GC --
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, this sucks, right? I mean, I don't literally like the way this all worked out.
THE MODERATOR: You obviously did not have a choice --
PHIL MICKELSON: Look at Cam smile. Look how happy he is. This didn't really work out the way we had planned at all.
THE MODERATOR: Cam, you're going to play up against a player who is obviously a veteran in team play. How do you feel?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, I feel good.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah. Yeah.
CAMERON SMITH: We're looking pretty solid, I think. The way Phil hits his driver around here, I think he'll be dropping a few balls out there.
THE MODERATOR: Phil, what do you have to say about that?
PHIL MICKELSON: I mean, the guy is the Champion Golfer of the Year. There's not much I can say. But I have won here, just sayin'. Have you even played here at Doral? I've won here at Doral --
CAMERON SMITH: 20 years ago. I was two when Phil won around here.
THE MODERATOR: Oh, boy, this is going to be good. I hope you guys are mic'd up.
PHIL MICKELSON: I think you were at that clinic that I gave. It's nice to see you were paying attention.
THE MODERATOR: All righty, that's your four matches for Friday. That's Smash GC versus Niblicks; you've got Majesticks GC versus Iron Heads GC; Torque GC versus Cleeks GC; and then Hy Flyers versus Punch GC.
Phil is giving me a look. He's not happy. Hey, I didn't pick it, all right?
So we know the team matchups. It's now time to reveal the players that will be competing against each other. This is the first time this is disclosed as captains actually do not even know who the other captains have selected to play individual match play or the foursomes match. There's some great storylines here.
As a reminder, all captains will play each other in an individual match play. It is time to reveal the individual matches. Here we go.
Kicking off with Smash versus Niblicks, of course we know Brooks Koepka is going to play Harold Varner III. There's going to be some serious trash talk in that group.
HAROLD VARNER III: Everyone in here knows that obviously Brooks kicked my ass in WGC, PGA Championship, so this is a new day. It's a different tour.
BUBBA WATSON: Everything. He's beat you in everything.
HAROLD VARNER III: We've only played golf, so we haven't hung out on that level. We need you to get healthy is what we need. Let's just leave that right there.
Yeah, so super excited, but it'll be fun.
THE MODERATOR: So let's see what the other matchups are for Smash and Niblicks. Moving along, singles match, Peter Uihlein versus James Piot, or as Bubba would say, Pee-ot. In foursomes you have Jason Kokrak and Chase Koepka versus Turk Pettit and Hudson Swafford. Brooks, I'll kick it off with you. How do you feel about Peter versus James? I know Peter is a good friend of yours.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Listen, Pete is playing really solid golf. I don't know, I'm just excited to see it. Hopefully he goes out and does his thing, does what he's been doing, and we'll see how it goes.
THE MODERATOR: You're going to give Bubba a little something to talk about on the commentary side?
BUBBA WATSON: If you look at it, they're both playing really well right now coming off the last couple weeks. This golf course is two different golf games, both of those players. This golf course is all about chipping and putting. You've got to get the ball in the hole.
Long hitter does have an advantage if you can hit the fairways. Ian Poulter style, shorter hitter, can help, too, if you hit the fairways. It'll be a fun matchup, that group.
THE MODERATOR: How did you come with Turk and Hudson together instead of having Turk and maybe James or switching things up?
BUBBA WATSON: I'm going to be dead honest. James said he wanted to play -- he did say Dustin. I said, we're dead last, man; we don't play Dustin ever. (Laughter.)
So I said, Peter is just as good. We'll take Peter. So he said he wanted to be out there and be in front. He wanted to get a point for the team, and the other two guys said they would love to play together, so it just fell in place that way. But James is the one that -- sometimes he's louder than Harold in the team room, so it's interesting to see that conversation with those two yelling back and forth.
THE MODERATOR: James, how do you feel about the lineup against Peter?
