JASON ZONE FISHER: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our 2024 LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship selection show and press conference for tomorrow's semifinals. My name is Jason Zone Fisher, and we've got some of the world's best golfers behind us. 10 teams entered today's competition in the quarterfinals matchups and five remain, coupled with a few teams who had a bye.
Let's recap today's results as Iron Heads GC defeated the No. 4 seeded Smash GC, HyFlyers GC defeated the No. 5 seed, Torque GC, Fireballs GC defeated Majesticks GC, Stinger GC advanced over their matchup with Cleeks GC, and the 4Aces defeated RangeGoats GC.
The top 3 ranked teams had a bye through today's quarterfinals round into tomorrow's semifinals. They are the first seed and defending champions, Crushers GC, the No. 2 seed, Legion XIII, and the No. 3 seed, Ripper GC.
All right, with today's matchups now complete, that leaves eight teams left to play our head-to-head competition tomorrow, still vying to be crowned the 2024 LIV Golf team champions. Let's introduce the eight teams who are still standing and their captains, advancing to tomorrow's semifinals. Here we go.
First, the No. 1 seed, Crushers GC, and their captain, Bryson DeChambeau; the No. 2 seed, Legion XIII, captain Jon Rahm is feeling a bit under the weather, he's resting up for tomorrow, so representing Legion XIII is his teammate, Tyrrell Hatton; the No. 3 seed, Ripper GC and their captain Cam Smith. We have Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia, whose team advanced by besting Majesticks today; Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen, whose team defeated Cleeks GC, and they are moving on to the semifinals; 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson whose 4Aces defeated RangeGoats GC, and they are advancing. We've got the captain of HyFlyers GC, Phil Mickelson, whose team beat Torque GC today. Last but not least, the last to finish, and a thrilling finish it was, Iron Heads GC captain Kevin Na, whose squad defeated the No. 4 seed, Smash GC.
Congratulations, gentlemen, to you and your teams. Let's begin and find out which teams will face off against each other tomorrow, and we will begin with the No. 1 pick, the defending champions and No. 1 seed in this year's tournament, Crushers GC Bryson DeChambeau. The floor is yours.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: We're going to be picking the Iron Heads.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Iron Heads GC, all right. Bryson, what went into this decision from you and the team?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: We just picked them. No reason.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Kevin, it was a bit of an upset there today and a thrilling one at that. You came in as an underdog against Smash and you're certainly an underdog tomorrow in your matchup against Crushers. How do you like your chances? How are you feeling right now with the momentum your team has?
KEVIN NA: First of all, I want to give some props to my boys. They fought hard. Danny had a great match, and Scott Vincent and Jini coming down the stretch, they were 4-down at one point, and for them to fight back and Jini to make some clutch putts at the end. I'm excited to be here, and obviously we're playing the No. 1 seed. They're a tough opponent. But we've shown that in match play, anything can happen.
JASON ZONE FISHER: That's certainly the case as we saw today. We're going to keep it moving, and we'll go to the No. 2 seed, that's Legion XIII, and Tyrrell, the floor is yours to make your pick.
TYRRELL HATTON: We choose HyFlyers.
JASON ZONE FISHER: HyFlyers GC will face off against Legion XIII tomorrow in what will be another exciting matchup. Tyrrell, what went into that decision, and were you able to consult with Jon and the whole team on that?
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, so Jon wanted it to try and be a joint decision. Yeah, I spoke to him on the phone and we exchanged a few WhatsApp messages. I know he was watching the golf today. Yeah, that's just how it came about.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Phil, you hear your team's name called out yet again. What do you think about being the next pick selected and going up against a formidable foe, Legion XIII, a team that won four tournaments so far this year?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, they're really a great team, and I obviously have a lot of respect for Jon Rahm and have been a fan of his for a long time. They're a great team and it's going to be a fun matchup for us. It's an opportunity for us to play such a strong team in the league.
Today we had a chance to play Torque, and it was a great opportunity. Those guys are just incredible players. They have a great team chemistry and dynamic, and it was a real challenge for us, and tomorrow is going to be every bit as tough a challenge.
We're looking forward to it and appreciative of the opportunity.
JASON ZONE FISHER: We're all excited to hear about the player matchups for tomorrow which the captains will be making immediately following this press conference on social to see the strategy that comes into play. It certainly worked for you and the HyFlyers here today.
Moving along to the No. 3 seed, that's Ripper GC who enjoyed their first-round bye today. Cam, who would you like to see tomorrow in the semifinals?
CAM SMITH: We are going to pick Fireballs GC.
JASON ZONE FISHER: From the look on Sergio's face he seems surprised by that pick. What went into that decision?
CAM SMITH: A bit of thought. That's about it.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Do you want to let us into what that thought might have been?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: A couple beers maybe?
CAM SMITH: No, nothing in particular, just -- I don't know, it seemed like we watched a lot of TV today, and that's who we wanted to go with.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Well, they were enjoying the air-conditioned clubhouse watching the golf on television and were studying everything that took place, and they selected Fireballs. Sergio, were you surprised to hear that Ripper wants to call you out and go head-to-head against your team?
SERGIO GARCIA: Maybe a little bit. It was definitely one of the options that I thought about, but yeah, at the end of the day, there's not many easy teams to pick for either of them, so obviously I think it's going to be a great matchup again. All eight teams are great, but the four that were left obviously are very, very good, and I think it should be a great matchup tomorrow. Hopefully we can put on a great show.
JASON ZONE FISHER: We're looking forward to it, and it will be an exciting matchup. That leaves just one matchup left, and I think we know who it will be as captain of Stinger GC Louis Oosthuizen will face off against 4Aces GC. Louis, as you hear this news, how do you like your chances going up against a 4Aces team that played exceptional golf today?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I think my team played really well today, and I think we're going to have a good matchup tomorrow. We avoided them that first round. We could have picked them then. It's now nice to play them tomorrow.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Dustin, it feels like everyone wanted to avoid you. You came in not ranked as high as you've been in past year, but people are not picking you, calling you out, but they're forced to play against you. How do you feel in this -- I don't want to say an underdog role. You're the lower seed but you come in here with a lot of experience in this Team Championship format.
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I have a lot of confidence in my team. I think we're all playing really well. Obviously the other two guys, they won their matches today, I did not, but felt like I played some really good golf. Just didn't quite get it done. But I'm looking forward to the challenge tomorrow against the Stingers.
JASON ZONE FISHER: Our matchups are set, so it will be Crushers GC versus Iron Heads GC, Legion XIII going head-to-head with HyFlyers GC, Ripper GC will be faced off against Fireballs GC, and last but not least, of course Stinger GC and 4Aces GC.
There it is. Those are your four matchups in the semifinals of the 2024 LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship. We're in store for a great day of competition and golf tomorrow. As I mentioned earlier, captains will make their singles and foursomes lineup selections momentarily and they will be released shortly on social media. Thank you to our captains, our players who joined us here today. Good luck tomorrow, gentlemen. I will now turn it over to the head of player communications, Jane MacNeille, who will open it up to questions from the media. Best of luck to all of you and your teams in pursuit of that Team Championship. Thank you, everyone.
JANE MacNEILLE: Just knowing these matchups, is it going to change your strategy in terms of your singles and foursomes that you had, or are you guys staying with what you went into this thinking you were going to do?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: No, nothing is going to change.
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: We'll see. I don't know. We'll have a quick chat to the boys.
SERGIO GARCIA: I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I'm not going to give it up.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, we just found out who we're going to play against, so we're going to sit down as a team and talk through it. But yeah, it's probably hard to say right now, but when you're playing Legion XIII, they've won four times this year, you've got the player who won the individual title, you've got such a strong deep team there that we're going to have to play some great golf whatever the setup is.
Q. Obviously it was blazing hot today. I think the heat index was 108 degrees. For those of you that played out there today, I'm sure you guys are wiped right now. How much of an advantage is it you guys didn't have to go play 18 holes in 108-degree weather?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, anytime you get a day off when others are playing, it's huge. That factored into a bit of our decision to play the Iron Heads. It's a tough day, but I'm sure everybody is going to recover, and it's going to be another hot one tomorrow. Lucky enough, that's why we play well throughout the year is to get that bye, so we have a little bit of an advantage there. Yeah, it's nice to stay in the air-conditioning.
CAM SMITH: Yeah, that was nice sitting in there today. We all went out and did some practice and realized how hot it was. It's nice doing a couple hours' worth of practice rather than five or six hours out there in the heat.
I think that's worth the bye in itself.
Q. Tomorrow we're expecting huge crowds out there. How much do the crowds factor in when you're playing match play and you've got people out there rooting on every hole, encouraging you on? Does that impact how you play at all?
TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I think we're all hoping for big crowds tomorrow. Ultimately that gives us a good atmosphere to play golf in, and that's kind of what we all want. We don't want to be walking down the fairways with no one there. Yeah, it would be good to have a lot of people, and hopefully we can play some good golf.
SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, definitely. Obviously it's going to be great to have huge crowds out there cheering us on. It doesn't really change the way we play because we're used to playing in front of big crowds in this kind of atmosphere. But it obviously makes it a bit more exciting to see big crowds out there and watching us play and hopefully enjoying it.
Q. Kevin, you guys have obviously been the underdogs. Does it give you a little bit of extra motivation going out tomorrow knowing that you guys keep getting picked first and you've got to go fight on every hole?
KEVIN NA: Sometimes when people expect the least, you come out ahead.
Q. Phil, Louis and Sergio, obviously you guys played foursomes today and the strategy certainly worked. How much of a difference maker is having that ability to play foursomes?
SERGIO GARCIA: Well, to me, just like I said yesterday, we're trying to make the strongest team we can have to have a chance at winning all three games. I think that's the spirit that you want. That's the idea that you want to have. That's what we tried to do yesterday for today, and we'll sit down and see if we go with the same decision or we think that it might be stronger to make a change here or there.
I think at the end of the day that's the only thing you can do, and then hopefully everybody comes out and plays well. It's as simple as that. It comes down to playing good golf, and then whatever happens happens.
Q. Louis, did you have fun out there with Charl?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, the last time I think we played was in New Orleans. We lost to Cam and Marc there in the playoff. But yeah, me and Charl are very comfortable around each other. Like Sergio said, I just think every team is trying to get how you're going to make three points out of the situation, and we just thought it was best today to do that.
We might change. We don't know.
Q. Phil, you talked yesterday about being annoying. Were you annoying today?
PHIL MICKELSON: I mean, that's an everyday occurrence, but I thought today we kept it in check. It's just that you have three options the previous way, and now you have nine options. It allows you as a captain to make the best pairings for each scenario. That flexibility can make a difference in getting your team the best dynamics, the best chance to win. You saw a lot of mix-ups today, and I think we'll probably see the same going into tomorrow as teams try to find their best format.
Q. Kevin, what was it like to see Jini make those putts?
KEVIN NA: Do you see the smile? Jini is an amazing putter. We see it all the time in practice rounds. He just won last month in Japan. A couple putts coming down the end, in regulation the last hole, Jason Kokrak made a really nice putt, too, to apply a lot of pressure, and needing to make it -- I had a lot of hopes, and to see that go in, and the last putt was 20 plus feet for a par, Danny looked over at me, he goes, watch this, he's going to make this. I was like, I hope so, and he sure did, and Jini really showed the world, I think, what he's made of.
Q. Bryson, what does it mean when the two lowest seeds win out here today? What does it say about the competition out here? What does it say about match play?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, it just shows the depth of play out here. I think that people are starting to realize how good everyone is and how much we want to fight to win.
I think that's been a big misunderstanding for a lot of individuals out there, and it certainly shows with the Iron Heads doing what they did today. It's impressive.
I just can't say any more positive words about how deep this field is and will continue to be. That's what's so exciting about this league.
Q. Bryson, you guys have been so consistent, so good throughout the year, but how important is tomorrow going to be, keeping the whole season in mind?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's all hands on deck tomorrow. We've got to have our best going into tomorrow. It's 18 holes. It's match play. Anything can happen. We're aware of that. We respect that. We called the Stingers out in the first year and we got -- no pun intended -- well, kind of, but we got stung. It's just one of those things that we have a deep profound understanding and respect for people that we think aren't necessarily playing well and whatnot, so it's going to be all hands on deck and focus like it's a final round.
Q. Bryson, I want to get your reaction to the PGA of America clearing y'all to play in both the PGA and the Ryder Cup from here on out.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think it's -- one, I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for the PGA of America and what they've done for junior golf and other things alike. I've come close to winning their tournament numerous times, and to see that they came out and made that statement is great reassurance that us players will eventually have a pathway, whether it be exemptions or whatnot -- hopefully have a pathway to play in the Ryder Cup and other tournaments as such.
I think it's just the start. I think it's the beginning to opening up the ecosystem back to a place where players can play across numerous tours and support different charities alike and tournaments alike in different countries and regions. I think it's a great first step.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports