CAPTAINS INTERVIEW: Rahm, Bryson, DJ Meet The Media | LIV Golf Hong Kong

Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau and 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson discuss the experience of playing the historic Hong Kong Golf Club, break down their team’s chances and weigh in on the Official World Golf Ranking points controversy.

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Let’s welcome John ram C captain of Legion 13 and Bryson dambo captain of crushes GC welcome guys thanks thank you John Bryson you’re both making your debuts in Hong Kong this week um can you just share some of your initial thoughts on Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Golf Club

Start with John um yeah it’s it’s not a city I knew really anything about um I had to ask some people have that had some experiences and spent some time here A friend of mine worked here for quite a bit so uh all I can say is that

Anybody I asked to the the feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the city how fun it is how how much closer to Western to the Western world it is and how good you know the food and the atmosphere is and and so far it’s been true it’s been nothing but great um

People have fantastic and the experience is great uh and the golf course backs that backs that up you know um I love coming to places I haven’t been before and seeing a golf course that has been here for quite a while I mean this golf

Club is it’s a few years old already and you know to get to get to see a traditional golf course in this good a shape is is fantastic so uh cannot wait to get started because you know this this week is shaping up to be a really

Fun one a same question to you R yeah I mean the same sort of thing initially I’ve never been here and heard a lot of great things about it but didn’t know what to expect and when I got here uh pretty impressed with the just quality

Of everything um you know you get told so many things over in the states of how great it is and Hong Kong is a great place too uh it’s very clean culture is amazing food is amazing and uh people are amazing so a lot of positive uh sentiment in that direction the golf

Course uh played pretty much just nine holes now and it’s it’s a really good test of golf uh I grew up sort of on a country club or golf club like this um it’s pretty tight and you have to sort of shape your ball and hit your IRS

Really well so reminds me of uh home which is kind of nice and the golf course side of things and it’s excited to be here Bryson uh kushes are really coming in with dominant form um just coming off your win last week in jeda can you just highlight anything in

Particular that’s contributed to your team success this year and what’s your game plan going into Hong Kong well I think it was built off of last year’s um resolve you know we were focused on winning the team championship we worked hard every one of us uh wanted to win

That team championship as well as win individually we always want to do every every week and that was cool thing like last night we were sitting around the table and we all said the coolest part about this is yeah we’ve won numerous team champion or a team championship and

Numerous team events but we all want to win the individual title as well uh I think that’s what makes us so good in a lot of situations is that we’re all gunning for that individual position because if we all individually do well especially with four scores cting the

Last day and it counting for pretty much 40% more than 40% of um the total week uh it’s it’s tough to beat when you got all four guys in it um so we’re just continuing form from last week awesome John um Legion 13 new team on the Block

This year off to a solid start this season uh currently third in the standings and you’re also third individually what strengths do you see in your team this week that might give you bit of an advantage well I think if there’s a way to categorize my team golf wise it be it

Would be a team of four solid ball Strikers uh and a golf course has nrow that’s obviously going to Prevail uh green are really good shape so you know in theory making putt shouldn’t be an issue U so yeah I think um I think it should suit our strengths and in that

Regard but I think that that can be applied to any golf course really in the planet when you’re good TI green uh like I said many times we we are a young team we have two extremely experienced players and two that they’re still learning and without having anywhere

Near our best in the last two weekends we’ve managed to stay close to the to to the podium and and finish no worth it no worse than fifth so far so that is what I keep telling them should be the most positive out of all not only that we won

Our first event but the fact that when we’re not playing at our level we’re still in contention so uh it’s only a matter of time till you know every single one of us start firing all cylinders like they did on Sunday uh so I’m you know just waiting for the day

For for that to happen you know I can’t wait to see Caleb and kieren to to show everybody what they’re really truly capable of awesome kick it over to Mike Bryson when was the last time you played a 6700 yard course um YouTube yeah YouTube yeah I guess you

Could say that um but realistically like in competition I’ve probably never I mean Harbortown is longer than that I think right yeah so no I haven’t uh in tournament competition uh it’s it’s definitely a unique test there’s a lot of shot shaping you got to have out here

And your iron player has to be on on point what’s funny is like you I can use a driver a couple times out here actually number nine uh three one if it’s into the wind there’s a few places where I can actually use it surprisingly and John John kind of the

Same question how does a shorter course impact strategy I was going to ask if valderama is longer or shorter but yeah I have to check I think it’s just a little longer I think part three is I thinker longer yeah yeah um I can’t tell

You the last time I went to a golf course I never looked at the total dist to be honest I have no clue none whatsoever uh the thing is it just it plays longer than this just because in a lot of t-shots You’re simply not allowed to be hitting drivers right so you’re

Playing it to a spot right so it plays a little bit longer you you have the option of hitting driver if you want but you’re going to have to be extremely accurate yeah um but I I’m in the belief that as a player you have to adjust to the golf

Course and adjust to to the conditions and shoot low right and whoever does the best obviously does that the best is going to succeed uh if anything this type of golf is is some of my favorite um you go to Spain you’re going to find very few golf courses that are wide and

Open especially when I grew up tree line is is everything I saw up until I was about 17 so uh and Northern Spain with the hills the humidity being close to the water it’s a lot warmer than it usually is this time of year but um you

Know not seeing the Sun and and walking up and down Hills between trees is pretty much are about as close to home as you can get so um it’s h there’s a familiar feel to it and I want to ask you both you both have played with wo

This year uh what what do you see right now from his game uh Bryson can you notice a difference in what you saw previous years yeah I mean he’s more repeatable and he’s not making mistakes he’s not making dumb mistakes I mean that is simple as it can be

Um he’s in a great place and I’m very happy for him and uh all the accolades that’s come with that has has been great and I hope that more continues to to come because he deserves every bit of it and he’s one of the best players in the world

John yeah I agree with what what he said um he’s he’s obviously playing fantastic golf uh he’s obviously his confidence is extremely high and his playing like it can’t really I couldn’t tell you what he did last year because I didn’t get to play with him but he he’s just doing

What we all need to do which is basically hit it on play where we want to more often and make the putts right it’s it’s pretty simple actually yeah you can’t you can’t you can yeah I mean if anything what I would notice that it

Seems that when he wants to he’s got a couple extra miles on the swing whenever he needs to uh and shot shaping too he can hit it right to left and left to right and be comfortable with both of those and that’s that’s crucial too yeah bowling down to good driving good iring

Good wedging good putting and you’re one of the best in the world John one last question what did you what did you say to Phil to have him help Caleb what what’s his going right for no so I you know as a captain it’s I’m truly still settled in this position

Right but I Phil played with Caleb one day last week uh he had a hard day and and I asked him like Hey anything you saw out there that that I could help with and he’s like yeah bunker shot on 11 he’s like half CB talk to me and and

I can help him out and uh I was like well I wanted to help and if he wants to help I think uh he’s a pretty good teacher so uh I I told Caleb that and Caleb approached him because I think he needs to come from him I think he shows

A lot and and that’s when they agree to do this uh I’m glad we have media at this time when I could be there just because Phil not Phil all of us we all make the mistake of telling people what we feel we’re doing and a lot of times

Doesn’t translate what we’re actually doing uh and I’ve spent a lot of time with Phil and I a lot of times I know what he means when he’s saying certain things so I can explain it to Caleb a little bit differently uh the best example I can even say myself if I gave

You a driver lesson or driving lesson I would tell you oh I feel like I’m releasing the club and if you see my swing there’s no releasing whatsoever going on through impact so uh that’s a lesson to everybody out there but we feel like we’re doing and what we’re

Doing a lot of times can be different things y so you need to really have a base knowledge of what’s happening to be able to filter a lot of those things out but again a lot of what Phil says obviously 95% of it is pure gold it’s

Just the little thing things that we don’t realize we’re doing that you got to explain appreciate it thank you y jent uh Josh B from the South China Morning Post I guess everybody’s going to want to ask this question so the letter that went out yesterday from Greg

And the response that’s been out there from some of the other players in the US just just your thoughts really uh I haven’t talked to anybody about this or seen any responses but I’m G be honest I didn’t know they were still trying to get world ranking points

Uh but the one thing I can say is I’m going to go back to what I said two years ago in in in the DP World Tour Championship uh I didn’t think it was a good system back then and if anything it’s a the more time that goes on the

More it proves to be wrong uh if anybody in this world for example doesn’t think wo deserves to be in the top 10 or doesn’t know that is a top player in the world I don’t know what game you’re watching right so um we can tell I think

Anybody who watches golf can tell who the best players in the world are and obviously I don’t think the the ranking is is reflective of that right now to its entirety yeah I mean there’s a lot of ways you can think about it um certainly from certain people’s perspectives oh they you know

We came over here and um we don’t deserve to have ranking points for whatever their reasons are um is it right I don’t know I just think what’s right is in the best interest of the game and we should focus on having the best players at the majors and continue to

Have that uh around the game of golf is only important to grow the game of golf and to make the game of golf continue to be as relevant as relevant as it is now and even more in the future so what I think about it is we need to find a

Collective way all the governing bodies everybody come together sit down and figure this out because we need to do this for the fans do you think it’s almost up to the players at this point to force the issue seeing as nothing else seems to have worked at

The moment what do you mean by that well I mean I think which players well I mean you guys this side some of the some of the guys on the PGA tour you know they’ve been talking they were talking overnight saying that they didn’t think

That it was fit for purpose anymore so I didn’t know whether you might bring more pressure to Bear whether that’s that’s something you would think about yeah but they should have done it a long time ago if they wanted to make the system right it should have been done a year and a

Half ago when you know we acquired the Mina tour and we had that exemption category or not exemption but we had that category for them to get world ranking points and we became a part of that tour and um pretty much came into alignment there with being able to

Acquire owgr points and they didn’t allow us to have that well know we we’ve tried to fulfill every category and you know even going to 72 holes too um I mean the Min tour is already getting points owgr points from from the Min tour and they’re 54 holes so anybody’s

Conversation on that can go right out the window and um you know the cut thing I mean there there’s numerous things that they brought up and it’s like we can solve for all that just tell us what to do and you know nothing’s been nothing’s gone

So anyway it is what it is and at this point we just need to figure out how to get all the governing bodies come together and figure out what the best system is for the game of professional golf moving forward sorry what was the question again I

Forgot Sor right what I was wondering John was whether it was a case of you oh the players yes yes uh God I haven’t given it that much thought to be honest but our job shouldn’t be to make the rules or impos rules Force the rules

We’re here to entertain and to shoot a low score and hopefully give you and The Spectators what they want to watch that’s right is the governing body’s job to be doing this uh and be adaptable to the changing environment that’s that’s I think the best way I can

Explain it okay it’s well said thank you Daniel Hicks from AFP just following up on that I mean are you encouraged by the fact that the majors seem to be like the Masters PGA have invited Wacko and given in place uh that they seem to be recognizing a good goal golf no matter

Where it’s played and want to get the best players playing in in those tournaments are you encouraged by that and and do you think that’s a way forward so we get everyone uh all the best players playing in the majors at least I I mean isn’t that what we all

Want to see yeah yeah so yeah it’s very encouraging I was very happy to see Haku get invites uh to be fair he he’s shown the interest of wanting to qualify many different ways and and play the way you’re supposed to be play right so I think it’s only right that he gets

Invite uh but if that’s where you’re going to go I think there’s one player that played fantastic all last season there’s been a little bit left out and not saying that they all have to but I think Taylor good should be under consideration to possibly get an invite

Into those Majors as well I mean sure he was the best player out here last year uh and if that doesn’t show good golf and and being worthy of being in Majors I don’t know what uses so um while we don’t have a clear path to Majors

Through live yet I think they should be they should be taking everybody under consideration Bryson I agree with everything you said I don’t know what else to say um I mean yeah there just needs to be a clear path through live at some capacity um and I understand the sentiment I

Respect the sentiment that everybody has on the other side of the coin what I can say though is that if we put everything side um all the bantering back and forth the most important thing is the fans and engaging the fans in in a way that only helps enhance the experience uh with

Amongst the game of golf around the world and even in the states and whatever that answer is we need to come to pretty quickly because uh we don’t want to um continue to go down the path that we are currently you think this could be a kind of watershed moment

Because with players having to you know you know playing Great Golf having to rely on if you like handouts from Majors to get places in the majors are recognizing that the the rankings are not right I think it’s a beginning of of a positive thing yeah they’re now give

They’re now giving one player a chance before you know it there’ll be a solution to all this right I think it’s just the opening the door slightly to yeah to a larger conversation think about our points list and you just invite a certain amount on our points

List based on how we finished the year before it’s what they do in the Tour Championship right sure very simple thanks go ahead Joy hi Bryson uh my first question is to you I mean fantastic performance last week in jeda probably in in my humble opinion it was probably the best

Advertisement for what live golf has tried to do over the years in in in terms of Team Championship I mean we could not speak to you after the round you had to rush to the airport but can you just go back to the Sunday and tell us what it meant and how

Impressive that round was yeah I mean look coming back from uh I think it was 11 back and shooting 20 under at that Golf Course uh I couldn’t be more proud of the team I mean that’s what we’ve been working towards all along is um each individual playing the best we possibly

Can and making the team aspect uh elevated where it means a lot more and I think Liv is working on a solution for that movie forward in the future but currently uh what we did last week was a pretty cool Showcase of what teams can

Do and when they can what they can mean and what it can mean for individuals and the team and the Cy and people a part of a franchise and I think that’s what we want to continue to keep showing over the course of time is what value we can

Bring to uh the World of Golf whether it’s through sponsors whether it’s through entertainment whether it’s through whatever it is um that’s the goal we’re trying to accomplish is Showcase that Elite level play amongst four special individuals can I ask you if you guys do have like a players

Huddle before the round and did you did you speak to your guys you know what it’s funny I let my guys do their thing we we give fist bumps and say let’s go play well let’s go do it let’s play the best we possibly can um we we prepare

Before the week we don’t really do it during the week maybe the Monday or Tuesday we start talking about things and what to do and like I’m out there playing with Charles right now and um we kind of prep and we help each other out but besides that we just focus on

Playing the best golf we individually possibly can that was one of the best things that I learned in college from Josh Gregory was you just got to go play individually play the best you possibly can you’ll aid for the team uh in college so College really helped me out uh and

Being able being able to be a captain for these guys and John if I can ask you uh what Phil did over here I’m sure if you had asked uh Bryson to give a driving lesson to Young Caleb he would have done the same what does this say

About live golf uh that you have this kind of a camaraderie uh to be fair to fail he’s been willing to help anybody way before live golf so uh good anybody that’s G up to him and ask for a lesson for the most part he

Giving it to him so uh I want to give credit to him in that sense I’ve never seen him turn anybody down if he has time he’ll do it so uh yeah I I I don’t know what else to say there uh plus if anything we’re such close friends that I

Was trying to take advantage of of that you know it’s it’s time to for it to pay a little bit more dividends in that sense for me so yeah that’s awesome but yeah he’s I mean when you’re I think when you’re a good player like Phil and somebody’s encouraged to learn from you

Right it’s uh it’s nice to be able to help somebody out John Bryson thank you very much uh good luck this week Dustin if we could just keep you for no problem sorry traffic it was a broke down want to H in the middle one middle sure let’s welcome Dustin Johnson captain of