JAMES PIOT: I'm looking forward to it. Great player. I'm not like Harold; I don't talk as much smack.
HAROLD VARNER III: What? What do you want me to say?
JAMES PIOT: The bigger they are, the harder they fall, but I'm looking forward to it, and we're going to have a good match. He's a heck of a player.
THE MODERATOR: Let's move along to our next matchup. We've got Majesticks versus Iron Heads, captains' singles between Ian Poulter and Kevin Na. Let's take a look at the other matchups, shall we? The other singles match is Lee Westwood versus Sihwan Kim, and for the foursomes you've got Sam Horsfield and Henrik Stenson versus Sadom Kaewkanjana and Phachara Khongwatmai, your Thai dual. Now, Ian, walk us through kind of your decision, first of all. The whole swap with the captaincy, what was that all about?
KEVIN NA: Nobody wanted to play foursomes with him.
IAN POULTER: Nobody wanted to play foursomes with me, so it was really simple. I was going to lead off -- we've got a blended team. It's easy for us to be able to switch around, unlike some of the other teams. We took the opportunity to do so. I'd love to lead the team out like I've done in the past, and yeah, we're looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: Now, Kevin, Sihwan got the second singles slot. Was this because you didn't want to split the Thai boys? Because Sadom and Phachara have quite different games.
KEVIN NA: Yes, I think I put the two Thai boys together because they have two opposite games, and I think Phachara being a bomber and Sadom being a straight-ball hitter, I thought they were a good mix, and them being comfortable speaking the same language, even though they both do speak English, and then Sihwan, I had a feeling that Lee Westwood was going to be playing against the next guy I put in the singles. Lee is an amazing player. He's playing great. But Sihwan is a great bomber. He's been playing well. He finished third at Thailand.
We all know Lee is going to be on crutches. He's getting old. He needs a cane out there. So I think Sihwan is going to have an extra cane in the bag and hand it over to him on the first tee and start a little mind game.
Me and Poults are going to be --
IAN POULTER: My old man has been World No. 1, too.
KEVIN NA: Yeah, my boy is not World No. 1 but he's Asia No. 1. It's not quite as good as World No. 1, but he's been No. 1 somewhere.
Ian and I are going to be hitting a lot of woods in. I think a lot of hybrids and 5-woods, and we'll be able to --
IAN POULTER: I don't carry hybrids, Kevin. I have a 3-iron.
KEVIN NA: Well, he's got a 7-wood and a 9-wood.
BUBBA WATSON: Do you hit the 3-iron, or is it still brand new?
THE MODERATOR: Ian, are you going to walk some putts in or what?
IAN POULTER: Listen, you're talking about Kevin Na walking putts in, right, so we'll see who gets the first one to go.
KEVIN NA: Hopefully he doesn't ask them to replay and see if I touched the ball before it went in the hole.
IAN POULTER: Listen, it could take him a while to walk a few. It normally does.
KEVIN NA: Slugger, can I play slower on purpose?
IAN POULTER: I'm not sure it's possible to play any slower, Kev.
THE MODERATOR: Sihwan, how do you feel about this lineup, playing against Lee Westwood, someone obviously very experienced?
SIHWAN KIM: I feel pretty good. I haven't played with Lee at all, I think. I might have, but --
KEVIN NA: You're not missing much, bro.
SIHWAN KIM: I'm playing pretty well currently, so I think I could take him on.
THE MODERATOR: Next up we have Torque versus Cleeks with Joaquin Niemann and Martin Kaymer facing off. The other matches will be Jed Morgan versus Laurie Canter, and your foursomes match is the pair of Scott Vincent and Adrian Otaegui versus Graeme McDowell and Richard Bland.
Joaco, your first. Walk us through your decision of Jed playing in the singles slot knowing that Adrian just came off a win. What was that whole decision process like for you?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I think on a course like the one we're playing this week, I think it's a really long course, and Jed hits is pretty far. I think it's going to fit really well for him on the singles.
Then Scott and Adrian, they are pretty similar players. I think they're both really consistent. Yeah, it was a real easy decision.
THE MODERATOR: Martin, over to you. Laurie is going to take the singles. How did you come up with the pairing of Graeme McDowell and Richard Bland?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, we talked a lot in Bangkok and Jeddah about who wants to play with who, and G-Mac and Blandy, they were pretty much -- yeah, we all thought that this is probably the best matchup.
I'm a little bit surprised that Adrian is not playing his singles because he's playing obviously very good golf. He won a couple weeks ago. That's your first mistake made already.
Laurie is a strong player. Laurie is very long. On that golf course I think he can perform well. G-Mac and Blandy, they have very similar games. I like the lineup. I think it will be a good match on Friday.
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, we'll start pretty good the match, though.
BUBBA WATSON: I thought that was the second mistake. I thought the first mistake was picking you.
MARTIN KAYMER: No, I like Joaquin. I'll like spending a couple hours with him, but that's a mistake in the singles. Adrian would be my pick, but that's okay, we'll see.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, so let's take it over here to Graeme. How do you feel about your pairing here?
GRAEME MCDOWELL: Yeah, I mean, I think we like the matchup a lot. Captains against captains is always going to be a great match, a lot of great players on this stage, and from a foursomes point of view, there's two schools of thought, I guess. You can go with opposite games or kind of similar games, and Blandy and I have pretty similar games, feel very comfortable with each other, and I think we like the matchup against Scottie and Adrian quite a lot, Adrian coming off a great win a couple weeks ago in Valderrama. These greens aren't very slopey, though, Adrian. And Scottie Vincent, if it gets windy out there, that hair is going to be a problem.
But this format is so much fun and we really like this matchup.
THE MODERATOR: Adrian, congratulations on your win, by the way. How do you feel about this lineup, not being in the singles match and playing foursomes instead? What are your thoughts?
ADRIAN OTAEGUI: See, I opened up something here. Even you mentioned it now; it's a mistake. Obviously there were a few different possibilities for everybody to play singles or doubles.
I think I'm very happy with my captain's pick. I think Joaquin took the right decision, and I'm really looking forward to go for it.
This looks like the United Nations against Europe, by the way.
THE MODERATOR: Last but not least, an absolute thrilling singles matchup, this is Hy Flyers versus Punch. So it's Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith. Let's see the other lineups, shall we? The other singles match will be Matthew Wolff versus Marc Leishman, and in your foursomes match you've got the pair of Bernd Wiesberger and Cameron Tringale versus Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby. This is going to be good.
Phil, I'm going to go to you first. You obviously didn't have a choice who you get to play. But walk us through how you think --
PHIL MICKELSON: From a team perspective, this was a pretty easy decision for us because Bernd and Cameron play a very similar game, they play a very similar golf ball, and they look at the golf course the same way, so this is going to keep them in their same element, same strategy. Their caddies get along really well and are very close, and I think that it's going to kind of lead to a cohesiveness and like a game plan.
Our alternate-shot foursome team was pretty easy to set, especially when you look at Matt Wolff and how being one of the longest players on LIV if not -- well, Bryson is out here, but right behind Bryson. He's hitting the ball in places that we just don't see. He's got so much firepower that when he gets in a groove and he gets it going, we've seen throughout the LIV events that he shoots some scores on some very challenging courses, and this is one of them. His length allows him to see this golf course totally different, in a much more aggressive frame of mind.
I love his game for match play because he's going to be able to take advantage of a lot of the holes and make birdies, get at some of these pins despite the water, despite the challenges because he'll be coming at it with a much shorter club.
I really like him in singles, and I really like Bernd and Cameron together and the cohesiveness that they provide.
