CAPTAINS INTERVIEW: “Great Place to Get Ready for Augusta” | LIV Golf Miami

Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, RangeGoats captain Bubba Watson and HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson discuss LIV Golf Miami 2024 and how they’re going to use it to prepare for the season’s first major championship, The Masters at Augusta National, where all three players have won at least once.

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Okay everybody welcome we are joined today by John ROM the captain of Legion 13 and the defending Masters champion we are joined by Bubba Watson the captain of range goats GC and two-time Masters champion and Phil Mickelson captain of the High Flyers and three-time Masters champion welcome guys so there is a

Collective six Green Jackets up here this morning so it’s safe to say we have our panel of Augusta experts how are you guys utilizing LIV Miami this week to prepare for next week we’ll start with you Phil this is a great place to get ready for Augusta it gives you an

Opportunity to get some momentum if you play well but it also gives you a chance to hit every shot that you’re going to need uh into Augusta now Augusta has more undulation and elevation changes but Miami forces you to hit a lot of long irons mid irons short irons there’s

Trouble on every hole you’ve got to miss it in the correct side and strategically uh get you ready for all the all the shots challenges physically and mentally that going to face next week buba yeah what what he said it was it’s perfect for managing your golf ball um that’s

What you have to do at Augusta and put the ball in the right spots and like he said it was there’s difficulty on every hole uh out here and with the wind up I mean the wind gets swirling in Augusta sometimes and so there’s a lot of things

That you can take from this and learn from and try to manage it but then you so what you need to work on going in next week as well John I know this is your first time playing at Dural so what do you kind of of hoping to get out of

This week in preparation for Augusta uh well I haven’t seen the course yet oh so uh not much I can say in that regard and uh they’ve pretty much covered everything but I’ve I’ve seen this tournament or tournaments here many times on TV and uh I know how much

Of a challenge it can be and uh I think having uh you know a high quality Golf Course a high quality challenging Golf Course before a major can be a great thing to to get yourself ready and uh maybe work on some of the shots that you may need

The week after like you they were mentioning and just simply you know try having to execute those shots in competition setting before you go to a major can be can be really beneficial so we have 13 live players that are playing next week last year first second third

And fourth place were John ROM Phil Mickelson Brooks kepka and Patrick Creed all live golf players this year what do you guys think the odds are of a live player are winning this year I’ll start with you John oh that is a very hard question to answer

But you know there is quite a few major champions in Liv and there is a few that are major Champion quality golfers so uh just pure numbers alt wise if you go with math wouldn’t be the highest but I’m I’m confident that that one of us

Can get it done maybe again this year Bubba what do you think about 133% um you know yes I mean there’s some some great golf being played out here some great golf being played on the other tours and so it it’s going to be a

Battle but um you know at at the end of the day that’s individual so we not really we’re pulling for our friends uh no matter where they play but it’s going to be a battle and and hopefully it is a live player because I’m one of those

That’s up there at the top and I’m hopefully I’m in that top five or or challenging on Sunday Phil you obviously had an awesome year last year at Augusta how are you feeling heading into it this year yeah I’m looking forward to it I love I obviously love the place but it’s

A course where I feel I don’t have to be perfect and so when I go through the gates and drive down Magnolia Lane I kind of relax a little bit because if we miss it on the right side of the of the the hole given the the pin placement if

We miss it on the correct side we can still Salvage par utilizing our short game we still have shots like the shot bbba on in the playoff where you hook the wedge on 10 uh to 8 10 ft you can still be creative and recover at a gusta

Which is why I think it’s so fun to to watch is the recovery shots there are so exciting because the the trees are high enough where you have a swing as opposed to taking unplayable eye or wedging out and so I think that adds to a lot of the

Drama of Augusta and you also then don’t have to be perfect so uh if you hit if you hit a bad shot you you can still recover if it’s in the right spot given the pin so if you play it strategically know how to play it and where to go you

Don’t have to be perfect we’ve got a room full of international media who came here to talk to you guys today so I’m going to kick it over to them maybe we’ll start with Tom John talk about last year and it it was just such a a strange last couple of

Days for you guys and at one point I think you were five behind Brooks right and then coming back at the uh coming back and having to play so many extra holes on Sunday just what do you recall from that what’s your your biggest takea away from that

Victory I I think the moment you’re referring to I think it was on uh on seven when they called it I was four back um yeah and five minutes into the next day I was two back right so I it’s hard to say because it was very

Unusual with all the stoppage and all the weather it was a very different Sunday right so it was very much about dealing with the elements and going about your own business you almost had to think about really is the end of the third round and then focus on finishing

Strong and finish and then playing well the rest of the 18th holes right so in my mind I had to really separate those two days uh put yourself in position and then Sunday Sunday round the afternoon try to get it done done uh my biggest takeaway it’s it’s hard I

Think I keep going back to some of the up and downs that I made I mean Phil was mentioning it it’s uh it is a golf course in where you are allowed to miss I know he’s explaining it way too easily uh in the right spots but if you know if

You’re in certain spots you might be able to get those up and downs and there’s two moments I think to the up and down on six to get the lead for the first time and then the second shot on 14 from the trees which like he explained you have room uh you still

Have to execute and there trouble lurking everywhere but uh hitting that shot to four feet and making the birdie putt to to take that four shot lead with four to play were the the two key moments of the tournament in my mind hi uh Tim renolds with ap this is

For Phil Phil the um it’s it was a lifetime ago obviously but it’s seemed to me that dur week in the past was that week where guys would take that Tuesday trip to Augusta and try to sneak around in or something like that was Dural like the start of your

Master’s thinking was that when you started to kind of lock in on on what was coming when that 04056 and onward run is that is this kind of when your mindset changed to its Master season I I would actually think that it started earlier than that I think it

Would start in the off season and the offseason was a chance to get equipment that might perform well at Augusta and start hitting the shots that might perform well and I remember uh January of 04 I started working with Dave pels and we started doing some

Wedge work and precision iron work and I remember coming down the stretch on 14 having to I was trailing Ernie at the time in ‘ 04 and I needed to make birdie and I hit hit um you know what what we call what call a pel’s wedge you know

Taking a little bit off of a a wedge shot one of the shots that he started working with with me three months prior to that tournament and I executed it there knocked it close and made birdie and so I think the preparation in our mind really starts before then uh as far

As you know setups like um you know one year I won there with two drivers uh I’ve won there with you know one driver um I’ve never won there with zero drivers but I did win the British with zero drivers so um point is that you

Start thinking ahead like what how can I best get my golf bag makeup ready for Augusta uh and you start that in the off season and then I started preparation in January working on those shots and then was able to pull it off during the tournament for Phil and John uh Rory

Yesterday said he doesn’t believe golf in its current state is sustainable do you agree with him and do you think that the circuits need to be reunited go ahead John um I I think I agree with that statement yeah I’ve um every time I get asked a

Question like this I I say the same thing I think there’s room for both it’s as simple as that and I think we have the opportunity to end up with an even better product for The Spectators and the fans of the game you know a little bit more variety doesn’t

Really hurt anybody so I think uh I think properly done we can end up with a much better product that can take golf to the next level worldwide and uh I’m hoping that’s that’s what ends up happening yeah I I agree with that I think in the end like we’re in a

Transitional state where we now we now have competition and that’s leading to a lot of disruption and but it’s also in the end product going to be make golf more Global where the best players travel more I don’t know how it’s going to end out exactly or what it’s going to

Look like I I’m putting my trust in uh in yaser and and and where where the game’s headed more globally but at some point when it gets ironed out I think it’s going to be in a much better place where we bring the best players throughout the world I think it’s going

To open up opportunities uh for Club manufacturing for course design for players uh in different parts of the world to be inspired and and enter the game and um I think it’s going to be in a much better place but right now we’re in a in the disruptions phase so um

We’re in the middle of the process and um when it’s all said and done it’ll be it’s going to be a lot brighter but while we go through it it’s uh it’s it’s challenging but we’ll we’ll get there hi guys George Willis New York’s son um