Four Aces GC um Dustin uh you’re returning to Hong Kong for the first time since 2015 uh can you just share some of your initial thoughts on Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Golf Club yeah um you know obviously it was a it was a while ago

The last time I’ve been here you know excited to be back uh it’s a great city um I really I actually I like this golf course last time we were here you know wasn’t in the best of the shape right now it’s in fantastic condition so I really enjoy it more and I

Think I didn’t really like it that much the first time I was here but now that the player I am I I like it a lot more and appreciate it I think uh you I went out and played 18 holes yesterday so you know I think the golf like I said the

Golf course is in great condition uh you know I like the course I think it sets up well for me and yeah I think it’s a really good test to golf with your recent win at live Golf Las Vegas you’re currently second in the individual standings heading into this week do you

Make any changes to your game coming into a course like this that’s maybe a bit different to what you normally used to dat no I won’t I won’t change anything obviously it’s uh you know just just trying to get more familiar with the course but um I feel like the game’s

In really good form last week I played way better than what my score was and and where I finished you know I was really happy with with the way I I played I just I had a I had a tough time on the greens you know I think you know some guys a

Lot of the guys struggled it’s just they were really difficult to read um I like these greens they they fit my eye I you know I feel like I’m rolling it really well so you know I’m excited for the week I felt like the game’s in really

Good form and yeah even even last week the result wasn’t good but I felt like I played way better than what my result was cool just a few questions from our local media we also have Frank here to translate if anyone needs it yes this is

Kenneth from now TV um Dustin uh Bryson just shared that um what ho that he will he may will use the driver and for you in a very short course like this uh do you have any idea which hole that you will use your driver um I mean I played them all

Yesterday all the holes yesterday kind of um you it kind of all depends on the win but I hit quite a few drivers um you you know I think you know it’s a golf course where you hit kind of all your clubs in your bag so um and there’s

There’s a lot of different ways to play every hole so you know if you want to hit a lot of drivers you can or you can lay back it kind of just depends and like I said just depending on the Wind really um but yeah I

Hit yeah I hit quite a few drivers um yesterday so exactly what holes I’m not entirely sure of every hole that I hit on but I’ll probably hit six maybe six or seven that will be great because uh I think the Hong Kong golfers would want

To to see you in L and see how to how to drive the ball like more than 300 300 yards yeah but yeah no it’s quite like one definitely a driver on one um I don’t I can’t I can’t I don’t know all the holes but I probably hit six of

Them at least yeah part fives yeah that’s would be good yeah thanks thanks that’s no problem go ahead Mike yeah DJ I just want to ask you about wo you played with him when he shot 59 what are you seeing from him this year and this recent hot stretch that

Maybe he you didn’t see last year I mean I’ve played a lot of golf with wo even you know even when we were on tour and yeah I mean he’s he’s a really good player I mean it’s not you know it’s it’s it’s no surprise he he’s he’s been

A really good player um you know obviously went in he’s won two you know two of the three tournaments I won the one in the middle but yeah I mean he’s you know he’s just playing good even when he shot the 59 it was you know it was

Uh it wasn’t a 59 of where he hold like you know a bunch of 25 30 Footers he hit it close you know on pretty much every hole you know was ball striking so you know he he’s been a good he drives it well he hits you know very good iron

Player good short game so you know he’s just an allaround really good player and um yeah he’s just he’s playing well right now are you seeing additional length from him did you did you see that at all no I mean I think he hits it I don’t know from what our memory hits

About the same as he always has he’s just you know like any good player whenever you know whenever they get it you know it’s golf is all about a game of Misses so when you can control the misses and get away with them then you know we’re we’re going to play very well

And you know that’s what he’s doing right now is he’s you know he’s got a lot of control of the golf ball all right thanks any more questions all right Dustin thank you very much good luck this week cheers