THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Martin Kaymer, the captain of Cleeks GC, and Bryson DeChambeau, the captain of Crushers GC to the presser. Welcome, guys. Welcome to Houston. This kicks off the second half of the LIV Golf season and it marks our first time visiting Texas. Bryson, you are a Texas boy. Tell us how excited you are to bring LIV to your home state.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, Texas is a sports nation I feel like. They love their sport, and for them to finally see what LIV Golf is all about is super exciting.
I can't wait to see the fans and see what they're going to do watching a lot of great play and a lot of great players, give them a show. I know this place has hosted some great championships, and LIV is only going to enhance that.
THE MODERATOR: Martin, what is your experience playing in Texas and specifically Houston?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, as Bryson said, it's one of those states, they're really into their sports. I would say whole of America is really into sports, but especially Texas. I played the golf course a few times before the Masters in the past. I always enjoyed it. It's a little bit of a different setup this week because of the grass, but overall I always had a good time here. I like Texas. I've been to many different cities in Texas.
I look forward to getting started. Hopefully a lot of people will come out, watch us play some golf, hopefully hit plenty of good golf shots and see where my team can end up.
Q. The Cleeks had a T2 finish in Singapore and you've had consecutive top-20 finishes. To what do you attribute the amazing performances by the Cleeks this year?
MARTIN KAYMER: I think if you see the players, Richard Bland is playing really solid golf at the moment, or I'd say for the last three, three and a half years. He recently won the PGA Championship for the seniors, or champions I'd rather say.
We have a very good team spirit. We all get along really well. We had a lovely dinner last night to celebrate his win.
Adrian Meronk is a very hardworking guy, very solid player. If he finds a little bit more consistency in his game, I think that would make him even happier.
Kalle is very excited to be out here. We have good dynamics, and if you talk about my finishes, the top 20s, obviously it's not what I want - I would like to be a little bit higher up - but from where I've come from for the last two years, it's definitely trending in the right direction.
Q. Bryson, this is your first start since coming off solo second at the PGA Championship. Can you tell us a little bit about that week and what your takeaways were from it?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's funny because I really wasn't hitting it my best going into that week. Equipment was working fine. Just wasn't swinging it my best. I figured out some stuff after the PGA, which is great, but too late, obviously, for that.
But again, I wasn't hitting it my best, and it was just really surprising at having myself just be up at the top of that leaderboard on Sunday. I was certainly shocked and surprised for myself a little bit just based on the way I was hitting it. Made everything. That was ultimately why I got up in that level and ultimately had a chance to win.
But I was frustrated, disappointed not to win. I wanted two LIV players to win that PGA Championship in back-to-back years. That would have been cool. But Xander played really well. Hats off to him, obviously, for doing what he did. Shooting 21-under par is pretty special.
I gave it my all. That's the thing I'm most proud about is I just threw it all out there. I gave it my all, did my best, and it's certainly fun feeling a lot of that nervousness out there, the nerves, the pressure. That's what we play for. That's what we play golf for. We want to experience being in it, being in that moment and giving ourselves a chance to win and that excitement.
I was proud of the way I played. Happy with the game that I have currently right now, and just excited to continue the good play.
Q. You guys are both U.S. Open champions, and you're heading there next week. You're among 12 LIV players that are playing next week. This will mark the 10-year anniversary since your win at Pinehurst. What's it feel like to be heading back there?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, we will see. I haven't been back since I won there, so obviously I have a lot of good memories. The way I played golf all week obviously was good, but what Bryson was just talking about, that excitement that you have all week long, being in contention, being on top, trying to ride that wave as long as possible.
I was very proud of myself, very similar to what he just said, the way I was handling myself all week long because it's quite difficult leading a golf tournament by that many shots, especially a big golf tournament. Not only are you expecting yourself to win but everybody is expecting you to win, and that is very difficult to continue and not compare yourself to what you have done the last couple days.
So every day I started new, and I enjoyed playing golf. I enjoyed the golf course, and I enjoyed the challenge. Sometimes you tell yourself, I want to go out there and have fun, but it's not that easy. Sometimes if you have a tough start, then you do get nervous. You do have some shaky shots. If you pull them off the way you want them, that gives you the ultimate confidence and then you can continue your journey, and I did that really well back then.
This is what I'm searching for right now. Pinehurst obviously has a lot of good memories for me, and hopefully with the form that is trending in the right direction and the positivity that I gained back then in Pinehurst will hopefully create some good scores.
