THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Caleb Surratt from Legion XIII. I have to say I feel like this is a really special moment. You are tied for first right now. You shot 65 today. You're alongside major winner Martin Kaymer and up on the leaderboard along with the names of Joaquín Niemann, Sergio Garcia. How does this feel right now?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, it's good. Obviously I have the mindset that the job is not finished by any means, but I'm really happy to be out here playing free for probably the first time this season. I'm starting to disregard all the noise and just go out there and be me and play my game.
Q. Tell us a little bit about your round today.
CALEB SURRATT: It was good. I'd say it was really resilient. I want to say I didn't have to face a ton of adversity on the golf course, but I feel like in this heat you're facing adversity from hour one to hour five. To be able to fight through that was something I proved to myself for sure and not letting my emotions get the best of me because it's real easy to happen when it's hot like this.
Q. Leading tomorrow heading off the first tee, is there going to be an extra set of nerves for you or are you going to be able to keep it calm?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, I think there will be for sure, but I'm going to embrace it. I knew I was kind of built for this, and I've worked so hard at home to make stuff like this possible, and I'm very thankful for everybody else that's helping me out. I'm not worried, I'm going to embrace it and try and hit the fairway.
Q. Being on a team, obviously your captain is Jon Rahm. Do you envision yourself going to Jon for any advice tonight or do you think he'll come to you?
CALEB SURRATT: No. I think we're all kind of like -- I feel like we're all on the same team until the tournament starts and then we're all trying to compete against each other. I'm sure he wants me to do well, but I'm sure he wants to do better.
But yeah, we'll have a good time and a good dinner, but I think we'll leave the on-the-course stuff to the golf course.
Q. How would you evaluate the first half of the season for you?
CALEB SURRATT: I think -- I definitely think I've underachieved probably for the goals that I set coming into the Tour, but I also kind of underestimated some of the stuff that I would have to learn. I've had to learn countless experiences throughout the season so far, and that's been probably the biggest perk in coming to LIV for me is I've been able to learn all these things, and I'm starting to get to a point where I think that I can just let go and I know that I've done my work and I don't have to be special out there, I just go be me and it's going to be good enough. But I'm excited for the second half of the season.
Q. What one or two things would you say you've learned?
CALEB SURRATT: It's just the little stuff. It's not like anything crazy. Sometimes it's as simple as like I've had to learn how to hydrate and eat on the golf course. That's stuff that Jon -- I've gotten a mouthful about sometimes. But on days like this, that's probably the most important thing today.
Sometimes it's just little stuff like that. I would say another one is probably how I manage my time out here, or coming out early on I was one of those 18, 19 year olds that comes out and has nothing to do all day and just spends all day on the range and plays 18 holes every practice round. Now I'm starting to learn to be a little bit more of a pro and manage my time and energy well.
Just little stuff like that.
Q. You talked about hearing the noise; what kind of noise specifically were you hearing?
CALEB SURRATT: Not necessarily the noise, but probably more so like the hype. There's going to be social media stuff, there's going to be a bunch of people on the first hole. That's all stuff I title as like noise. I title noise as stuff that I'm out of control of. Once I'm starting to let go of the things that I can't control, I've been a lot more free, and I'm very thankful for that.
Q. Was there one thing from your game itself that today was clicking that may have not been clicking the first half?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, for sure. I think it's probably just -- it's just the peace of mind. Like you see stuff that happened with Grayson Murray last week, he was a guy that I knew pretty closely and we're both from North Carolina, and then today there was a few fans going down because it was hot, and you would see the ambulance cars. But one thing for me today is just the peace of mind knowing that golf is not everything; you know what I mean? There's a lot more bigger things. Ever since I've started embracing that and started learning that I don't have to live and die on every shot, because that's kind of the expectation I put on myself when I came out here, it's been a lot more freeing, and I've definitely been performing better.
Q. 20 years old, leading the tournament, and putting Team Legion on your back. If you continue to play this well, are you making Jon and Tyrrell buy you beer and cigarettes after this?
CALEB SURRATT: Well, I can't have that, but probably not.
Q. Dirty mag, anything?
CALEB SURRATT: No, none of that. Diet Coke for me, to celebrate.
Q. How is it playing on this course? Is this your first time playing on this course?
CALEB SURRATT: Believe it or not, no. I was fortunate enough to actually have a college event here about 15 months ago. 15 months ago I was playing at Tennessee, and we had a University of Houston golf tournament here. It was definitely in a little different condition and a lot more fans and a little harder setup, but I've seen the golf course and I feel comfortable.
Q. How has that helped you with your performance today? It looked like you knew it pretty well, had a good day today.
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, I think -- I want to say, I don't want to jinx myself, but I want to say I played the game that made it feel easy. Sometimes when you have rounds like that like every player does out here, those types of rounds do feel easy. It's the rounds where you're scrapping out like 2-, 3-, 4-under that feel hard sometimes.
But I think knowing where you can find the birdies out here just makes it stress-free because you don't have to press and don't have to be something I'm not.
Q. You seem like you're just trying to be kind of easygoing to say, hey, I had one good day, you just don't want to --
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, yeah. That's part of the noise that I'm trying to block out a little bit of getting too far ahead of myself. That's something I can't really control how I'm going to play tomorrow but I know I can control how I prepare tonight and how I get ready for the round tomorrow and what I'm thinking on the first tee, and I'm going to try to do those three to the best of my ability.
Q. Turning pro, dominant college career, 2023 SEC champion, you turn pro. Can you coach us up on staying patient? I think in all of our golf games you get in a little bit of a slump, turning pro, not having the success you wanted right out of the gate, how have you maintained that patience throughout your pro career, your early pro career?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, one of the things I'm starting to learn is I'm shifting a lot of my focus away from results. You know what I mean? If your worth is going to be 100 percent results all the time, you're going to be living and dying on every shot. I'm starting to prioritize a lot of other things in my life a little bit more now, like my faith and my preparation and my girlfriend and time with friends. That's all stuff that gives me the peace of mind.
Peace of mind is the opposite of negativity. Patience is probably also the opposite of negativity. Have good peace of mind and stay patient because you can't do those two and be negative. If I do those well, that's what I'm starting to learn.
Q. What's your mindset shifting from obviously a college career into something like this, the LIV Tour? It's loud, the fans are loud, the music is loud. How do you shift your mindset into something like this?
CALEB SURRATT: Oh, it excites me. I like it. Like I said, I didn't adjust properly early on, and so I've had to learn from it, but I think I've said it a few times, embracing it is the biggest thing. Not trying to fight it. Like not trying to tell people to be quiet. Not trying to keep my head down, do my thing all the time. Like embrace it, look around, look how cool of an opportunity it is. Look and see 2,000 fans on one hole because that's something I've never gotten to experience before. But when I've shied away from it in the past, that's when I get nervous. Now that I'm embracing it, I'm not nervous.
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