Then Cameron Smith and I will all naturally be irrelevant is the game plan. Like that's our plan. But we are still going to play. We'll still play --
THE MODERATOR: Are you going to be wearing shorts this week to intimidate Cameron with your calves maybe?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, there's no intimidating. He's Champion Golfer of the Year. He's got the Claret Jug. I think he was sipping out of it last night. I mean, that's a strong flex. Nothing that a calf can do to top that. He's got the Claret Jug. That's the coolest moment, to have that trophy for a year is really special.
I think that it's a great opportunity for me to be able to try to compete against the Champion Golfer of the Year. I look forward to it. It'll be fun.
THE MODERATOR: Cam is looking at his clock.
PHIL MICKELSON: I figured if I talked enough, he wouldn't be able to get anything in. Do we have to move on now? Go ahead, take it away.
THE MODERATOR: I actually have to ask Cam a question. How are you feeling about these lineups, first of all, you playing with Phil, but how did you pair up Matt Jones and Wade and putting Marc in a singles match?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, I like that lineup. I think the boys, we all kind of gel. We all kind of play the same type of game. Would have been happy with any foursomes match there, but Leish plays a different golf ball. That went into a lot of it.
Jonesy and Wade hit a lot of fairways out there, and that rough is pretty gnarly. I think even if you're coming in with a wedge or a 9-iron, it's pretty penal, especially with those water carries and those tucked pins.
Yeah, I like it. That's it.
THE MODERATOR: Marc, shall we ask you a question? He brought his 'stache game this week. I love it. All the Aussies have it? Wade has it? Matt? Wow, all right, all of you have it.
CAMERON SMITH: Jonesy is trying to -- he's like me.
THE MODERATOR: Marc, how do you feel about playing with Matthew?
MARC LEISHMAN: It's going to be good. Obviously he's been playing well this year, like Phil said, shot some great scores on tough golf courses. I decided to grow the mo' out; thought it might distract him a little bit.
But no, it's going to be a good week hopefully. Good matchup for both teams, and hopefully we can get off to a good start.
THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you. So there it is, everyone, your four matchups in the quarterfinals of the LIV Golf team championships who are in for a great day of competition on Friday. Thank you to all of our captains and all of our players who joined us today for this very first LIV Golf team championship selection show press conference.
I will now turn it over to Jane, who will open it up for questions from the media. Thank you. Everyone.
Q. For Ian, between you and Lee and Henrik, I think you have about 300 or so career matches in singles and doubles. How will that translate into this week?
IAN POULTER: I didn't realize it was that many. I guess we are pretty old, but hopefully that lends itself to the experience side of things.
You know, we've always played well in team matchups. It's something we're pretty proud of. Yeah, as you say, look, 300-something matches hopefully is a big thing for us hopefully to get through this first round.
Q. Phil, obviously you do have success here at Doral. Do you get to impart that knowledge to your other team? How much will you talk about that this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: We'll talk a little bit about it. This golf course has a lot of holes that require a lot of demanding shots, but it sets up very differently with shot desertion for left-handed players and right-handed players. A lot of holes I have to be a bit more conservative on where a right-handed player can be a little bit more aggressive. For example, the second shot into 18, the way it sits, if you're a right-handed player and you pull it a little bit, the second shot will go longer left, should still catch green, and my shot dispersion is going to be short left if I come out of it. So that second shot I'll have to be a little bit more conservative, whereas a right-handed player can be more aggressive.
There's a lot of holes out there that reverse, though, that allow me to be a little bit more aggressive. Second shot into 3, I'm going to take on that pin a little bit more than a right-handed player.
The course sets up very differently because of the demandingness -- the precision and how demanding it is. It requires some incredible ball-striking.
But there are times that you can take it on and times you can't, and it actually sets up quite different for a left-handed player versus a right-handed player. You'll see a different strategy for us.
Q. My question is for Phil. Cam made a comment about you dumping some in the water with your driver. Are you going to be using your new driver, the 2+ Callaway, out here?