The majors are the majors and but with the few times the best players get together at one tournament has that added a little bit more to the majors uh in the current state of golf Bubba what was it a black out there um I I you know

I yes majors are the majors I mean everybody wants to win those it’s not about who’s there yeah I mean people can say we want the best fields we want this I want trophies you know whoever’s there I want to win I want to win this week

Right I want to lift the trophy um I mean I play in my club championships at at the courses I’m members at right I lift that Trophy and make fun of the members that I beat you know but um so you know competition is competition and that’s where that’s why we’re here this

Week it doesn’t matter who’s in the field you just want to win Phil I wanted to ask you about the major schedule this year obviously besides the success at uh Augusta you’ve had runner up finishes at the other three venues this year how does this major schedule

This season set up for you I I think it’s awesome like I can’t wait for the next four months right starting today the next four months of golf are exciting with the four majors and some of our best uh Live Events here in Miami at Dural one of the one of the best

Courses in the world and then going to uh Adelaide which uh was one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had in golf one of the coolest atmospheres and so the going to Valhalla where um I I was a shot shy and going to uh trun where U I

Played really well and and and just got beat by Stenson uh and then Pinehurst where I had a very emotional experience can’t believe it was 25 years ago but uh it’s a course where short game can shine there with the with the crown greens and so forth uh I feel like there are

Courses that give me an opportunity to to have some good finishes um if I perform well and John uh I think this is the first time since 2017 that you’ve played the week before Augusta have you changed any of your uh approach this week is that true 17

Um no the process it’s been the same right at the end of the day is how you how you take advantage of this situation and how you prepare maybe leading into this week right uh I actually was kind of glad to to have a tournament this week because going into austa defending is

Really the first major championship I’m defended on the venue so being at home this weekend could have been a little bit more challenging on you know trying to control those thoughts but having competition you just you know you’re here to do your job and it’s great

Practice to towards next week so I think in any way it’s going to help thanks hi guys Phil it’s been 20 years since your first Master’s Victory would you think about that what comes immediately to mind is there a minute a moment or a memory and how much did it

Help to get the narrative about success in the major championships vanished that day do you think about the jump uh I mean it was sort of a jump yeah yeah no I I think that uh I think that first of all the photographer didn’t did not get me at

The Apex and didn’t do it justice it was the SL uh but but I thought that for 20 years and then I tried to recreate it and I realized well maybe he did get me at the Apex so but when Ron when you ask me about like what I think about like I

Think every time I think I I look back at that moment I think of my grandfather and I every time I see me jumping and I see that putt roll in where it goes around the hole and lips in I think of my grandfather who who passed away

January of that year and told me that that that this was going to be my first major and I just I mean I’m getting chills thinking about it now because I think about him every time that uh I see that Putt and I think that he gave that

Ball little nudge in and so uh that was uh you know I I not a moment that I see that that picture or that moment do I not think of him oh yeah yeah yeah it was a relief and um I think that uh I had said for a

While going in that if I win once I win one I’ll win a bunch I don’t know if six is a bunch but it’s a it’s more than one and it um it it it that wind validated kind of what I was doing as being right I I just

Wasn’t quite putting it together those weeks I was making a few too many mistakes but I still needed to play the same way so I needed to be true to myself and true to the way I play but I also needed to be a little bit more

Strategic at times and so um that win there you know was a relief it and it gave me a lot of confidence that I could do this more more often uh my question’s for John um and then I I follow if I could uh when you did your

Conference call for the Augusta or for the Masters a couple weeks ago you you clearly had put a lot of thought into the menu um you wore a tie which normally people don’t do that for the media um it was but obviously you you you cared a lot and I wondered if you

Could just speak to that and how much it has meant to you uh to be the Master’s champion in how much you reflect on it and if you know if it’s if it’s kind of uh you know Weighing on you or if you’re thinking about a lot going into next week I I

Put I wouldn’t say a lot of thought because I think for a long time I knew the idea of what Mania was going to serve if I ever were to win you know I wanted to Showcase a little bit of where I come from um and to be fair Chef Jose

Was a lot of help but like a good head chef he took over immediately so you know he uh he did a lot of a lot of that uh but the main thing why I was so emotional was that exactly right just I mean one of my grandma’s dishes is going

To be served at the the Champions dinner uh you know and it’s just a little bit of me and what I come from which is similar to maybe Jose uh oi and and sevie but not quite the same right even though we grew up very close to each other’s certain

Differences um it’s just an honor to be able to to do that right it’s it’s it’s a tradition like any other like many things that week and to be part of that selective group of people that have won that tournament and can wear the green jacket with pride and and be in charge

Of a menu is is quite incredible um definitely one of the highlights of the week but for some reason definitely something I’m nervous about I have no idea why uh but it does seem a little daunting having to stand up in front of that group and and give a speech even though

I know every single one of them has been in my position some of them more than once so uh I don’t know it just seems you’re going to be in that room with the legends of the game still active and non-active uh and does and does something really cool to be able to

Say and be able to share have have any of you guys been to Augusta this spring and if so can you just talk about what it was like uh any changes anything or just was it just a fun round or was it was it more to to to try to learn

Something uh I I I’ve been there yeah I uh I wanted to go back at least once before Master’s week I didn’t want the first time back at I gu the national to be tournament week right I wanted to get a lot of those emotions out of the

Way uh and also see the golf course see if they’ve done any changes uh you know pretty pretty quickly when the scord Guai came out I got a million text saying that it was 35 yards longer and well we’re going to see what they they added and what they changed um it’s a

Bit bit of both right I’m trying to see the golf course and learn a few new things and learn what they’ve changed uh and just trying to have fun you know I was able to a member who hosted me I was able to bring one of my best friends and

Share that experience with them right so it was a bit of both it was a bit of bit of both but mainly in my mind was just kind of getting to experience those emotions of being back going to the Champions locker room seeing my name up

There Etc when was that John that was last week okay yeah Phil have you gone I was supposed to go last week and something came up I didn’t so I I uh have not been there uh I’ll get there Sunday night and play a little bit more on Monday Tuesday Wednesday than I

Normally do and Boba you have you no thank you hey guys uh Pro Golf critic uh this is mostly for Phil I think um uh Phil obviously you got a great record at a guust three wins uh 12 top fives I think 16 top 10 uh obviously you’ve kind of

Accumulated a lot of proprietary information um is that something at this point in your career you’re willing to sort of impart on some of the younger players like uh John or or others or are you still kind of like U holding back some of that information and John uh

Probably a followup would would be if you are trying to extract some of that information from Phil so so I’m happy to share you know information there’s there’s little little tidbits that you know this putt does this or that putt does that or you want to be over here

That it’s pretty easy to figure out but as you play it over the years you learn where you can be aggressive and where not to and it’s actually different for myself and Bubba than uh than than a right-handed player because of our shot dispersion so forth I’ll give you like

One example you wouldn’t think of like number 10 when the pin is on the right when it’s front right or even back right when the pin’s back right if you go in that bunker and a right-handed player comes in there and opens the face on his

Sandwich and hits a nice high soft shot with a little cut spin it cuts back into the slope checks up quick pretty easy up and down I’ve been in practice rounds where I’ve I’ve seen the guys throw it up their two feet no problem but for a

Left-handed player if you go in that bunker and you open up that face you hit that ball out there with cut spin it’s working with the right to left green the ball doesn’t stop the best I can do is maybe 8 ft and 10 ft is a pretty good

Shot and so that bunker is much more penalizing for me than it would be for rightand players so I have to be more cautious there but then another example would be 12 where it sits along our shot dispersion for Lefty so if we aim over

The bunker and we pull it a little bit it goes longer right and we can get to that back right pin if we come out of it it goes short left and still catches the green and so 12 as a whole where we get aggressive Bubba and I we’re thinking

Too and we’re getting after wherever the pin is where as a right-handed player where it sits opposite their shot dispersion they’ve got to be a little bit more cautious on that shot and so it plays different for each player uh it’s not like that on every hole on every

Shot and so there’s stuff that transcends you know for instance when the pins um back left on two you you can pretty much Miss it anywhere uh except for the front part of the left bunker so that you can get up down almost anywhere except for that one little area uh and I

Don’t really care for the right bunker so if you hit those shots around the green to to that back pin and you know what it does it’s pretty easy up and down and so that’s stuff that will transcend left-handed right-handed player or whatnot and I’m happy to share stuff

Like that but there’s little subtleties nuances that that allow that course to play different for Bubba and myself than than than John and then you know they can be aggressive on certain spots where we have to be a little bit more careful and vice versa

Uh and and yeah I do go and ask um I’ve played a lot of rounds with Phil and I’ve never heard him say the word no I don’t want to share that or or I don’t know he really he’s he’s been really receptive and very very willing to share

That information and uh he’s told me exactly what he’s saying right now many times and and many other different things that can help you manage yourself around Augusta National um I’ve gotten the opportunity to be with them in a non-tournament week and and spend some time where we play 18 in the

Morning then go in the afternoon and and go hit some chip shots and some spots you know in true filmmakers and fashion are a little ridiculous others you know you may not think you might end up there but you can’t end up there and the truth is

Everywhere we went he himself said I’ve been here before and I’ve seen somebody be there before right so it happens and if you’ve seen it and you’ve seen the shot be executor at least you know it’s possible so it gives you a little bit of

An edge in that sense right but at the end of the day what he said is is managing your game I think austa a golf course that you can learn to play your own way and you can choose when to be aggressive or not based on how you feel

Comfortable but then like I said as well there’s a lot of shots that may benefit them that don’t vice versa the other one he didn’t mentioned is the Sunday pin on 16 if I aim at the middle and pull it I might cover that bunker and get close if

They come out of it might end up in the bunker or in the water right so it’s um you still see things a little differently Phil Brody Miller with the athletic I me know you said it’s the disruption phase and I remember on Twitter you joke that you know it’s step

Move six out of 37 or something I mean how much of the past few years has kind of gone how you expected you know in golf and and where do you want it to go is it on that path so I knew the first two years were going to

Be interesting and uh how it all plays out where it ends up you know I I I don’t know exactly I just know that in the end it’s going to be more Global Sport and there’s going to be more opportunities we already have 52 uh more playing opportunities or uh for or 54

For for players uh that that’s 54 more job opportunities that uh that we didn’t have before and they’re on a more global scale so we’re bringing high-end worldclass professional golf different parts of the world and open up um opportunities in those countries and getting young kids

To see it firsthand the way we did when we went to our local Tour event and and saw the pros for the first time and got inspired and so um I don’t know exactly where it’s going to end up but um I know it’s going to end up in a in a more

Global uh environment and you know one of the challenging things about that we don’t talk about is that pretty much everybody here we all watch football uh we enjoy watching the NFL but we don’t play it like I don’t play football I don’t go tackle you know on the

Weekend and and nobody here does but we all watch it and golf you know a lot of our viewers almost all a huge percentage of them uh they all play golf and how do we get golf to the people that don’t play golf like that’s a that’s one of

The challenges that um is quietly being addressed with ideas and so forth and I think that there’s going to be some things that will appeal in the end to people that don’t necessarily play that still now want to watch and be interested in the game and so those are

Some of the areas that are are being addressed quietly haven’t been discussed yet but uh those are those are some small parts that uh I think in the end we’re going to have some ideas we’re already here at Liv you know targeting a younger Audience by decades and that’s a

Good thing is we we want to keep the younger generation interested in the game and and not just um keep losing fans you know we want to keep gaining new ones as we lose some to age uh this is for bbba Watson um the two years you wanted Augusta you

Finished tied per second here a few weeks before uh other than that coincidence or was it a coincidence and other than that is there was there any connection between how you played here and how you played there um it’s a great question I don’t remember um it it’s

More of just playing good golf you’re playing good golf at the right time um I mean look at NC State right now right they were they weren’t in the tournament now they won nine in a row or whatever they won it’s just playing right at the

Right time and playing well at the right time um seems like your misses um go in the right spots and then the next week feels like your Miss is going in the wrong spot so it’s just it’s worked out in my favor over those those couple of years in those couple

Moments I don’t like to share my stuff we I can’t remember Sor hi uh question for John compared to a year ago how how did you come into this do you feel fresher do you feel sharper do you feel in any way different and do you feel different a lot has

Happened to you over this year do you feel a different person in some ways as well no I don’t feel different as a person at all uh I don’t think I should right um oh just it’s a little different I mean I won a lot early on last year

And then I went on a bit of a month or so what I didn’t play my best went to Bay Hill played poorly when to match play pay poorly uh so I feel a little bit different in that sense right back at that time I knew I was capable

Of playing really good right obviously I had done it all year but you know that month was a bit of a slump which in a weird way helped go into that Masters cuz I wasn’t overwhelming favorite I think Scotty was still more of a favorite than I was um and this year I

Feel like I’m playing really good golf but I haven’t over that hump of winning yet so uh I feel confident right uh I’m equally confident of my game pretty much any given day of the year uh um you know I think that’s how any competitor should

Be but it’s just that that difference of have been playing the last few months but uh I’m comfortable um a little fresher if anything going into this next few weeks so looking forward to it Li Pro Golf weekly this is my first time at a live event having a great time

So far uh buba Phil earlier this morning I interviewed Peter Uline and Brendan steel and they both had glowing things to say about you as team captains what has the team concept added to the livv golf go ahead I me they said nice things about me or Phil B you’ve done a

Phenomenal job I mean you’ve created great said that you were an inspiration and Brendan said Phil that uh he’s known you for years and you’ve had a tremendous influence on him as a golfer bbba I’m gonna let Bubba answer this because what he’s done with uh seeing seeing the energy and the way

Matt wolf carries himself like you’ve done a phenomenal job on taking an incredible talent and giv him an environment that he’s thriving in you’ve had a you know great team success for for a while like why don’t you answer this one well the team golf is just a

It’s it’s college golf all over again right we we love team sports we pull for the writer cup President’s Cup um and so team golf to me is is where the future is it’s fun um and being a part of that and like Phil just said um I love

Matthew wolf I’ve I’ve known him for about five years roughly um we we very similar in the way we think the way we do things the way we process things and so for me to share my experiences uh in life um he’s not there yet he’s still 21

Years away from being where I’m at now um so I’m trying to you know try to help him before he gets to my level and he can make the right decisions better than me um so it’s been fun um obviously the team atmosphere is is a blessing to me I

Get to talk to people I get to hang out I think he gets very lonely uh it’s kind of what Anthony Kim said yesterday you feel very lonely um even though there might be a million people around uh individual golf does that to me and obviously to to Anthony Cam did that um

I think wolf as well and so being able to be a part of a team and and spend time with some other golfers people trying to do the same things you can bump ideas off each other um and so this is a this is a joy to my heart to my

Mind to my own family because they see the The Joy I’m having in this um and it’s been a and been a blessing to my family uh being able to come out here and spend time with some guys and and shoot the breeze but but try to play

Competitive Golf and try to win um and having a young guy like uh Peter U Thomas and wolf um it it’s inspiring me I’ve been working harder in the gym eating better trying to do things right where I can get better um now I just got

To figure out how to putt but it’s been it’s been a blast to uh come out here and be a part of this and this is the dream that we’ve all saw and wanted to be a part of when we saw the you seeing the paper and reading it is one thing

But actually coming out here and and living it and seeing the growth over the years and the growth of people around us buying into it and I think you’re going to enjoy this week too um competition is real and there’s a different element not just the individual it’s the team aspect

Where on Sunday all four balls count now and it’s a it’s a lot of drama out there on a Sunday thank you guys so much Lu next week