PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 8, 2020

Scottie Scheffler

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park. Pleased to be joined by Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie has fired a third-round 65. You are 8-under for the championship. Well done today. Busy scorecard but way more birdies than bogeys. Was this a vulnerable golf course from your point of view? You seemed to go for it most of the day.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Would I not say this place is vulnerable. I hit some really nice shots and got some good looks, but definitely starting out the way the wind direction was and the pins, it did not seem like the golf course was very gettable but if you put yourself in position you can get some clean looks and the greens are rolling really nice, so you can make some putts of distance.

JOHN DEVER: I want to ask about your relationship with Randy Smith, and some key aspects of your game you wanted to bone up on before you came up to the Bay Area this week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, my relationship with Randy goes back a long time. I've been working with him since I was probably seven years old, and he's been a tremendous influence on my life, and I can't thank him enough for what he's done.

Thing we were working on going in, as far as ball-striking goes, I'm always trying to get to a balanced finish. That is one of our main goals, good tempo and balanced finish and cleaning up a lot of areas of the game. I don't feel like we focus too much on one area, just kind of gradually improve different areas of my game and looks like it's paying off right now.

Q. Did you feel any nerves at all? You seemed very comfortable all day long.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: For sure, there's definitely some nerves but just got to try and handle them as best I can and go out and play, and I did a good job of that today just staying in the right frame of mind, hitting good, positive swings and made some nice birdies.

Q. Can you talk about your string of three birdies in a row?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, that was fun. My putter got a little bit cold there on the back nine. I had a three-putt on 11 and made a nice one on 12 but it was a little cold, missed an easy one on 14. So it was nice seeing the putt go in on 15, kind of freed me up a little bit and made two really nice ones on 16 and 17 for sure. Put myself in a good position for tomorrow.

Q. Do you think you can win this thing?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah (chuckles).

Q. At times this season it seems as though you've struggled to keep the big numbers off the scorecard. What's been the difference-maker this week in keeping the big numbers at bay?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Keeping the big numbers off the scorecard, making sure I miss on the right side of holes. On a major championship golf course there's definitely some spots you can't get into or it can be very tough to get up-and-down. Just make sure you miss on the wrong side, and if you do get in the wrong place, make sure you get the ball back in position and stay patient.

Q. Making a ton of birdies this week, averaging six a round, eight today. What's been the biggest key to that? Has it been the driving or the putting?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I think it's -- both of them are very important. You have to hit a lot of fairways so you can attack a few pins, but definitely the putter has been warming up this week. I felt like my swing was coming around last week in Memphis and my putter was just really cold, so this week the putter has been heating up so making some putts of distance, which frees you up from the fairway, as well -- knowing you can make 20-, 25-footers and you don't have to be as aggressive going into the greens.

Coming up here, I was expecting poa annua greens, and to expect poa annua and see bent is a nice surprise because bent rolls a lot truer than poa annua, especially late in the day. The greens are rolling nice and I think that's why you're seeing guys make putts. The greens are really pure, even late in the day.

JOHN DEVER: Have a good evening and best of luck into tomorrow, sir.