Q. Can you reflect on these last 10 years? I know a lot has happened in between then, but sum it up and the feeling heading back there next week.
MARTIN KAYMER: It was overwhelming feeling winning a major by eight shots. I did not expect myself to do that. I know I was playing good golf going in there. I won THE PLAYERS Championship two months before that, so I knew I was playing well. But then shooting 10-under par after two rounds on that golf course, I almost felt a little bit embarrassed about it because two days prior to the event I was asked what I believed the winning score would be, and I said probably 2- or 3-over par, and then you shoot 10-under, and you surprise yourself.
But obviously the last 10 years if you would have told me at the press conference that I'm not going to win the tournament from 2014 until 2024, I would have thought you were crazy. But this is the reality and this obviously is quite difficult for me to handle, that I haven't won since then.
But this is the sport, and I guess this is what we try to do to become better, and hopefully we're going to be on top soon again.
Q. You are arguably the hottest golfer on the planet right now --
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Is it the 'stache?
Q. As a former U.S. Open champion from 2020 with your form being incredible right now, how does Pinehurst suit your game and what are your expectations for next week?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I actually played Pinehurst in 2013 actually right before the U.S. Open with the SMU golf team -- might have been 2012. Anyway, it was with the college team. We had a great time out there. I know Bob Dedman that owns the golf course pretty well, and he's a big supporter of SMU, so we got to go out there and play. I loved the test of golf that it presented. It was a lot of fun playing there.
I played well that week that we were out there, the college team was out there, and I've always had fond memories of Pinehurst and what Payne Stewart has done. It's a special golf course and a golf course that I went out and actually played it, played like three or four holes, maybe a little bit more than that, I think like four or five months ago in early January. I went to see the USGA and talk to them for a little bit and had a great time out there. It was an awesome test of golf. I know it's not the conditions that we'll be presented next week, but certainly got to see the golf course, the way it looks, the way it feels, the way the greens kind of roll, the slopes that are there.
It was fun, and I like that style of golf. It's an iron play golf course for sure.
Q. You did mention the 'stache. Can you tell us what the 'stache is all about? We all want to know.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I did start it. That was my fault. I for sure messed that one up.
I don't know, I had someone say you might look good in a 'stache, and I was like, all right, I'll try it. I had a big scruff, and I shaved it all down. There's a video that's coming out on YouTube that is old school style. I think I posted about it almost a week ago now, and it looked good, I thought, with the outfit. I don't know if you guys saw it, but it's the old school with the hickory clubs and got the beret on and the whole getup, the long socks and shoes, all that.
It definitely fit the outfit. We'll see how long this lasts though. If I play bad the first day, I'm probably just going to shave it.
Q. Martin, Richard Bland, you had mentioned he just won the Senior PGA Championship. His first major win at 51 years old. He's obviously been having a lot of success. He finished in the top 25 of LIV last year. How much of his success do you attribute to his move to LIV and then being a member of the Cleeks and having you as a captain?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I think Richard, even before LIV, he was -- I think a big thing was for him to win finally on any Tour. When he won the British Masters, it was one of those guys he always went from Challenge Tour to European Tour, back and forth. It was so exhausting.
I have so much respect for him for what he has done to actually keep going because it's easy to ask yourself, am I good enough to win or not, especially if you have been out there for so many years. He won the British Masters, he was playing in America a little bit. He did decent or well at some of the majors that he played then.
I think that gained a little bit of confidence, and then the move to LIV, being in a team that he enjoys a lot, I think he's a people's man. When you get to know him really well, he likes to be in a team environment.
I think playing practice rounds, going for dinners together really helped his spirit, besides the game of golf. We don't really have that when you play on the PGA TOUR and the European Tour. You travel a lot more, and you are on your own quite a lot. This environment here, I think it helped his golf a lot.
He knows -- I played with him last week, and he says, it helps me so much to play every single week against Bryson, against Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, those guys. Back in the day, I only saw them maybe once or twice a year and played against them. Now I need to bring my "A" game every single week, and that drives me to really grind it out every single week.
I think that was also part of the success that he knows he needs to give everything he has.
Q. Bryson, can you talk about the roster change this week for the Crushers and give us an update on Charles' health?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, so I got a text probably four or five days ago now, and he's like, man, I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to play. He's like, I fully snapped my leg in half. No, I'm joking.
He has a stress fracture I think in his left leg. I believe it's a stress fracture. Don't quote me on that. But he told me it was a little hairline something in his leg, and he said he just couldn't do it this week, but he's trying to be ready for Nashville, which is great.
Funny enough, I've played with John Catlin a little bit growing up in junior golf. I've known him for quite a while. He's been playing some amazing golf. I thought he would be a great fit for the Crushers this week.
Certainly looking forward to having him on the team this week and helping out.
Q. Martin, going to Jane's question about Blandy, what is it about his game at his age - he's 51 now - that you're seeing the last two years as a teammate?
MARTIN KAYMER: I think he has a lot of priority on certain parts of the game. He knows he's not as long as most guys out here, so I think his priority was hitting as many fairways as possible and spending a lot of time within 120, 130 yards in because he knows I need to be a little bit better than average out here in order to compete every single week, and I think the way he did it over the last, I would say, three, four years, he did really well.
If you see the stats, he's one of the best drivers out here. He hits a lot of fairways. In terms of scrambling and with the wedges, his proximity to the hole, I think it's top 10 out here, as well.
He's focusing on the things he needs to do. He knows he doesn't hit it 300 yards carry or 330. He knows that. He's very realistic, and this is something you need to do. You need to know where your strengths are and you also need to know what kind of weaknesses do I have, and can I fix those weaknesses. If you want to say the length is a weakness, you can't fix that. He is over 50. That's what it is.
I think he focuses on the right things.
Q. Bryson, about the 3D irons, do you see because of the rapid prototyping that 3D is capable of that eventually one day all golf clubs will be 3D? Do you see that at all?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I don't know about that. I think the process as of right now is a lot easier CNC milling a lot of heads compared to 3D printing. Once it gets to a price point that makes sense, then maybe, but it is somewhat expensive. I don't think it's for mass consumption yet.
But it will get there, and I'm certainly looking forward to some improvements in the technology because man, it would be so cool to just have -- imagine having a 3D printer at your house, and you just print your own iron or do whatever. You can put it together and go hit it that afternoon. That's really cool, compared to having a six-month process of prototyping it out and measuring it up and doing a couple iterations; maybe one of them is right, one of them is wrong, but you just 3D print in an hour or so a metal head and you stick a shaft on it and you go hit it.
Those days are coming. I don't know how quickly it's coming, but it's certainly a really cool technology that we utilize, and hopefully it gets more widely known because that is the future. It's just not here fully yet for mass consumption.
I want it to be. I want it to be for sure. The price point just needs to come down quite a bit.
Q. We're starting the second half of the season. Maybe each of you could just talk about this upcoming stretch, the final stretch, the six tournaments, and then the team championship, what you kind of see and expect for the second half.
MARTIN KAYMER: I think, again, we are trending in the right direction. We had a couple good finishes recently: As I said, we have a good team spirit. There's nothing holding us back. We can compete. We are maybe not the best team on paper in terms of successes from the past. But we have definitely the ability and the capability of doing well.
This is something I look really forward to, to work towards trying to win one of those trophies. As I said to Jane, I never touched one of those trophies, so I know you touched it plenty of times, so I would like to do it. I would like to finish on top one time. I think it would be a really nice experience, and it would mean a lot to our team.
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, the Crushers are obviously leading right now. We're doing some pretty good things. Our team isn't necessarily playing the best the past couple weeks, but that's okay. I believe in them 100 percent. I know that they're -- golf is not a game where you can just be on the top all the time. You're going to have ebbs and flows. I'm not worried about it. I'm excited for the next six events. I personally want to get the job done once, and we all do. We're all pushing for it. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.
I'm proud of the guys for how they've shown themselves this year after winning last year, being able to be atop the leaderboard and push and continue to push and not just say, oh, yeah, we're good enough.
No, they're hard workers, and I'm proud of them for that, and they continue to fight and continue to work hard. We'll see where the season ends up, but I've got a lot of faith in my team.
Q. Martin, the Cleeks posted their best-ever finish in Singapore, runner-up spot finish there. Do you look back on that as a team as a missed opportunity or the sign of better things to come?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, is the glass half full or half empty? It's one of those things. Of course I blame myself. I had a good opportunity on 17 in the last round and a good opportunity on 18, and I could have had two or three shots better. I didn't do that. That would have meant that we would have been on top. I take complete blame for that.
But I think it's a very good sign. It felt good knowing that we played solid, we played well, but we didn't play our very best. If that gets us to No. 2 already, it's eye good sign. You don't need to play yourself out of your shoes in order to win one of those things.
If I would have done a little bit better on that Sunday afternoon, I think it would have felt a little bit better, but in the end it was nice to finish in the top 3 and solo second. That meant a lot.
Q. Bryson, you seem to be having more fun than ever playing golf, whether it's out here in kind of a cool environment or LIV, whether it's on YouTube, losing to Garrett playing junior clubs. Is there something you kind of attribute that to, just how much fun you're having? Is it how great you're playing? What is it?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think it's me getting a little bit older and realizing what we're doing out here is obviously trying to win a lot of tournaments every single week. We're trying to win each and every week.
You realize quite quickly, at least I've started to realize quite quickly, that we're entertainers. Yeah, we're out here doing a job, but we're also entertaining the fans. We're trying to grow the game, trying to show the fans what we're all about.
I think it's important for people to see and understand that. As I've gotten older, I've realized I've always kind of been a bit of a showman. I've done some weird things in the past, different things in the past, but really showing my true colors and being able to allow myself to fully become -- how do I say, positively emotional. I don't know if that's the way to describe it. But it's been attributed mainly to my equipment. A lot of it's to my equipment that has allowed me to just be comfortable on the golf course, knowing where things are going to go, not being afraid of I'm going to massively hit this left or way right. Putting the right equipment in my hands has given me that freedom of expression to be able to show who I truly am on the golf course. That's really what I mainly attribute it to is being a little older and getting the right equipment in my hands.
Q. Is there something you guys can say to the Houston residents who maybe are on edge of whether they should come or not? It's one of those that you have to kind of be here to experience it, but is there something you guys can say?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think the first thing that I would say is try to keep an open mind. Just for one day, one day, come out here one day with an open mind, I think you'll be a fan for life.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I think you need to -- you can only have an opinion about something that you've experienced. Going back to the PGA Championship, I talked to a lot of people about LIV, and I asked them have you actually watched a shot or have you ever been to an event, and some of them said, no, but I don't like it. I said, listen, I never watched a cricket game but I would never say I like it or I dislike it because I don't know.
As Bryson said, I would always encourage the people to come out for a day to experience it for themselves. If they like it, great. If they don't like it, that's okay, too.
Q. At 14, you were being top ranked teenager in California. You even said you're feeling good with that reputation. Two weeks ago, we weighed with the tragic loss for Grayson Murray for the season everybody knows. All the commissions, tours and players talk about the pressure, the loneliness, the feeling of the players on the professional Tour, but a few days ago we woke to another news that a 15 year old teenager, Miles Russell, is going to be playing for the first time on the PGA TOUR. Do you think a teenager about 14, 15 years old needs to be on a professional Tour, and do you think a teenager maybe like you when you were 14 or 15 knows how to manage that kind of pressure?
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That's a great question. First off, I'll say I knew Grayson pretty well, and I haven't really publicly spoken about this, but my heart goes out to his family. It's not easy what he's gone through, what we all go through as professionals. My heart aches for him and his family.
Golf is not a forgiving sport. A lot of pressure is put on you at a young age, especially when you're good. I'm not seen saying myself yet, but you've got Jordan Spieth, you've got Scottie, so many great golfers that have had experiences of pressures at a young age, and relating it back to myself for just a moment, there's been numerous times where I've second-guessed myself on a massive level. My team has experienced it. I've experienced it. Even just coming out to LIV when I was playing terrible. Not to my standards, when I missed 14 cuts in a row.
The pressure out here is immense. We all have to take our mental health very seriously. When it comes to Miles, it's an awesome opportunity, but giving us players -- I think that's why LIV is so amazing, is because we have that team aspect where we can rely on each other, on your teammates. That's what I was doing at Singapore last year. I was in a really bad place last year in Singapore, and those guys lifted me up. I've talked about it before. Those guys lifted me up, and it would be a different situation if those guys weren't here. If they weren't there to push me forward and go, no, come on, Bryson, you can do it.
Any tour you're playing on, whether you're playing mini-tours, challenge tours, it doesn't matter. The pressure is just massive. For Miles, I think it's going to be a good test for him. I hope he has the right people around him to continue to push him in a positive direction because we all need that at the end of the day.
The mental health aspect of golf is super important, and it's a tragic loss that we had with Grayson because he was a good man, and I just think back to all the times we played junior golf -- we played junior golf as a world team championship at Bolingbrook, actually, where we're going this year. So it's going to be a hard-hitting moment for me when I go out there because he was a friend. As much as he struggled, he was a friend and he was a good man, and the pressures of golf need to be taken seriously.
I wish Miles the best of luck. I think he'll do well. He's a great golfer. But we all need to have a good support system, and that's ultimately what LIV provides, as well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports