THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Legion XIII to LIV Golf Las Vegas. We are joined by Caleb Surratt, our captain Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Kieran Vincent. Since you guys are all virtually new to LIV Golf, last week was a whirlwind, you won, and now you're back here for another tournament. Have you had a chance to let the victory set in yet?
KIERAN VINCENT: Yeah, I think we had a great dinner on Sunday night, spent it all together, just kind of relapsing or taking in the week, looking over it and showing some cool moments. It was a great kind of celebratory dinner.
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, not much more to add in that sense. We enjoyed each other's company on Sunday evening, but excited to get going this week now, so it's a new week, and obviously we want to go out there and do our best again and give ourselves a chance.
Q. Jon, do you feel like you guys really planted your flag in the ground here at LIV coming in your first week and winning?
JON RAHM: I'd like to think so, yeah. We definitely wanted to leave our mark, throughout the year at least, and to start it with a win is incredible.
Hopefully we accomplished what we meant to do, and hopefully we can keep doing it this year and keep playing good.
Q. Caleb, the jokes keep coming about how young you are, but apparently you couldn't check into your hotel because you weren't over 21 and Tyrrell had to pretend to be your dad and check in for you. Can you tell us that story?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, I don't know who they thought was older --
JON RAHM: We've had some funny discussions with ages related with Caleb and what he thought we were. One of the first things he told me was man, I didn't know you were only 29.
I think with the tone of how he said it, I think he thought I was closer to 40 than 30.
CALEB SURRATT: It was actually a compliment but he didn't see it that way.
TYRRELL HATTON: Checking in yesterday, I kind of kept looking over to Caleb, and he was looking over at me quite nervous, so once I finished checking in, I sort of wandered over to make sure that he was okay, and as I got there, the lady checking him in said that he needed someone over 21 to be on the reservation to allow him to stay in the room.
I had to hand over my driver's license to make sure he had a bed for the night.
Q. Kieran, there was one day last week where you out-drove every single person in the field by 26 yards. Did anyone out here know that you were the bomber out on Tour before you got here, and is that going to be your mark here at LIV Golf?
KIERAN VINCENT: Well, funny story. Actually teeing off on Sunday, we were in the bunker practicing some bunker shots, and a guy walks over to me and asked me if I hit a sprinkler head on that hole.
I mean, dynamite comes in small packages, I guess.
I guess I got a good hold of that one, so we got a little lucky there.
Q. This golf course, have any of you guys had a chance to play it? I know it's a short tight course. How do you think it suits your games?
JON RAHM: I have not played it, so after this will be the first time I see it. First glance, kind of reminded me a little bit to a Phoenix Country Club, a bit more in-city golf course, smaller, maybe a little bit more traditional. But something I quite usually enjoy. Not too different from what last week might have been. Not the longest, it's just more about positioning.
My first thought is I think I'm going to enjoy this golf course, plus I keep hearing the greens are, from people that have played it, some of the best greens they've played on.
CALEB SURRATT: I mean, no matter how tight it is, it can't be tighter than last week. I'd say we had a good prep.
I haven't been out there yet. I think a big thing for me is going to be getting used to the altitude. The ball travels flies maybe a bit farther, and obviously the temperature, too, because this is a bit more back at home, kind of cold, overcast and wet.
This is what I'm used to, and it's a little bit more in my comfort zone.
TYRRELL HATTON: I hope it's less stressful than last week. Most holes you sat on last week was just not a nice feeling. Hopefully there's less hazards out there that I can find, but I haven't seen the course either. We're all in the same boat. Hopefully get out there this afternoon and get a feel for it, but ultimately come Thursday morning we'll be ready to go.
Q. Jon, obviously we mentioned about Caleb being the youngest player out here. What kind of things have you and the rest of the guys done to kind of help navigate his way into professional golf? It's been a whirlwind, obviously, the last few weeks.
JON RAHM: Well, he might be 19, but first time he ever walked me through his process to make this decision is about as mature as it came. He showed me real quick that he was ready. He was ready to make the jump.
After that, once you're mentally ready, it's just getting past the step of it just being golf. Like it's a different setting, yes, different competition, yes, but at the end of the day, it's yourself on the golf course, and you just need to get comfortable with that.
Maybe last week wasn't the easiest, but we did see some flashes of brilliance. He does ask questions when he needs to to try to learn from everybody. Tried to give him advice, but ultimately it's a process that he's going to need to learn a little bit of his own. But he's always seemed to ready that that's probably why he started off playing so good.
Q. Do you guys feel like you have to help mentor him at all, or does he need any mentoring?
JON RAHM: I feel like it's up to him. If he wants us to help, he'll ask. If not, I don't think any of us are the type of people to just go up to him and tell him something because you never know if you're going to help or not.
Q. Caleb, how do you approach learning about being a pro golfer?
CALEB SURRATT: I just think it's a bit more of a blunt statement, but it's more of how can I just learn to compete and win out here. I know that's a big thing to say as a 19 year old, but there's no better way to base my process and base my goals than having that as kind of the forefront thing for me.
If I'm learning about pro golf based on trying to impress everybody and trying to live up to expectations, then I'm just setting the ceiling so low. I have my ceiling set really high, and that's kind of allowing me to truly get in situations where I can learn from the best players, and playing alongside Rahm and Tyrrell, it's as good as it gets. That helps me a lot.
The only tough part is it can be tough because sometimes I can make Jon my standard, but he's the best player in the world, one of them, and that's somewhere I'm trying to get in my career. I'll get mad when I hit a bad tee shot and he hits it down the middle of course.
I think just kind of setting my own expectations and just continuing to learn -- I'm just going day by day. I don't know what I don't know, and I'm still learning.
Q. Can you talk us through the process of when you decided to make this move to LIV? Did you reach out to Jon? How did that whole process work?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, I don't even remember. It was just a big whirlwind because I was playing in a tournament at the time, and I kind of let a lot of my team handle a lot of that. But it seemed like there was a lot of interest from Jon, and the day that I got the call and the text from Jon saying that that was a real opportunity, then I saw just total upside for me and just a great way to start my career.
Q. Kieran, can you talk about, you're the closest to Caleb in terms of age. Maybe you guys hang out a lot do you feel like or not?
KIERAN VINCENT: I think he's calling you guys older.
Yeah, no, obviously when me and Caleb knew we were on the same team, we reached out to each other, and we've always kind of been chatting since. It's obviously cool to have a lot of youth on this team, not just with Caleb but with the rest of the guys here.
But obviously Caleb is a great guy. Obviously I've followed a lot of his career through college golf, just saw how prolific he was as a player. So just kind of being able to learn from each other I think is the biggest thing. I'm still pretty new to this, as well, and saw that we can have a high standard coming into playing these tournaments. I think he's a great kid. Not only just on the course but off the course, as well. I think the world is his as long as he keeps his head down and keeps working hard.
Q. Jon, there's been plenty of talk about Joaco not being in the majors. What do you make of it?
JON RAHM: I mean, it's hard to say. Do I believe he deserves to be in majors? Yes. Does he have the talent to contend and possibly win majors? Yes.
But unfortunately the reality that he's going to have to try to qualify for two of them, and I don't think he can play two of the other ones.
It's a little bit sad, but it's hopefully something that we see a change in the future, encouraging players in LIV Golf to be able to qualify or maybe a change in the World Ranking, whatever it may be, because there's definitely a lot of players here that are more than capable to contend and win majors and are not going to have the chance in the near future. I hope it changes.
Q. Obviously you've won two majors. You want to beat the best; that goes without saying, doesn't it?
JON RAHM: Yes. Ideally to be the best in the world, you have to beat the best in the world, period. Not that there will be an asterisk, but Joaco not being there is definitely a step down in the level of the field.
Q. Obviously it was a bit of a whirlwind last week. I wonder how you reflect on the decision and what last week was. What are you looking to over the next 12 months and all you might miss out on?
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, last week was a fun week. I think how we started as a team was the most that we could ask for.
Individually finishing tied eighth, yes, I'd have liked to have done better, but I tried my best, and that's all I can do.
Going into the rest of the year, there's some places on the LIV schedule that I'm really looking forward to going and playing. Down in Adelaide. I've never played Valderrama, so that's another one that's exciting for me.
As it currently stands, signing with LIV, you know you're going to miss out on some events. I'm obviously hoping that things will work itself out and that down the line we'll still be able to play certain events. I still plan on trying to play DP World events this year. I know Jon is the same.
