THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the second press conference of LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play. We're joined by our podium players of the LIV Golf league at this crucial point of the season.
We've got Jon Rahm, captain of Legion XIII, currently second in the standings and leading team captain. We've got Joaquín Niemann, captain of Torque GC and our season points leader, and also Sergio Garcia, captain of Fireballs GC.
Q. Joaquín, I'll start with you, our season points leader. Can you just talk us through your season so far, including your individual wins at LIV Golf Adelaide, Singapore, and last week in Mexico City, and your thoughts heading into the second half of the season?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: It's been special, especially last week coming from Mexico, the home crowd as well, a lot of support from the guys from Mexico to the team and myself. It was a fun day on Sunday.
Yeah, it's been exciting last six events here at LIV, the way I've been playing, the way I've been feeling on the course. I felt like there's been a lot of trust and a lot of faith in the work that I've been putting in. So I've just been happy overall in general.
Yeah, I think it's been translated to the golf course as well.
Q. Jon, you've been incredibly consistent this season. You haven't finished outside of the top 10 in any LIV Golf event since joining the league, which is an incredible streak. Can you just walk us through your form so far this season at the halfway point, and how are you maintaining that consistency?
JON RAHM: Yeah, I've been playing really well consistently, obviously, finishing up high. Unlike the two guys next to me, I haven't won yet, and that's the main thing.
While I like having top 10s and I like being a good player week in and week out, winning obviously is what matters more. I would gladly give up some of those top 10s for more wins.
I keep playing well, I keep putting myself close enough, just every once in a while there's been enough mistakes where I'm just not quite close enough going into the back nine on Sunday. If I can just clean that up, I know I'm playing well enough to win.
Usually it's very little things that can change a season. Usually it's one swing or one hole that can ignite a great run. Hopefully I can do that and have a great finish to the year like I did last year.
Q. Sergio, you're also having a fantastic season, winner of LIV Golf Hong Kong, and as captain of the Fireballs, your team had a really strong first half of the season as well, three team victories in a row. Can you just tell us about your season so far and your expectations for you and the team for the rest of the season?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, obviously very excited to be back in Korea. Looking forward to the week, first of all. Getting some good feelings back after not having a great week last week.
Yeah, the season has been great so far, so I'm very, very pleased about not only the way I've played, but the way my team, the Fireballs, have played. We're excited to keep it going.
We know that, even though we won three weeks in a row, that the season is still only halfway there. So we have to stay positive and aggressive and playing the way we've been playing and see how well we can do throughout the whole year.
Q. For just each of you, do you feel like the rivalry is starting to heat up with the second half of the season upon us?
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, obviously, as you get closer to the end and closer to the team championship, everything kind of tightens up a little bit and gets more and more exciting.
So we're looking forward to the next few weeks coming up. Some great events coming, also with some majors. It's going to be good fun.
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Same. I feel like we're almost in the halfway part of the season. Yeah, I feel like the second half is going to get pretty intense, a lot of, like Sergio said, majors coming in the way as well and a lot of travel.
So it's going to be fun. It's going to be interesting. I feel like our team is in a good position right now. We had a good result last week, so we're kind of trending. I feel like, if we keep doing the same trend, it's going to be a good momentum for us going into the team championship.
JON RAHM: Obviously very similar answer to what they've given you. I can't believe it really only has been halfway through the season. I mean, this being the halfway point.
Excited about that because there's still a lot of golf to play. Obviously a lot of great events to come up, still a lot of points to play for in majors. Hopefully things at the end of the year as well.
Looking forward to hopefully keep competing well and looking forward to things getting a little bit more interesting, more tight towards the end of the season and enjoy what this is all about. It's a lot of fun. Playing for your team and playing for yourself is what makes it something special up till now.
Hopefully all of us can keep playing really well and keep fighting for it. We were 1, 2, 3 last year, so hopefully maybe we can do it again. I think it's great for Spanish golf in general to have all three of us and something special. Hopefully we can all enjoy it all the way till the end.
Q. This is a question for all the players. Right now we have a lot of Korean players that are interested in playing at LIV Golf and the Masters. So considering that you have a lot of experience in touring both of the Tours, do you have any advice for them?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: You've got two Masters winners, so --
SERGIO GARCIA: I think that, yeah, I mean Korean golf has been growing immensely in the last probably 15 years, 10 or 15 years. So you see a lot of young Korean players coming up, men and women.
I think at the end of the day they all seem hard workers. It's just a matter of working hard, believing in yourself, and enjoying what you do. If you manage to do that, I'm sure they'll do great.
We have a few Korean players here in LIV Golf, and I'm sure that there will be more coming up.
Q. Any other advice?
JOAQUIN NIEMANN: I just want to say also what Sergio was saying, every time they talk about Korean golf, I feel like you can tell how much it's growing, especially in men and women.
Also, you can see a lot how Korean golfers, they love the game. They've got so many indoor simulators, a lot of also like practice range under the nets. I've seen a lot in Instagram and social media how they love the swing, they love new techniques. They always talk a lot about that, and I feel like that's really interesting. They're big fans of golf.
I think it's going to be a fun week for us having that support and how much they appreciate the game here.
Q. Welcome to Korea to all the players. This is a question that is for Jon. During last year's season, you have two wins, and then during the past six events, although you haven't had a victory yet, you are very good ranking second, and your team is also No. 1. I was wondering, do you feel the pressure to win? And do you expect that you could win during the Korean event?
JON RAHM: First of all, thank you. It's my first time in Korea, so I'm very, very excited.
I would say pressure -- I'm not going to feel any extra pressure. The goal is to win every week, and I want to do it, like Joaquín has been doing so far. We all dream of winning often and consistently.
You have to put yourself in position to win, which I've done enough and I'm getting close enough. I'm just not doing everything I need to do right. Sometimes you also need a little bit of luck in your favor -- not that I haven't been lucky. I just haven't done myself any favors on the golf course, I would say it like that. Just enough small mistakes to put myself just a little too far to be able to win.
Then as the team is doing great as well, obviously winning twice, the Fireballs winning three times. I know we're close. Hopefully it continues to be a close race where we can keep playing well.
But I want to win. I hope my first win of the season comes this week as well. It looks like a fantastic golf course, and I can't wait to play. Hopefully the weather is okay the rest of the week, and we can all enjoy a really fun week.
Yeah, I feel like I'm playing well enough to win any week. I'm hoping it happens obviously sooner than later.
Q. This is a question to Jon. You were talking about teams. So if you could actually maybe sacrifice yourself or the team was one of the comments that was picked up. Maybe could you elaborate more on what makes you happier, your team winning or as an individual player winning? Also, LIV Golf is currently providing a different aspect of team play compared to the PGA TOUR. So could you maybe emphasize what is the difference?
SERGIO GARCIA: Who do you love more, your mom or your dad?
(Laughter).
JON RAHM: That's a good question. I haven't gotten this in a while.
It's hard because you need both, right? If I want the team to do well, obviously all scores count every day, I need to play well as well. It's hard to choose one.
If I play bad, the team's not going to -- my teammates, obviously if I play better, they're going to have to play really well. You need both to be good.
Last year you could get lucky if you had a couple of bad rounds and not count unless it was on Sunday. This year you can't. Everybody has to play good every day because some teams are always going to -- every week somebody is going to play good as a team.
So you need both. You can't sacrifice either. I would like both of us to be good.
Then obviously the only team event we ever had as pros being Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, and it used to be the World Cup. Now the Olympics isn't even a team sport. It might be coming up in the future. We didn't have a lot of experience.
I feel like it's always been easier for a crowd and supporters to get behind a team than an individual. I think you create a bigger fan base that way. With LIV doing all this in a new way, I think it's bringing a different aspect to the game of golf.
Something I always enjoyed, my whole life I've been part of a team until I turned professional. All of my fondest memories in golf, all the ones I remembered as the most fun was when we accomplished something as a team. It was a lot more fun to celebrate together.
Even though individual wins are great and you have your own individual team, it's not the same as sharing the stage with someone and celebrating those wins. Some of my best memories, even though we lost, was sharing the course with Sergio at Whistling Straits and playing with him because that was something we both share.
It's something that was very special to me, and I think it's becoming special to a lot of people is getting behind a team and seeing us do well together.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports