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SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSJanuary 3, 2018Xander SchauffeleKapalua, Maui, Hawaii ALEX URBAN: We would like to welcome XANDER SCHAUFFELE to the interview room here at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Xander, a year of firsts: First PGA TOUR win, first year player to win the TOUR Championship, your first time in this event. It's a fairly exciting -- Rookie of the Year. Talk about your feelings being here at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's, I guess it's safe to say it's a dream come true. Growing up this is one of the tournaments I always watched on TV and it's definitely a little surreal to be out here. So I think that it's definitely a goal to start every year out here in paradise. ALEX URBAN: You're playing Thursday with Dustin Johnson. Some thoughts with about that. Have you played with him before your -- XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, we did like this little media thing at the TOUR Championship. There was like a panel of 12 of us. That was probably the most intimate we were. Eight people across, so I never shook his hand, never met him, never talked to him. So I'm excited, he's the No. 1 player in the world and I think it's any player that's not the No. 1 player in the world would like to play with the top player. So I'm looking forward to it. ALEX URBAN: We will open it up to questions. Q. How often -- did you spend much time in Hawaii? How long was your dad here and did you guys ever come back much? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Two to three years. He was first assistant pro with actually the GM out here, Alex Nakajima. So we -- it's funny, we keep walking everywhere and strange enough people recognize him even though he's put on 30 pounds, but it's -- for some odd reason Hawaii kind of feels like home just because of him. Q. What stands out to you last season? What were you most looking forward to, the exemptions, the invite to the Masters, making it here, what stands out the most? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just on my year? Q. Yes. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know. Winning, obviously, being a rookie you never expect to win. Safety, like you said, exemptions. Just the whole package, it's really life changing. I was alternate Austin, my caddie, and I were sitting at tournaments as the second alternate I think we did for four or five events. So life changing to say the least. Being able to be exempt into the Masters and THE PLAYERS and all these big events this year. Q. Do you remember what events you were an alternate? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Valspar, L.A. Open, Waste Management, Houston, I think that's it. A couple I got in last minute. Mayakoba I got called up on Wednesday afternoon. Louisiana, the Zurich, good shots called up late Tuesday maybe. So it was kind of a just a typical way what I would think would be a typical rookie year. Q. What was the biggest pressure of the ones you missed on any of them? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: None of them. You take it in stride. I was just happy to get in at that point. I kind of kept everything kind of blue eyed in my respect and was just happy to get in when I could. Q. Justin Thomas was in here talking about expectations for himself this year after what he did last year. How do you set your expectations now after last year? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's tricky. This underdog mentality and rookie mentality seemed to work for me, kind of being at the back of the pack looking up. I think I'm 25th in the world now. Fortunately, I still have a lot of people to look up to and kind of chase. So obviously I expect a lot more of myself, playing ability and just everything in general as a person and I don't see why I shouldn't play well. Q. Given how well you did play and what you did achieve, how long if at all did you agonize over the equipment change and that sort of thing and how are you feeling going forward with that? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: From TaylorMade to Callaway? Yeah, it's tricky, I've been a TaylorMade guy for a long time and it is a business, you have to be selfish at times, and switching to Callaway, that was just the best decision for me at this moment. And I'm happy to be with a new family. Q. Was it something that you had to think hard about or? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I just, the emotional aspect of it. I've been with TaylorMade for so long and obviously I'm cool with all the guys at TaylorMade, I still have a good relationship with a lot of them, so the emotional side of it. Equipment-wise it was super easy, everyone that knows me well knows that I kind of do thorough testing and I'm not one to change much, but obviously switching to any company to one from another is a big change and the transition's been pretty easy and that's been part of the process. Q. I wanted to ask you about your development as a player from the standpoint that you're part of that high school class of 2011, but even some of the guys from its class of 2011 weren't sure who you were. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. I think they know my name maybe now. Maybe know how to say it. Can't spell it or pronounce it -- I'm still struggling myself -- but, yeah, I played with them, they didn't know that either, but I would play with Jordan and Justin and even Ollie, we were all in the same tournaments growing up. I didn't play a lot of AJGA stuff like that, it was a little too expensive at the time, but we were in the same field Junior Worlds here and there and a couple U.S. Junior Am, U.S. Am. I never made many waves, fortunately they took all the spotlight, so I could kind of cruise in my comfort lane. Q. How much, but if you look back to early days that you started at Long Beach? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yup, first year at Long Beach and last three at San Diego State. Q. Through those years in college and up to where you are now, how much did you get better? Was there any sections of like big leaps? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: You know, my dad has been my only swing coach and he's had this me on this plan of his, it's kind of his secret plan, I don't even know about it most of the time, and he'll let me know whenever I'm not on the plan. He's German and he's not shy to let me know how I'm doing, good or bad. And, yeah, his whole plan was to kind of just -- that's why no one really knows who I am -- just slowly try to get better every year, I think that's what any player tries to do. You don't want -- I had a great year last year and the last thing you want to do is have a lull. So we just, a slow trend is what we look for. Q. You never had from say like junior year to senior year at San Diego State, any kind of a noticeable, to yourself anyway? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: The biggest leaps a player makes I feel like is mental. You talk to anyone, Justin, Hideki, all the young guys -- Jordan's always been at the top of every class, so has Justin, but I feel like Justin's kind of made the biggest splash after last year and he always had the game and I feel like he just got comfortable and that aspect is just mental. Q. Talking about being the underdog and having that drive to people still above you. What happens if you become near the top of this and you don't have that anymore? How are you going to switch that up? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I would love to have that conversation with you at some point. But, yeah, that's the ultimate goal. I think everyone that plays this game and everyone that you interview in this room is looking for that ultimate achievement, to be the top player in the world. So I don't know how to answer that. Q. But are you creating, almost in your own head, are you creating the underdog status more than it might be there now? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yes and no. There's so much going on, I feel like talking a lot or doing a lot kind of puts more pressure on yourself. The way I was brought up the whole mentality was kind of let your clubs talk and that's kind of a really quiet, yet confident way to go about your business. Q. Did you go to college for an education or to play golf? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Is that what you were debating asking? Q. No. I asked the same thing to Dustin and I'm curious how this plays out. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'll be honest, I always joked, everyone would always ask me, what are you going to do if golf doesn't pan out, and I said I would be a janitor somewhere since my degree, social science is not going to get me a whole lot from San Diego State. But I think that I did my four years and I graduated, got my piece of paper, that's very important, I feel like it shows you're kind of committed to sticking something out. So obviously when I was talking to my counselor Dr. White, at school I asked her what the easiest classes are. Golf takes a long time and in order to get good at it you need to definitely put a lot of eggs in one basket. Q. Same follow-up question to Dustin. Do you have any difficulty staying eligible? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, no, I feel like I found a way to communicate with the professors and just that was the biggest one. I kind of had to talk -- this is why I feel like I'm so easy talking to you guys -- after talking to my professors about much harder things, how to weasel my way through some difficult situations. Q. Grad point average? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think it was a shade under three maybe. Q. Respectable. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, whatever you want to call it. Q. Well better than anyone in this room probably. What are you going to do schedule-wise? Any changes? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, Majors, WGC's, PLAYERS, Memorial, stuff I wasn't able to play in last year, I think I'll play in this year. I'll hit the West Coast rather hard, I guess. Doing everything except Pebble and the CareerBuilder. So West Coast Swing that's -- Q. Is there a tournament that you haven't played yet that you have seen on TV that you liked outside of the Majors? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, THE PLAYERS, obviously. Memorial. Arnold Palmer is still a question mark to me. Obviously they moved the schedule around, so I know it's been trickier for a lot of guys. But yeah, the Memorial is obviously a really special one, looking at the course there. THE PLAYERS. I was at THE PLAYERS with Austin, my caddie, just practicing instead of coming home, and the guys at Sawgrass were kind of nice and we zoomed around the course a few times and it was just cool that I thought of it in my head. Q. Were you able to play it? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, we played, I think we played nine holes almost every day, I think. Q. 17? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, yeah, we played 17. We obviously dropped a few extra balls to see what we can do. But yeah, no, it's a really special place. Q. When you had a moment to pause, were you surprised at all by what you did, did you surprise yourself in how it all came together? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, to be completely honest I would say yes. Everyone makes goals and they have a certain accolades they can fall back on, but in order to get to a certain level there's a little bit of surprise, I guess, you can expect certain things, like I always expect a lot of myself in Majors and big tournaments and kind of more in the moment, besides the tournament, I always -- like at the U.S. Open I was really nervous and at some point I just wasn't nervous and that was kind of surprising to me. So that was kind of like my biggest surprise of the year, a time where I thought I would kind of lose control and I was calm for some odd reason. Q. From the end of the TOUR Championship to getting here, what's the nicest thing you bought yourself? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Well the only thing I really got myself, besides some nicer dinners, I take the tab for my mom now, I don't let her pay for any dinners. Q. That's nice of you. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I figure she's kind taken care of me for awhile. A condo in San Diego. That's been it. Still drive my same car. Like before, like I told you guys before. Q. What is it? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: A little Camry, it's got like nine months on the lease now or something like that. Q. What year? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's a 2017. 2015. Q. Upgrade? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I promise you it will probably be the only Camry at the new condo that I'll be purchasing. Q. Where is the condo, what town? XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's just next to Little Italy. Bankers Hill. ALEX URBAN: Any more questions? Good luck this week. XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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