Yeah, we'll just have to see how it all works out.
Q. How do you compartmentalize? Obviously you went through a process to make the big decision and change of direction in your career. Then when you've made that decision there's still a lot of uncertainty. How do you focus on the golf and not let everything else affect you when you're on the course?
TYRRELL HATTON: I think once you've made a decision, you stick with it. There's a reason you've made that decision to go in that direction. For me personally, I spoke to a lot of people. It certainly wasn't a decision that I took lightly, and it was -- although I didn't have a huge amount of time in making that decision, as I said, I spoke to a lot of people and spoke to the people closest to me for quite a lot of time, and ultimately this is the decision that I made to join LIV, and I'm very happy with that decision and excited to be a part of this team.
This year is going to be a whole lot of new experiences for me, and I'm excited for that. We'll see how this year goes.
Q. Have you spent much time in Vegas before, and how does the weather compare to what you're expecting?
TYRRELL HATTON: Well, the weather is more similar to England, I think, at the moment, which in some ways is a little disappointing. But I think I've spent maybe a couple of weeks in Vegas. Was it ZOZO that was here a few years back? I don't know it particularly well.
I'm not a massive casino guy anyway. I'm quite happy doing a five-pound accumulator on the weekend sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and watching another bet fail. But I'm not one to throw it all on red.
Q. With the Super Bowl in town, are you guys planning on attending any events? What are you looking forward to the most and are you rooting for anybody this weekend?
CALEB SURRATT: I'm told where to be and when to be. I don't the first thing of what's going on. Maybe these guys do. I don't even know if I could get in.
JON RAHM: We've learned that you can.
I don't think I'm going to be doing any events outside. We're competing, right, so it's a little hard to do. If anything it would be Saturday night, Sunday, whoever chooses to stay. But it's going to be complicated to move around Vegas on the weekend.
It's a hard guess. Like everybody, I hope it's a good game. I've gotten to meet and play with Patrick Mahomes a couple times, and I always love to see greatness in any sport.
But just because he's an Arizona guy, and for almost how overlooked it seems like he's been his whole career, I would love to see Brock Purdy do well. I think the 49ers have a really good chance of possibly getting it done, so I would like to see them win. No offense to anybody else on any other team. It's just because he's an Arizona guy, and it seems like a story that would be an amazing ending to this year based on how he started in the NFL.
TYRRELL HATTON: It won't surprise you to hear that I know nothing about American football. I will say the Chiefs will win, but that prediction has no force behind it. I will not be going to any Super Bowl parties. I think we are going to go see Adele one night this week. My wife is here. So that will be pretty cool if we're able to do that. But we shall see.
KIERAN VINCENT: I've heard of some pretty cool shows going on at the moment with Adele and Cirque du Soleil and stuff like that. First time in Vegas. Probably not going to stay up too late for too many of them, but if one of them does work out, that would be pretty cool. Soak it all in.
In terms of the Super Bowl, it's going to be a tough one. I think it's going to be a great game, great competitors. As Jon was saying, I think the whole Brock Purdy story makes you draw to the 49ers a little bit, so I think I have a bit more of my chips on that side. But I think it's going to be a great game regardless.
Q. There's a lot of great history at this course. Greg Norman won here in '86, first million dollar purse in PGA TOUR history. What do you know about the history here and Vegas in general?
JON RAHM: I'd like to think I know quite a bit about the history of the game, but I know nothing about golf in Vegas. I'm sorry.
A lot of times we played here, it was mainly as amateurs in college. I don't know anything about it, and there's been very few pro events we've had here. I think the only times I've played, you do have it at TPC Summerlin; I played the CJ at Shadow. But most of my golf career here in Vegas has been amateur actually, so I'm not very familiar with it.
But I remember talking to Tom Pernice, and he was the one telling me that these are some of the best greens they've all played on and how they all have really good memories.
I tried to talk to Greg about it. He didn't tell me he won here.
Looking forward to learning a little bit about it because it's something I really find interesting.
Q. You're probably referring to playing in the UNLV event. What are some memories of playing amateur golf here?
JON RAHM: Yeah, playing at Southern Highlands. To this day, some of the best greens I've ever seen in my life. When we played, it was always firm and fast, very entertaining event. It's one of those that I wish I could have won. I had a chance my last time we played, junior and senior year, and I let it slip through my fingers down the stretch.
But always a really good experience golf course-wise. It was really, really fun, one of the toughest tests we played all year and one that was comparable to a professional-caliber golf course, especially in the setup.
Q. Now that you've experienced LIV, what have you learned about LIV or what's surprised you about LIV coming here?
JON RAHM: Well, we experienced LIV in Cancún, which is probably going to be very different to LIV here in Vegas and Adelaide and so on. I think the destination has an impact on the way it's going to be like.
The biggest thing for me going into it based on what the people were telling me is mainly the warmup and just the whole situation getting out to the tee.
But for the people that know and that -- at least friends of mine, we have this men's game on Fridays at Silverleaf, which is a shotgun around noon, and last time we had 120 people, and it's basically a clusters of amateurs trying to warm up, having drinks and just in and out of spots and going off, and all of a sudden we all get in the carts, we go to the tee and go off.
I can say I've had a bit of experience in shotgun starts in that sense, but just with the best players in the world it was a little bit more organized.
That was the main concern for me. I found it pretty honestly entertaining. It's just funny how we warming up all at the same time, and then two minutes later everybody is gone.
It's definitely different. For people watching the atmosphere, the music, it's different, but I think it's very entertaining. It gives the crowd a level of engagement that I wasn't expecting. Everybody seemed really into the music and into the golf, and it was really fun to play before a crowd that was enjoying it so much.
Q. When you haven't seen a course before and it's soggy like this, how does that affect preparation for you?
CALEB SURRATT: Once again, obviously the conditions around the course matter, but taking in the altitude, as well, that's going to make a lot. It's just kind of the same process. Like you just have to -- one of the things I'm learning is you just have to learn how to adapt because there's no -- in college you can kind of get stuck in a lot of similar environments, similar times, and then here it's -- you go from one country to another in a day.
Having zero expectations going into preparation, doing my homework. I do my homework on the courses. Just constantly learning, and obviously you've got to see how far the ball is going to roll out and stuff.
Then picking people's brains that are around here, and then great players that just know how to prepare. I think knowing how to prepare is an art and a very good skill to have.
Q. Jon, I know you like to look ahead and look forward and not look behind you, but you've already missed two chances to defend this year, and you missed Torrey Pines and you're missing your hometown event this week. What are you thinking as you're missing playing those tournaments?
JON RAHM: It was a lot harder to be at home not competing and know that those events were going on. Palm Springs and Torrey, those weeks were hard. I've explained so many times how important Torrey is for me. And driving by Phoenix as often as I had to and knowing that I wasn't going to play there, it's definitely emotional. That's one of the things that I'm going to miss.
I'm hoping that in the near future I can be back playing some of those events. I would certainly love to go back and play some of them.
Now, when the tournament started, we're here to compete, so whatever else is going on, whatever tournament is going on doesn't really matter. We're here to hopefully perform well and win. It's a lot easier while we're playing.
Q. Are there moments of regret in your decision when you drive past Scottsdale or anything?
JON RAHM: No. I'm not typically a person that's going to regret any decisions. I made as educated a decision as I could get with the full support of the people around me and confident that it was the right thing for me, so no, I'm not going to regret it.
Q. Tyrrell, with Bay Hill coming up and knowing you can't be at Bay Hill, which is important to you, how do you think you'll feel that week?
TYRRELL HATTON: Well, that was part of what you knew that you were signing up for joining LIV, that you were going to be missing certain events, and like Jon said, we hope in the future that there's ways where golf comes back together and we can play certain events that we want to be playing.
Yeah, golf is just in a bit of a weird spot right now, but I don't regret my decision. You just move forward.
Q. Caleb, you said you want to learn. What did you learn last week?
CALEB SURRATT: I think I'm just constantly learning that the same things that have worked my whole life still work. I think last week was a good start. It's not necessarily any major accomplishment on a personal level on a long-term scale. But I just know that what makes me play well in college and what makes the top level of college golf so strong is still so strong out here.
Just learning that that's another thing that I can just hold on my shoulder, that I don't need to change anything. That's one thing I'm learning.
