Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers meet with the media ahead of LIV Golf Hong Kong to talk about LIV Golf’s presence growing the game in Hong Kong, their team strategy for the week and the ongoing Official World Golf Ranking debate.
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Good morning everyone let’s welcome the team from High Flyers GC we’ve got Brendan steel Captain Phil Mickelson Andy ogul Tre and Cameron chingal welcome thank you thank you uh guys welcome to the Hong Kong Golf Club um just some of your initial thoughts on Hong Kong and of the club itself Brendan
I’ll start with you yeah uh Hong Kong as a city has blown me away um we’ve had a great time uh great food great people um just really enjoyed it I was really looking forward to getting here and it’s been way better than I could have even
Expected um as far as the golf course uh really cool course some really great holes um great strategy really cool angles cool greens um a lot of great stuff so very impressive Bo yeah I think we all feel the same way that Steely said we are enjoying our time here very
Much it’s a wonderful golf course but the city is incredible and the foods been amazing and the people have taken such great care of us us but this has been a uh very special and fun week so far yeah it’s great for me to be back in
Hong Kong I was here a few months ago for the Asian tour International Series so um I’ve been able to kind of show the guys a little bit of what I learned from that tournament and it’s it’s pretty rare that we go somewhere that Phil
Hasn’t played so um this has been a fun week for us and enjoying the city of Hong Kong and and all that comes with it and looking forward to great week out here I hope the hope the fans come out and I hope there’s huge crowds same same as everyone else it’s
Um been a week that’s we we’ve all earmarked on the calendar to be looking forward to and uh surpassed our expectations and we’re we’re excited to to get going tomorrow awesome Phil you’ve previously played in China how important is bringing live golf to this part of the world and what do you think
Fans from Hong Kong and the greater B Bay Area can expect this week I think that this has been a a area that has great growth in the game of golf and for the ability to bring the some of the many of the best players in the world
Here to compete and to hopefully inspire a lot of young young players and for people to uh see the best players in the world will hopefully continue growing and pushing the game forward here u in the area because it’s a a huge growth opportunity for the game of
Golf and D you’ve honed your career playing on the Asian tour success in the international series and earn your place on live golf uh through the Asian tour of Merit last year how does it feel really being back this week in Asia competing in live golf Hong Kong yeah
It’s great um you know I’m super thankful for the Asian tour and all that they provided for me um giving me somewhere to play giving me somewhere to show the world what I can do and and uh to be on live golf now is super rewarding and you know I’m so thankful
For the the guys sitting next to me um to push me every day to keep getting better and better and I think um you know we’re just we’re just getting started and and looking forward to for the rest of the season and for what’s to come over to
Mike uh Phil over here right over here obviously you have a a great track record on shorter courses we won five times at Pebble when you come to a course like this that’s 6700 yards what kind of strategic adjustments are needed how do you approach a a course that’s
Shorter than most of the courses you guys play I think what what we all love about this golf course is you talk about strategic and strategy and how to play certain holes there’s a lot of ways to play the holes I love the par 3s I think they’re
Some of the best par 3s we’ve seen and they challenge you and push you with Precision rather than distance so you’ve got to hit very precise shots the greens are small um and they’re just very cool fun challenges there are a lot of ways to play some of these holes out here
And I try to have one two or three options based on how I feel or how I’m playing or how the round’s going or how how I’m hitting it at that particular day and case in point would be the fourth hole that’s a very interesting short Par Four where you could hit a
Seven iron and a pitching wedge or you could try to hit a three-wood or driver over the trees and get on the green or you could try to hit a a three or four iron a little further up there about 60 yards and so it’ll kind of depend like
How I’m feeling how the round is going uh it’s early in the round how’ the first few holes go do I do I need to kind of push something or or or or not I think that makes for a very interesting tournament because of the
Number of ways to play so many of these holes different clubs off the tea different shots into the green um it’s just it’s just a very fun strategic cool golf course to play and cam on Steely can you guys talk about playing a a course at this length
Uh some of the things you enjoy uh what you’ve seen so far obviously and some practices so um so far Mike Phil said the course gives you lots of options um and I think shorter courses tend to be second shot golf courses um but like Phil said there’s holes where you can
Challenge you know a creek or a hazard and try and get the ball up there but what I love about this golf course is the uh the green complexes how you’re going to have to be strategic about where to leave the ball um where your uphill chips and putts are going to be
From it’d be arguably easier to chip from you know 20 ft under the hole than have some of these big curling putts from above the hole so that’s what what I um am going to enjoy about this week is really trying to find those spots and
Uh be aggressive to to those places on the golf course where you can then take a run at uh your birdie chances yeah I think for me um same same that Phil said as far as the t-shots like having those different options and and depending on the wind or how you’re
Feeling about your game and and what you’re comfortable with you have to to know when to be aggressive when to kind of tone it back a little bit but also the angles into the greens like you know you play a hole like number one and if
You’re up the left side even in the Fairway you can be blocked out so You’ got to be aware of where you’re leaving it where your angles are into the green um you know same with like number four like Phil was saying if the pin’s back
Right you know you may want to do something different than if the pin’s in the front are in the middle of the green so um the angles I think are super important and and that plays in with a lot of the wind as well because if the
Wind’s pushing it away from the pin or away from the side of the green that you want to be on then you really have to be aware of what kind of shot you’re hitting Andy obviously some interesting developments regarding the uh open qualifications can you can you kind of talk us through
That yeah um there hasn’t been an official announcement yet so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but but they have announced that they’re going to award five Federation ranking um spots into the Open Championship so um that’s great for me my understanding
Is that um I have enough points to qualify through that system um so until the official announcement is made I’m not going to talk about it anymore but you know I couldn’t be more excited for that opportunity and and Phil one last question for me obviously we saw you
Yesterday working with Caleb uh John kind of get give us the background on that can you can you just talk us through about how important it is to to work with young players and you’ve done that quite a bit uh during your career I’m happy to do it and Caleb is a
A very talented incredible player and um I thought that uh you know he reached out he asked for for some help and I’m happy to do it happy to help um I texted him later and he said that things were going pretty good and that he started to
Feel comfortable with it and um hopefully hopefully it helps but um for somebody at 19 to uh to reach out I think shows a lot of maturity and he’s already shown in the first couple of events how talented he is so um he’s just going to continue to get better and
Better Phil uh should we be we be worried about that heavy taping on your left finger no I just uh had a little cut that I’m trying to keep from from bleeding uh today in the proam I’ll I I may not have it tomorrow no it’s fine
And Phil can you just take us through last week I mean you really played some solid golf last week and there were so many Phil Mickelson like saves that you made uh during the during the tournament but you must be really pleased with your form coming into this
Week it was a it was a good week for me it was the best finish I’ve had out here I started to find some things in my game and I’m hoping to build on it and and uh continue solid play going into Hong Kong’s event going into this this week
Uh but there’s a lot of positives for me to to build on from last week thank you and Phil uh John was when he was talking to us yesterday he said that you are the you are a person anybody can approach and ask for you know lessons U any of
The professionals how how important is that part of golf now for you uh I’m happy to do it somebody wants to reach out I’m happy to I’m happy to help like um a lot of people helped and supported me you know in in my career early on and
You know I was a kid who looked up to sevie bosteros and had an opportunity to play with him on my first professional event when I was 17 and played a practice round with him and had a remarkable day and then later on we both represented Hugo Boss and we would do
Some photo shoots and in between shots we would go have chipping contests and I would ask him about chipping I ask him about about short game and some of the shots he would hit and what an incredible uh experience for me to be able to have contests with sevie have uh
The ability to ask him questions and to hear his thoughts somebody that I looked up to as a kid who watched I watched win The Masters when I was a kid and so um if somebody reaches out to me I want to try to to be as kind as as seie
Was Andy can I ask you at this V venue last year was the place where you received your trophy as the number one player on Asian tour that must really bring back some great memories for you isn’t it yeah I’ve never been more excited to finish 12th on a golf tournament in my
Life but uh yeah we were popping champagne beside the 18th green Mad Mike and I and then we actually went to maau for a celebration that night so some great memories around this place and you know um also looking forward to next week in M as well in the Asian to her
But um yeah I mean this is a special place for me and and uh this is the place that officially uh got me um on to live golf for this season so um happy to be back and looking forward to the week for sure and Cameron if I can ask you
One question you you’re very popular in these parts of the world I’ve told you this before I mean you have got you have played so many times over here in in Malaysia and other places and so many people you know just keep talking about you how does that make you feel when you
Come to Asia well it’s it’s very flattering um for one I don’t know I’m perplexed as to why um you know there’s such popularity here but I I excuse me I I’ve I’ve always enjoyed my sorry always enjoyed my trips here and um I find the culture and the
People just very friendly um so I try and reflect that when I’m here and say hello and um I don’t think there’s it’s much more than that I’ve played well a few times in in KL but um yeah just trying to bring bring some uh smiles to people here when we’re
Playing go ahead Josh Phil hi um obviously this was most of the story yesterday was around the points um I asked John Ram yesterday morning whether he thought it was maybe time for the players to force the issue not not just on Liv but on the PGA because obviously
Xander and Patrick and will and Matt had some things to say so I was just from your point of view do you think the players could force the issue and do you think actually it’s the time’s probably gone to do so so over the last maybe year or so
I’ve kind of expressed my thoughts on not thoughts but also shared what exactly is happening um on some of the inner workings of of of that situation and um I I don’t really have more to more to add I’ve been pretty clear on on what’s going on and and my thoughts you
Know via Twitter which is uh um you know much easier to to to get those thoughts out I don’t I don’t really have any more to add but as but it is all starting to play out just just like we thought it would fair enough okay thank uh Andy
When we had a chat in um November when you were here you said that picking a team was like choosing where to go to college so how happy are you with your college at the moment it’s it’s been great I’m uh I’m pledging for the fraternities right now
I’m just kidding um no it’s been awesome um these guys have helped me so much um picking their brains on all different types of shots in different parts of the game and you know everyone has different strengths so trying to learn a little bit from everyone and and piece it
Together myself um I’ve been working on my game a little bit and haven’t seen the results yet so far this season but I really think I’m close to playing some great Golf and I think um you know the whole team’s starting to play some some really good golf Phil is really really
Playing good and um camo and steel are are doing what they do and and being great solid players and I think uh the High Flyers are really close to to doing some great things go ahead Ken so hi uh my name is Kenneth from now
TV uh Phil yesterday I I saw you like um the other reporters that you you showed the sh James skill to Caleb and I personally I thought that very sweet and um and I I I keep watching and and and uh seeing what you did for the leaf golf
What you what what you talk and um your your Ro seems like more than a captain in in na golf so actually what um what what what do you think about your your role in in in Lea Golf well it’s nice of you to say that I’m I’m
Proud to be a part of of Liv Golf and and you know all the players on Liv are proud to be out here and enjoying it I think for me to at this particular moment for me to best help live golf succeed and and be successful the best
Way I could do that is to play well and so I’m really trying to um get my game sharp I had a lot of progress last week I really want to come in this week and and play well because I feel like if I play well I can help push and promote uh
Live golf uh in the best possible way so um what you think that what what what part of of of of the leaf gols should improve from your point of view uh I I don’t know specifically what we could really do to improve there’s a lot we’re a startup like where there’s a
Lot of things that we can adjust to make it better and we continue to do so weekly and and make subtle changes um but our our product is extremely strong we have so many of the best players in the world and the ability to move the best players around the world
To Showcase golf at the highest level into parts of the parts of the world that have never been exposed to it is um really help pushing the game um and um I’m I’m very proud about what um about the partnership uh of what Liv is doing uh I actually I probably
Shouldn’t say about I don’t know if it’s public knowledge so I’ll hold that hold back but on bringing the game of golf to you know 875,000 uh people that uh in in parts of the world that wouldn’t be exposed to it so uh I’m very proud very proud to be a
Part of that as well yes that’s it and good uh good luck this week thank you one more from Joy Phil among the many things that Liv golf has really done well and not many people talk about it is the pram format I mean the amateurs are so happy to play
With two professionals the professionals are happy to just play nine holes and you know do their things can you just talk about that part of it and and how interesting has that been so I think it’s a very big a big thing a big uh important part of um the overall
Experience meaning the interaction on proam day between the players and the amateurs is is important because many of those players are are people that are making decisions to support the game of golf to sponsor the game of golf to support other Pros or just bring notoriety to to the game
And we rely on having the best players play in those prams to make it the best experience and I think that um week in and week out to have it be nine holes it helps the pros be ready for the tournament and not make them uh over
Tired and over worn out uh the day before the event and as an amateur you’re experiencing two Pros uh and have a two pro experience and get to know two guys intimately in a way that you wouldn’t uh otherwise be able to and so it’s a positive for both sides and when
That when that was discussed with Liv it made sense and we did it conversely you know I tried for 10 years to make that happen on the tour and then we got two events to do it and then we got four events to do it and it
Took 15 years to get something like that done I think that shows how fluid live golf is and the ability to do whatever we can to make it a better experience and make decisions quickly and and move swiftly to to improve hi Flyers thank you very much
And good luck this week thank you thank you thank you
13 Comments
Mao would be proud of you white boys
My blod pressure is through the roof just looking at Phil’s stupid fake face!!!
Hyflyers are a solid team they need to do better
Let's fly high!!❤
HyFlyers need to add a more competitive golfer. I believe they’ve never finished in the top three.
LIV Golf should start inviting local professional golfer through qualification.
When does it start no info no betting
There should be more courses that gives golfers strategic options. More entertaining to watch whether golfer will try to drive a short, high risk hole or use different clubs off the tee for different length approach shots. This will show different skills from different golfers other than the same bomb and pitch holes.
The LIV circus has no legs as there really is little interest. Nobody actually misses any of these guys as every PGA Tournament this year has been gripping.
Genuine question because I really don't know the answer: Is or was Tiger Woods ever has generous with his time to help other golfers as Phil Mickelson is?
These guys are due! The hats should be the same color as their shorts. The logo needs a LOT of work.
This is not believable, they do deserve to be laughed at
The HF logo looks different?