Q. We’ve got Brendan Steele, captain Phil Mickelson, Andy Ogletree and Cameron Tringale. Welcome to the Hong Kong Golf Club. Just some of your initial thoughts on Hong Kong and of the club itself.
BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, Hong Kong as a city has blown me away. We’ve had a great time, great food, great people. Just really enjoyed it.
I was really looking forward to getting here, and it’s been way better than I could have even expected.
As far as the golf course, really cool course. Some really great holes. Great strategy, really cool angles, cool greens. A lot of great stuff. So very impressive.
PHIL MICKELSON: 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 food has been amazing and the people have taken such great care of us. This has been a very special and fun week so far.
ANDY OGLETREE: 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.
I’ve been able to kind of show the guys a little bit of what I learned from that tournament, and it’s pretty rare that we go somewhere that Phil hasn’t played. This has been a fun week for us, and enjoying the city of Hong Kong and all that comes with it, and looking forward to a great week out here. I hope the fans come out and I hope there’s huge crowds.
CAMERON TRINGALE: Same as everyone else. It’s been a week that we’ve all earmarked on the calendar to be looking forward to, and it’s surpassed our expectations, and we’re excited to get going tomorrow.
Q. Phil, you’ve previously played in China. How important is bringing LIV Golf to this part of the world, and what do you think fans from Hong Kong and the greater bay area can expect this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think that has been an area that has had great growth in the game of golf and the ability to bring some of the best players in the world here to compete and hopefully inspire a lot of young players and for people to see the best players in the world will hopefully continue growing and pushing the game forward here in the area because it’s a huge growth opportunity for the game of golf.
Q. Andy, you’ve honed your career playing on the Asian Tour, success in the International Series, and earned your place on LIV Golf through the Asian Tour Order of Merit last year. How does it feel being back this week in Asia competing in LIV Golf Hong Kong?
ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah, it’s great. I’m super thankful for the Asian Tour and all that they provided for me, giving me somewhere to play, giving me somewhere to show the world what I can do, and to be on LIV Golf now is super rewarding, and I’m so thankful for the guys hitting next to me to push me every day to keep getting better and better.
I think we’re just getting started, and looking forward to the rest of the season and what’s to come.
Q. Phil, obviously you have a great track record on shorter courses. You won five times at Pebble. When you come to a course like this that’s 6,700 yards, what kind of strategic adjustments are needed? How do you approach a course that’s shorter than most of the courses you guys play?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think 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. You’ve got to hit very precise shots. The greens are small, 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 is going or how I’m hitting it that particular day. Case in point would be the 4th hole. That’s a very interesting short par-4 where you could have a 7-iron and a pitching wedge or you could try to hit a 3-wood or driver over the trees and get on the green, or you could try to hit a 3- or 4-iron a little further up there about 60 yards. It’ll kind of depend how I’m feeling, how the round is going, it’s early in the round, how did the first few holes go, do I need to kind of push something 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 tee, different shots into the green. It’s just a very fun strategic cool golf course to play.
Q. Camo and Steeley, can you guys talk about playing a course at this length, some of the things you enjoy, what you’ve seen so far in practice?
CAMERON TRINGALE: So far, like Phil said, the course gives you lots of options, and I think shorter courses tend to be second-shot golf courses.
But like Phil said, there’s holes where you can challenge a creek or a hazard and try the get the ball up there.
What I love about this golf course is the green complexes, how you’re going to have to be strategic about where to leave the ball, where your uphill chips and putts are going to be from. It would be arguably easier to chip from 20 feet under the hole than have some of these big curling putts from above the hole.
That’s what I am going to enjoy about this week is really trying to find those spots and be aggressive to those places on the golf course where you can then take a run at your birdie chances.
BRENDAN STEELE: I think for me, same that Phil said as far as the tee shots, like having those different options, and depending on the wind or how you’re feeling about your game and what you’re comfortable with, you have to know when to be aggressive, when to tone it back a little bit. But also the angles into the greens, you play a hole like No. 1, and if you’re up the left side, even in the fairway, you can be blocked out. So you’ve got to be aware of where you’re leaving it, where your angles are into the green.
Same with No. 4, like Phil was saying; if the pin is back right, you may want to do something different than if the pin is in the front or middle of the green.
The angles I think are super important, and that plays in with a lot of the wind, as well, because if the wind is 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.
Q. Andy, obviously some interesting developments regarding the Open qualifications. Can you talk us through that?
ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah, there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but they have announced that they’re going to award five federation ranking spots into the Open Championship. That’s great for me. My understanding is that I have enough points to qualify through that system.
Until the official announcement is made, I’m not going to talk about it anymore, but I couldn’t be more excited for that opportunity.
Q. Yesterday you were working with Caleb; Jon kind of gave us the background on that. Can you talk us through how important it is to work with young players? You’ve done that quite a bit during your career.
PHIL MICKELSON: I’m happy to do it, and Caleb is a very talented, incredible player. I thought that — he reached out. He asked for some help, and I’m happy to do it, happy to help.
I texted him later, and he said that things were going pretty good and that he started to feel comfortable with it. Hopefully it helps.
For somebody at 19 to reach out I think shows a lot of maturity. He’s already shown in the first couple of events how talented he is. He’s just going to continue to get better and better.
Q. Phil, should we be worried about that heavy taping on your left finger?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, I just had a little cut that I’m trying to keep from bleeding today in the pro-am. I may not have it tomorrow. It’s fine.
Q. Can you take us through last week. You really played some solid golf last week, and there were so many Phil Mickelson-like saves that you made during the tournament. You must be really pleased with your form coming into this week.
PHIL MICKELSON: 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 that I’m hoping to build on and continue solid play going into Hong Kong’s event, going into this week. But there’s a lot of positives for me to build on from last week.
Q. Jon was saying yesterday that you are a person anybody can approach and ask for lessons, any of the professionals. How important is that part of golf now for you?
PHIL MICKELSON: I’m happy to do it. If somebody wants to reach out, I’m happy to help.
A lot of people helped and supported me in my career early on. I was a kid who looked up to Seve Ballesteros and had an opportunity to play with him in 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.
I would ask him about chipping, and I would ask him about short game and some of the shots he would hit. What an incredible experience for me to be able to have contests with Seve, have the ability to ask him questions and to hear his thoughts, somebody I looked up to as a kid who I watched win the Masters when I was a kid.
If somebody reaches out to me, I want to try to be as kind as Seve was.
Q. Andy, at this very venue last year was the place where you received your trophy as the No. 1 player on the Asian Tour. That must really bring back some great memories for you.
ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah, I’ve never been more excited to finish 12th in a golf tournament in my entire life. But yeah, we were popping champagne beside the 18th green, my caddie Mike and I, and we actually went to Macau for a celebration that night. Some great memories around this place, and also looking forward to next week in Macau as well on the Asian Tour. This is a special place for me, and this is the place that officially got me on to LIV Golf for this season.
Happy to be back, and looking forward to the week for sure.
Q. Cameron, you are very popular in this part of the world. You have played so many times over here in Malaysia and other places and so many people just keep talking about you. How does that make you feel when you come to Asia?
CAMERON TRINGALE: Well, it’s very flattering, for one. I’m perplexed as to why there’s such popularity here.
I’ve always enjoyed my trips here. I find the culture and the people just very friendly, so I try and reflect that when I’m here and say hello. I don’t think it’s much more than that. I’ve played well a few times, but yeah, just trying to bring some smiles to people here when we’re playing.
Q. Obviously most of the story yesterday was around the points. I asked Jon Rahm yesterday morning whether he thought it was maybe time for the players to force the issue, not just on LIV but on the PGA because obviously Xander and Patrick and Will and Matt had some things to say. From your point of view, do you think the players could force the issue, and do you think actually the time is probably gone to do so?
PHIL MICKELSON: So over the last maybe year or so, I’ve kind of expressed my thoughts — not thoughts, but also shared what exactly is happening on some of the inner workings of that situation. I don’t really have more to add. I’ve been pretty clear on what’s going on and my thoughts via Twitter, which is much easier to get those thoughts out. I don’t really have any more to add.
But it is all starting to play out just like we thought it would.
Q. Andy, when we had a chat in November when you were here, you said that picking a team was like choosing where to go to college. How happy are you with your college at the moment?
ANDY OGLETREE: It’s been great. I’m pledging fraternities right now. I’m just kidding.
No, it’s been awesome. These guys have helped me so much, picking their brains on all different types of shots, different parts of the game, and everyone has different strengths. Trying to learn a little bit from everyone and piece it together myself.
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 the whole team is starting to play some really good golf.
Phil is really, really playing good, and Camo and Steele are doing what they do and being great solid players, and I think the HyFlyers are really close to doing some great things.
Q. Your role seems like more than a captain in LIV Golf. What do you think about your role in LIV Golf?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it’s nice of you to say that. I’m proud to be a part of LIV Golf, and all the players on LIV are proud to be out here and enjoying it.
I think for me at this particular moment, for me to best help LIV Golf succeed and be successful, the best way I can do that is to play well. I’m really trying to get my game sharp. I had a lot of progress last week. I really want to come in this game and play well because I feel like if I play well, I can help push and promote LIV Golf in the best possible way.
Q. What part of LIV Golf should improve from your point of view?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don’t know specifically what we could really do to improve. We’re a startup. There’s a lot of things we can adjust to make it better, and we continue to do so weekly and make subtle changes.
But 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 world that have never been exposed to it has really helped pushing the game.
I’m very proud about the partnership of what LIV is doing. I probably shouldn’t say about — I don’t know if it’s public knowledge, so I’ll hold back, but on bringing the game of golf to 875,000 people in parts of the world that wouldn’t be exposed to it. I’m very proud to be a part of that, as well.
Q. Amongst the many things that LIV Golf has really done well is the pro-am format. The amateurs are so happy to play with two professionals. The professionals are happy to just play nine holes. Can you talk about that part of it and how interesting has that been?
PHIL MICKELSON: So I think it’s a very big thing, an important part of the overall experience, meaning the interaction on pro-am day between the players and the amateurs is important because many of those players 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 the game.
We rely on having the best players play in those pro-ams to make it the best experience, and I think that week in and week out, to have it be nine holes, it helps the pros be ready for the tournament and not make them over-tired and over worn out the day before the event, and as an amateur, you’re experiencing two pros and have a two-pro experience and get to know two guys intimately in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to.
It’s a positive for both sides. When that was discussed with LIV, it made sense, and we did it.
Conversely, 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 LIV Golf is and the ability to do whatever we can to make it a better experience and make decisions quickly and move swiftly to improve.