I'm fortunate to have a great team around me to handle a lot of the hard stuff that I would have a really hard time learning, just the logistics of the game and the logistics of getting places.
But on the course, it's still just golf, like Jon said. That's one thing, I've always heard it my whole life, and I've always heard just don't change anything, just do you, and I'm starting to learn that what makes a lot of the best college golf really good is still really good out here, so I'm just trying to continue to do the same stuff I've been doing my whole life and just enjoying it along the way. Don't need to not enjoy anything.
Q. Jon and Tyrrell, you mentioned the possibility of playing DP World Tour it sounded like even this year, but if not in the future, and certainly PGA TOUR in the future. What do you know that we don't because when you talk to the powers that be on those tours, they have no interest in you guys coming back?
JON RAHM: I have hope. That's all I can say on my part. With DP World Tour, though, we've seen examples of people playing events. That's definitely a possibility.
I would love to, if allowed and if I can, go play the Spanish Open, and if it doesn't conflict with LIV's schedule, right. But a tournament that both me and Tyrrell are going to miss dearly is Wentworth. If I qualify, I'd still love to go play in Dubai, the DP World TOUR Championship. There's certainly events I would like to play.
PGA TOUR, we'll see. If there's ever a way back and a way where we can play, even if it's as an invite, I will take it. Like I said, there's certain events that are special to me that I would still love to support.
Q. You mentioned majors; are you going to be proactive on this tour to try to get some kind of recognition so that these guys can get an opportunity to play in majors? I mean that talking to the people that are negotiating these deals and seeing if that's not something that can be dealt with.
JON RAHM: I don't know how much I can do in a negotiation room. I don't even know if I'm ever going to be invited to one.
My job is to play golf, and there's people that are a lot more qualified to hopefully get that to be a reality. Every other tour in the world can qualify pretty much, and if anybody thinks that the players here are not capable of or high enough quality to go out and compete in majors, I think they should come and see for themselves, because again, some of the best players in the world are still here and deserve a chance.
Q. I've talked to different people, and some people have complained about finishing on different holes with the shotgun start, the nature of LIV. What's interesting is the strategy. It's got to be different for you guys knowing your last three holes might be difficult holes to score on. How do you approach that, and does that make the game, only 54 holes, you've got to win when you win, score when you score. How does that work for you? That sounds like fun; you've got most of the best players in the world here. How does that work for you guys?
CALEB SURRATT: I think my strategy is still changing. For me, it hasn't been too much of a change, right, because 95 percent of my tournaments in college were 54 holes. I used to be kind of a round planner. I'm just going to par these holes, try and birdie these holes, but honestly, this will probably mimic Jon's answer, but one of the things I've learned from him is he's trying to birdie every single hole on the whole golf course no matter the scenario, no matter where he is.
Just being around that, that continues to change my view on it a little bit, so that's kind of my goal because with 54 holes, it's harder to come back if you get behind, but it's also harder to lose a lead. It's harder to come back on somebody if you're that somebody.
It's still golf; I don't think you change much.
Q. But do you strategize with your caddie, those are the holes I've got to go?
JON RAHM: No, I've never done that.
Q. You just play hole by hole, shot by shot?
JON RAHM: I've never at least been the person to go before the round, look at all the pins and think, oh, I need to do this here or there. Because there's been many times where I've said, oh, we're going to lay up here, and let's say it's the 10th hole and I've absolutely striped it off the tee. I can guarantee you I'm pulling out driver on that hole.
No, I get to the tee, I see where the pin is and basically what's going to give me the best chance to make a birdie and move on. It's all circumstantial depending on the weather conditions.
Q. What if you're behind five strokes or something like that but you've got to play for this team like you guys did last week. How does that change your strategy, and is there a little more risk-reward, going-for-it mentality at that point or hanging in there for the team? How do you approach that?
TYRRELL HATTON: I think ultimately you just have to play your own game. You just go out there and -- I don't think you can overcomplicate it. I don't think that's something you should do. Just go out there and be yourself and play how you would naturally play.
You can't -- the worst thing you can do is say you've got a lead in the individual and you've got a lead in the team. You can't then just start being defensive because that's not how you play. Just keep doing the same thing. Keep trusting that, and it should all work itself out.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports