PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 9, 2020

Xander Schauffele

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon, and welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park. We're pleased to be joined by Xander Schauffele, who posted a final round 67 today and finished the championship at 8-under par.

You went birdie-birdie on 5 and 6, kind of got a little momentum, and another birdie on 9. Where did you feel like you were when you were getting to the back nine and you just didn't get the thrust maybe you were looking for?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I would do a lot of good things and then sort of stall myself out by missing a seven-foot putt. I hit it to about seven and a half feet on 7 and then I had about a nine-footer for par on 8, didn't convert, and then I was in the middle of the fairway on 10 with a 5-iron and ended up making par. Then I missed another eight- or nine-footer on 11.

Obviously I made a lot of putts but I was trying to push pretty hard, and when you're pushing you can't be missing eight- or nine-footers for par, especially on a Sunday in a major. It was a bit frustrating; kind of whenever I'd gather any momentum I'd just throw it away, and like I said, though, I did make some putts, as well, but at the end of the day I just didn't do enough.

JOHN DEVER: Was the golf course there to be gotten? It seems like there's a lot of birdies out there and a good number of bogeys, too, but guys are really going for it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, if you're in the fairway, there's no reason not to fire at certain pins. Austin kind of prepped me before we teed off saying all the easy holes are difficult pins and all the difficult holes have easy pins, so if you are managing to find the fairways on difficult holes you can fire at the pins. The key is definitely getting in the fairway, and if you're seeing a bunch of birdies it's usually from the fairway, not from the rough.

Q. Did you feel like this public course held up well as a major, and if so, why?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think it did. Just in all honesty, it depends on what the winning score is supposed to be. I thought it was a fair test. Like I said, if you're in the fairway, you had your opportunity. The greens I felt if they were a little faster would have made it a little tougher. I thought the rough around the greens was a little spotty, so if you had a bad lie, you never -- I wasn't too afraid to sort of hit the chip too far, just because the greens were a little sticky. They look really fast. I think I heard Tiger talk about how fast the greens look, but I think it's just this fog and this kind of humidity that makes them sticky. So it's sort of funky in that sense.

But I thought it was a very fair test, and if anyone says otherwise, I'd like to hear why.

Q. You wouldn't mind coming back here for another major?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: You know, my style of golf is as hard as possible. I think I might have a good chance at even par winning a major. I'm definitely a grinder type. I don't mind trying to -- making good bogeys and stuff like that. The harder it is, the better it is for me. Any tournament that 9- to 12-under wins is usually kind of in my range. I wouldn't mind at all.

Q. What kind of fine tuning is going to go on in your game as you get to the Playoffs and U.S. Open shortly thereafter?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, just some swing things. I felt really uncomfortable over a lot of shots today, just a couple grip changes. I sat there and was Sergio-esque circa 2000. I was sitting there joking about it, and I probably did it more than he did. If someone had a count of how many times I regripped the club it probably would have been a bit of a nightmare for me. A few things I was working on on the range, it was hard for me to bring it to the course, probably just because I knew how important it was to hit the fairway. A little tense over certain shots and wasn't completely comfortable. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with the week and glad I played well today.