	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 16, 2019

Ollie Schniederjans

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Safe to say your life flashed before your eyes at 17?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: Yeah, I hit it exactly like I wanted, but the wind felt like it was dying down, but as soon as my ball got up in the air, it hit it hard, and I still thought it was fine, but when I saw it land, it looked like it was about a foot over. I guess it was a little bit longer than that, but it just looked really close. I thought it was about to spin back in the water. It was a huge relief that it didn't go in the water.

Q. Given the way you've been playing, are you surprised by this round today?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: No. Yeah, it's been a long grind for me and a process, but I feel like my game has felt really, really good this week. A lot has come together. The first two days were -- played solid but didn't get the putts to go and didn't really score super well, but today I had some -- finally had some things go my way. Holed out a wedge shot, made a couple 20-footers, some good par saves. Just finally had something kind of go my way, and I was able to execute some good shots under pressure and put together a good round.

Q. How much different did the course play today with the cooler temperatures?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: It wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be today. The main difference today was the wind was a total 180, so three of the par-5s were straight downwind. Hit 9-iron into 11 and 16 and 7-iron into No. 2, all from the fairway, so those were like easy birdie holes. And then I holed a wedge on 9, so I was able to kill the par-5s today, and that obviously is where I got my score.

But not too windy right now and not too cold, so I would imagine guys are going to make birdies out there, definitely take advantage of the par-5s, and we'll see where I'm at at the end of the day.

Q. What's been going on the last six months?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: I've made a lot of changes. Made a lot of moves over the off-season, and I've been working on my swing and made a lot of big swing changes and a lot of big changes to how I go about what I'm doing with my body and with my full swing. That's been a process, and I've had times where I feel it's in a great place, and then I've just had things come up, and I have to just kind of keep knocking things down and trying to put together sort of my little formula to be consistent.

I realized a year and a half ago I felt like I didn't have the game I needed to be at the level I wanted to be at. I was able to put together some good finishes, but these top players in the world are top-10ing half their tournaments and winning three times a year, and I didn't feel like I was in a place to play any golf course and do that, and ultimately that's the place I want to be at. So I took some risk and made some changes to put myself long-term at that level. I've learned a lot, and it's been a process, and it's just nice, obviously, to finally have a round like today and just to feel like I do about my game, to feel like I have a chance out there to go low and get in contention in big tournaments. I haven't felt like that -- last year I didn't feel like that.

Q. What did you think was missing?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: I wasn't hitting it good enough. I couldn't work it both ways. I couldn't get it in the air real well. I lost a lot of speed last year. I've been No. 1 in driving distance like three weeks in a row, so I'm obviously moving a lot better and getting my distance back, and I'm able to hit it high and low and shape it both ways. I'm just in a -- I'm more in the place I'd like to be to be at the highest level and playing -- consistently be at the top.

You look at these top players who are winning tournaments, and they're just -- the consistency. Justin Rose, I think he finished Top-20 like 20 times in a row. That's just -- I wasn't at that place. I realized I needed to make some changes, and it's been a long process, but I'm committed to long-term being the best I can be. I've gone through that, and still am.

Q. An example of what has been maybe the most dramatic change that you think you've made that you thought maybe was the riskiest, as well?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: I've always been willing to -- I've been open-minded and willing to take risks to get better. It hasn't been -- it's just a journey, and you experiment a lot and you try a lot of things to see how you can be the best you can be. It's been risk because I've made some big changes to how I go about my golf swing and how I move my body or use my hands. That's hard to compete when you're going through things like that. I mean, golf is -- there's a lot to think about, so when you've got to think about all that, too, and how far you're hitting it and the wind and what shot you're choosing and course management, there's just a lot going on. I knew I wasn't in a place where I was going to be competing at the highest level for a little bit of time. But I've gotten to a point where I don't have to think about too much, and a lot of good things are happening in my swing, and I have a good formula to get better every day. I know what's going on, and I've had some good results. In Phoenix I was No. 1 tee to green through three rounds, so that was obviously a great step. But I've had a couple things come up since then. I just have to keep learning and putting it together, and I'm doing that, and I'm getting some good help from a great team around me that's been giving me good information and allowing me to be super productive and constructive with my time and practice.

Last year a lot of time was wasted and energy was wasted just trying to figure things out on my own. That's been a great -- I feel like this year has been a great process for me. It hasn't shown in my results entirely, but I know it's coming.

Q. The partnership with Damon, how are you finding that?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: Damon has been very helpful, yeah. He's been out here for a long time, caddied for a Hall of Fame career and won majors and a bunch of tournaments out here, so obviously he's a huge asset to me. I've learned a lot from him, what him and Zach did, and he's been around these places a dozen times. Obviously that's a huge help to me. He's given me a lot of confidence in my decision making and judging distances and stuff like that.

Q. Most encouraging thing about today's round, what would you take away?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: I just feel good out there. I feel like I have a chance to play well and to score well and to go out and do it. Just I feel good. Just to be out there feeling like I have a chance to hit -- rip it, driver down the middle on 18, or hit that wedge on 17 and turn it over and hit cuts and do everything I need to do out there, feel like I have a chance to play at the highest level and have control of it. So just how I feel. If I didn't have the result necessarily today, I feel good about where things are going.

Q. When did you decide you were going to break it down?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: Well, I felt like -- I had put some Band-Aids on things for a while to kind of get through and keep my card, and I kind of only hit it low for a while, then I only hit cuts for a while. I just experimented a lot, and I just -- I've played now with so many of the top players in the world and watched how they play and the risks they take and just the level they have to be at, the control they have to have with their driver and with irons and the ability to shape shots and hit it high and low. To play at the highest level is just unbelievable how good those guys are.

I saw that I was not anywhere near that control of my game that they are. I could get it around and I had five top 10s my first year, but I wasn't consistently feeling like I could go play a U.S. Open and play at the level I needed to do to compete in a major like that consistently, like those guys are.

Kept my card my first year, and then last year was pretty bad after the first half of the year, and so that was kind of like -- losing speed, my body wasn't moving well, I couldn't hit the shots I wanted to. It just was not even close to what I wanted to be doing, so had to break it down for sure.

Q. Weather tomorrow going to be a true test?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: Yeah, looks like it's going to rain and be cold, so I've just got to get my wardrobe ready for that. Just going to grind it out, 18 holes. I'm sure it's going to be really tough and everyone is going to be dealing with it, so you've got 18 holes left in a huge tournament like this, you're just battling it out for -- do the best you can with everything out there.

Q. In layman's terms, what did you change?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: Everything, how I set up, how I hit my shots, how my body moves, how I use my hands. It's a lot, everything. Not necessarily like a huge change. I mean, it is a huge change, but it's more just getting organized with what I'm doing with everything about my golf game. So how I hit my shots. I changed how I set up, how I train in the gym, how my body is moving, how my lower body moves, how I use my hands, kind of a lot of stuff.

Q. Who's been really working with you as far as that?
OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS: I work with Butch Harmon. I went to see him, and I spent two separate days with him, and I hired a new trainer, as well, who's been super helpful with my body, so that performance team has been giving me great information to get to the point where I want to be.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297