PHIL MICKELSON: I do have it. I don't know if it'll be in the bag this week or not. It seems like there's holes actually where I want the extra distance of my regular driver, and then it seems like the yardage isn't quite working for that club. I either want to go after one or I want to pull back a little bit more to fit the wider part of the fairway.
Although it's a club I anticipate using more in the future, I don't think it's going to be as advantageous this week.
Q. Question for Ian: There was an interview with Rory McIlroy that's been published this week in which he described you guys going to LIV in Ryder Cup terms as a "betrayal." I need to ask you what your reaction to that was.
IAN POULTER: A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I'm aware. Unless we've been told we can't qualify, then I'm still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try and make that team.
Q. I think the point he was making was that the very fact that you may have jeopardized a Ryder Cup future, and likewise for Ian and Henrik and Graeme. I don't know if they'd be prepared to comment.
IAN POULTER: I mean, look, my commitment to the Ryder Cup I think goes before me. I don't think that should ever come in question. I've always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I've ever seen play a Ryder Cup.
You know, I don't know where that comment really has come from, to be honest.
Q. Just got a question for Cam. What exactly about playing against Phil Mickelson are you looking forward to on Friday?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, I mean, it's not going to be a gimme match. I think Phil is kind of playing it up a little bit. Phil is still playing some pretty good golf. I think he's probably beat me the last couple of weeks. Yeah, so I'm looking forward to it. It should be a good match.
We actually played together in Bangkok. Phil played well. He still does it right for an old fella.
Q. Phil, you seem cautious to maybe not sledge or intimidate Cam too much. Is there a reason behind that? Do you not want to wake the snake?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, I love the way he plays. I love the way he swings the club. I love the way he hits it. His short game is remarkable. I love the way he rolls it.
It's not just that he makes putts, it's how he does it. If you watch, he's looking at the hole all the time. He's getting out into the putt.
If you watch him swing the club, it's got this beautiful rhythm. It looks like he's a swinger of the club rather than a slasher or a hitter. I just love the way he plays. I enjoy watching him play and compete.
I'm actually going to really enjoy the opportunity to compete against him.
But I think a lot of him as a player, and not just as a person but how he plays the game I really like.
Q. Phil, a couple of weeks ago you said you saw LIV trending upwards and PGA TOUR trending downwards. I'm not sure if you saw, but Rory McIlroy came out and said that that's just propaganda on your behalf. Can you speak to that?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, first of all, what a great win he had last week. He played some great golf.
I think it was an impressive victory. But just -- maybe I shouldn't have said stuff like that, I don't know, but if I'm just looking at LIV Golf and where we are today to where we were six, seven months ago and people are saying this is dead in the water, and we're past that, and here we are today, a force in the game that's not going away, that has players of this caliber that are moving professional golf throughout the world and the excitement level in the countries around the world of having some of the best players in the game of golf coming to their country and competing. It's pretty remarkable how far LIV Golf has come in the last six, seven months. I don't think anybody can disagree with that.
Q. I think this is probably best for Phil. DJ's team, the Four Aces, they're 2/1 right now to win this. But now you guys are able to use range finders, and given DJ and Austin's track record with math, I'm curious if you see that as a value that people should jump on. Any thoughts on that?
PHIL MICKELSON: First of all, those numbers can be very confusing for them.
What the range finders does is it really helps me because I don't have yardages on sprinklers from other fairways, so when I get over there, I have a much more committed swing because I know exactly how far it is, otherwise we're trying to angle it. It's just a lot of work to get yardages to one hole from two fairways, let alone three, and lasers just give me that freedom.
It's no coincidence that the first time lasers were ever allowed on the PGA TOUR was the PGA Championship in 2021. Look how that ended up. It's no coincidence.
Q. Just a question for Phil. It's another one on the Rory McIlroy interview in The Guardian today. He's spoken more generally about it and said this "us versus them" thing has gotten way out of control already, and he's encouraging some level of kind of reconciliation, I suppose. I'm wondering from your perspective what that needs to look like and how this whole situation moves forward.
PHIL MICKELSON: You know, I think a lot of Rory. I really have the utmost respect for him, and I look at what he's done in the game and how he's played this year and his win last week and No. 1 in the world now, and I have a ton of respect for him.
We'll have three months off after this event to talk about things like that and so forth, but this week something is happening that I don't want to deflect focus on, which is we've never had a team event like this in professional golf. We've never had this type of match play opportunity where the number of matches, the number of players continue to stay the same Friday and Saturday, where there's enough interest and stuff going on for fans to come out and watch and be interested in, television and what have you.
Like normal match play, you have fewer and fewer matches and less and less interesting days as the week goes on, and so this week is something totally different.
I don't want to take away from that. We can talk about your questions afterwards, but this is a unique thing happening in professional golf, and it's pretty exciting, and to be on a historic course that held a TOUR event for longer than I think just about any other event or was in the top 3 or 4, what the Kaskels started back in the '60s, I believe, when they started this place, it's pretty special to have this monumental event take place on this site, too.
I don't want to detract from what's happening this week.
Q. Brooks, as a local South Florida guy, how nice is it to finish off your season relatively back home, and how much have you played this course with the PGA leaving here a few years back? What kind of success or challenges have you had?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's super nice to be able to drive an hour and 20 minutes down the road and be able to get here. I mean, I don't know how many guys I'd say in this field -- there's probably 10 that live in Jupiter, so it's convenient, and I think a lot of us have just played it, if you've grown up in Florida playing junior golf tournaments or just playing it for fun, and then obviously the PGA TOUR was here for years.
Played it quite a bit and feel comfortable. But like you said, it's nice to have family, friends be able to come to an event when they don't get to see us play too much.
Q. Ian and also Phil, you've both figured very prominently in team events, Ryder Cups, Presidents Cups and in your case, Phil, as well as the Ryder Cup. I wonder with this format and the way that it's going to be set out how you guys are going to go about sort of harnessing the kind of juices that we've seen from you in those events in the past for this week coming up and how you kind of are going to harness crowds and partisanship and that kind of thing that always goes with captivating team golf.
IAN POULTER: Well, first and foremost, this is a great golf course. It lends itself obviously with the close to this course being pretty exciting. As the team matchups stand right now, the matchups themselves are intriguing. To have this format of foursomes and obviously two singles matches, and then obviously we've got four scores to count on Sunday, to pick a winner right now would be silly to try and do that.
I think it's going to be an exciting Sunday. We need to get there first. In terms of our team, we've been pretty excited to be part of this format, first and foremost.
I think we can deliver a lot in this format. I think we've got a strong team. It's going to be a fun Sunday.
Whoever holds that trophy on Sunday night I'm sure is going to be pretty happy, pretty pumped, and we might even see a fist pump out of Lee Westwood. Maybe not.
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, to answer -- I don't have quick answers, but I'll try. There's some elements of those team events that can apply, that knowledge and experience can help, and there's some that simply don't. We don't have anybody sitting out, and we don't have the rich history and probably the pressure that those other events have, whereas this is really a fun event. Like we're having a blast.
There's that, and nobody is sitting. Everybody is playing. We're working on strategy.
I think the one thing like experience has helped is trying to get similar games together for let's say foursomes or alternate shot because in the past you're like, well, if we put a long hitter with a short hitter, that's going to give him a chance to do this and a chance to do that. Sometimes you overthink it. Sometimes I've found that the alternate-shot teams play the best when they just kind of play a similar game so they don't have to look at things differently. They just play their game. They feel more comfortable and they end up playing some of their best golf.
Those little things might help experience-wise when we've picked up little tidbits of knowledge over the years, but for the most part, there's a lot of things that don't really overlap.
THE MODERATOR: Well, thank you, captains. Good luck, and we will see four of you back here on Friday with the top 4 seeds. Look forward to seeing you then. Thank you, everyone.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports