THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. Welcome to our LIV Golf team championship Miami semifinal selection show and press conference. What a catchy title that is. What a great day of golf we just had, and so much more to look forward to this weekend.
Let's jump right into it. Similar to Wednesday's press conference, four captains will select a team to compete against in tomorrow's semifinal round.
A quick reminder how the matchups will work. Each match tomorrow consists of three matches, two singles matches and one foursome match. Each match is worth one point. If you win two points, your team will advance, and captains must play each other in a singles match, so that will always be one of those singles matches.
The captains up here at the table will get to choose which team they want to play. The highest seed gets to pick first, and then the next highest seed remaining will pick following, and so forth.
The top four seeds received a bye today and did not compete; they are the No. 1 seed, Four Aces GC; No. 2 seed, Crushers GC; No. 3 seed, Fireballs GC; and the 4 seed, Stinger GC.
Before we begin to choose who they will play, let's introduce the captains who are joining us here today: Four Aces captain Dustin Johnson; Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau; Fireballs captain Sergio Garcia; Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen; winning their team quarterfinals matches today, we have the No. 5 seed Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka; No. 6 seed Majesticks captain Ian Poulter; No. 10 seed Cleeks GC captain Martin Kaymer; and the 11 seed, Punch GC captain, Cam Smith.
Congratulations, gentlemen, on making it this far. Let's begin and find out which teams will face off against each other on Saturday afternoon.
First up, Four Aces and captain Dustin Johnson. DJ, you had the advantage of getting a bye today. You got to watch some of these guys play. Now, just to clarify, you can pick any team up here. It doesn't just have to be the teams that played. You're now officially on the clock; you have the first pick. Who do you choose to play against in the semifinals?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: How long do I get?
THE MODERATOR: How long do you need?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: We're selecting to play the Cleeks.
THE MODERATOR: Cleeks GC is the --
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Mr. Kaymer.
THE MODERATOR: Now, DJ, you could have picked anyone here. Why did you decide Cleeks GC is who you feel most comfortable facing off against tomorrow?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Well, none of the teams -- all the teams are great. Any team can win at any point. It's match play. I felt like this is our best option.
THE MODERATOR: It's a very polite, kind way of saying that. Martin, how does it feel to be the first team called out here, the first one off the board, and to take on Four Aces team who is undefeated in team competitions in the United States?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I think the most important thing is that you never take things personal, so I won't. But obviously DJ has a great team. He had some great success this year all year. The whole team played well. They have a good -- yeah, I think a good atmosphere in the team, but we played good today.
It was a fight for the Cleeks today, but Laurie made a great putt on the last hole to secure our spot for tomorrow.
I was expecting that a little bit, that DJ might pick us, but that's okay. We're going to have a great match tomorrow. It's going to be a great matchup. Unfortunately I won't be playing, otherwise it would have been a great match against you, but maybe next year.
THE MODERATOR: Well, we know, DJ, who you'll be facing off against, Shergo, the alternate captain, playing tomorrow, but we'll reveal the rest of the matches a little bit later today.
Bryson, that means that you are up next with the next pick as the captain of Crushers GC. Who do you feel most comfortable facing up against?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Look, for us as a team collectively we feel like we've got a really good shot going against the Stingers, so we're picking the Stingers as of right now. Louis, I love you, buddy, but we're going to have a fun match tomorrow. We just feel like considering some of the injuries that they've had that we know about and my 4-iron going past his driver in Jeddah, we feel like, yeah, there's a good chance there.
THE MODERATOR: Louis, your team had a bye, didn't compete today. To be called out here early on in this selection process, how do you feel, and how do you feel going up against Bryson and Crushers GC?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I feel great. I know I'm hitting into the greens first with my match against Bryson. I'm not sure how he copes under pressure. We'll see that tomorrow.
Yeah, our team is ready to go. We had a nice rest and no more injuries, so let's do this.
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Let's go.
THE MODERATOR: We're moving right along here. Up next is the 3 seed, Fireballs captain Sergio Garcia. Sergio, still a lot of great golfers, a lot of great teams left to choose. Who do you think you have the best chance against?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, obviously great teams to face off right here, but we're probably going to take -- I think we're going to take the ones with the best hair, so it's going to be my boy Cam. We're going to take Punch.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, Punch GC. Why is that, in addition to just seeing the best hair and the mullets out there on the course? Why do you think you have the best chance against Cam Smith and Punch GC?
SERGIO GARCIA: Don't get me wrong, any team up here, it's a great team. None of them are easy. But obviously we made a list, and that was one of our choices, and some of the other ones were gone already.
We feel like we can match up nicely to them. We know it's not going to be easy, but we're ready for the challenge.
THE MODERATOR: Cam, you had a hard-fought battle out there today, came down to the last hole. You sunk that putt. Do you have an advantage or maybe a disadvantage that you got to play the course today but these guys got a little bit of extra rest out there?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, it was definitely a long day out there today, but another day on the golf course. You learn more stuff about it. I think that's a bit of an advantage. Not teeing off until late again tomorrow, so a bit of a rest in, I'm sure, but looking forward to playing my boy Sergio. Wasn't really expecting that.
SERGIO GARCIA: Full of surprises.
THE MODERATOR: We look forward to that. That means we have one matchup left, and I think we know it's going to be Brooks Koepka and Smash GC. You'll be facing off against Ian Poulter and Majesticks GC right next to you.
Did you have a strategy coming into this and were you surprised by any of the picks that happened before?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Not really. I could see them all happening, but I don't really get an option, so I guess we're playing Poults. That'll be fun.
THE MODERATOR: How do you feel about it?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Poults is pretty good at match play, so that'll be interesting. They've got a good team. Westy is solid. It's going to be interesting. We'll see.
THE MODERATOR: Ian Poulter, you are very good at match play; what do you think about your game translates so well to this format, and how does that translate to your confidence against Brooks and Smash tomorrow?
IAN POULTER: I mean, obviously, I don't know how exactly you played today, but you got beat. It means he's going to come out pretty hard tomorrow.
BROOKS KOEPKA: He was 7-under through 10.
IAN POULTER: That'll get it done.
BROOKS KOEPKA: That usually wins.
IAN POULTER: I need to go out and play strong tomorrow. Brooks is coming off a win a couple of weeks ago, so they've got a strong team. But so do we. We played real good today. Sam and Henrik played great. Obviously Lee played good, as well.
I think we dominated our match today, but tomorrow is going to be a tougher test, and we need to step up.
THE MODERATOR: We're down to our final eight teams, the semifinals tomorrow. Looking forward to that. Again, our matchups, we have team Four Aces taking on Cleeks GC; we have Crushers GC versus Stingers GC; Fireballs GC taking on Punch GC; and Smash GC will face off against Majesticks GC.
I'm now about to turn it over to our SVP of communications, Jane MacNeille, for an open Q & A for anyone who has questions for our captains or the other players in attendance. Following the Q & A, each captain will go back to their room, fill out a matchup form and choose who will be playing in the other singles match and the foursomes match. Those matchups will be revealed in the next hour through LIV Golf's social media channels.
Jane, I now turn it over to you. Thank you, everyone, and congrats, gentlemen, making it this far.
JANE MacNEILLE: DJ, I have to ask you, what do you think Shergo is feeling right now?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I don't know. You'd have to ask him.
JANE MacNEILLE: I called him to the press center, so I think he'll be here in a minute.
Q. Cam, I just wanted to ask you about your match with Phil. Obviously pretty epic back and forth. Can you just talk about it and then kind of take us through when you figured out that it was going to come down to you and Phil and who advanced?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, it was a good match. I think Phil maybe had some gamesmanship in there a little bit. He seemed to take forever today. I think we were three or four holes behind. So that was a bit painful. But other than that, it was good.
We both struck the ball good. I probably didn't hole as many putts as I'd like, but I was able to get the job done there on the last hole.
Q. Martin, I wanted to ask you about your team, especially Richard and G-Mac. They were pretty emotional after their victory. Could you talk us through just watching them play from afar, not being able to do anything yourself from a playing standpoint?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I was walking -- I would say most of the day I was walking with that group. The first 10, 12 holes I was with them, then I walked with Laurie a little bit, with Shergo a couple of holes, but especially in the foursomes it's a tough format. You don't really get into a groove when you play foursomes, but they did well. Richard is a very solid ball striker. He hits many fairways. G-Mac is very good in short game, so I think they matched up really well.
I don't want to play against those two. Yeah, they're very experienced players. Obviously Richard hasn't played many team events, but G-Mac has played a lot.
I think because of Richard's age, he doesn't need much experience, not much more. He has plenty. It's going to be really fun tomorrow. It's going to be a tough match. But in match play, as anybody else said out here, anything can happen.
Q. Bryson, did you have any thought to selecting Brooks' team as an opponent?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Absolutely. They're playing so good, though, right now that we wouldn't want to go up against them right off the bat. It would be fun, but there's a time for that, and hopefully it'll happen next year.
It'll come down to the stroke play on Sunday; hopefully we're part of that, and that would be fun to go up against. There was that thought that came through our minds, but from the team aspect, how it paired with Paul and Charles and Anirban against the Stingers, it was a no-brainer for us.
Q. (No microphone.)
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, of course. We had a nice practice. Obviously we didn't get to play the course, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be ready tomorrow. I don't think it changes.
We have some days off throughout the year, and then we turn up ready to play when we have to. It should be fine.
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: We played nine holes, our team did, on the other golf course, so we feel pretty confident and ready to go, as well.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: We did the same. We played the other course, so we got to play a few holes. Yeah, had a nice practice session, kind of just relaxed a little bit. It was a nice day, though.
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: We just had a breakfast session, had a bit of fun on the putting green, as well, playing a match between the four of us, and yeah, we played Wednesday, Thursday, and to have a rest today was actually nice.
JANE MacNEILLE: We just brought Shergo Al Kurdi into the pressroom. I think you are the youngest player out here. You're 19 years old; is that right?
SHERGO AL KURDI: Yeah, that's right, I'm 19.
JANE MacNEILLE: You came in for Martin when he hurt his wrist, and now you are matched up against the No. 1 seed, the Four Aces, playing one of the best golfers in the world, Dustin Johnson. How are you feeling right now?
SHERGO AL KURDI: Yeah, it's an unbelievable matchup. I played with DJ the first day in Boston. I've always watched him on TV in the past, and I've always looked up to him. Watching him firsthand in Boston, it was also unbelievable, and obviously he won that week, so it was a brilliant week to be playing with him. I'm going to try and do as much work as I can today on the range, and hopefully I can match up against him tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports