TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 7, 2020

Xander Schauffele

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Can you talk about making a game of it there for a little while, it got a little close? Did you ever think, hey, you had a chance?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I tried. When he had two bogeys in a row there, he had a really important par putt on 9, which he made, which isn't surprising, and I just wasn't able to put enough pressure on him. I birdied, whatever it was, 11 and 12, and then I bogeyed 13 and then he parred.

That was a big swing. He's here to win the tournament. He made that putt, which I didn't. That was a pinnacle moment I think.

Q. As you know you did shoot the lowest score this week. This is the first time this has happened in this new format. Are you happy with that?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He deserves to win. He won the first one, tied first in the second, and I don't know where he finished here, but he obviously is playing great golf, and I think that's what the Playoffs is all about.

Q. Talk about the first few days; on the last day (indiscernible)...

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Like I said yesterday, you can only be as aggressive as your tee shot this week. 18, for me to have any sort of chance of tying the tournament, I had to hit it in the fairway and I didn't.

I'm hitting there with a 9-iron in my hand while he can go for the green. It's that sort of week. It was different than weeks prior where you could run shots up on the green or get away with a bad tee shot, but this week was pretty brutal in terms of trying to be aggressive out of the rough.

Q. What were you being worked on on the back side?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I just had a blister. I had a blister and it was hot and sweaty, and I was like, I'll just have it taped up because I didn't feel like having it sting throughout the round. Nothing crazy.

Q. Is it ever in the back of your mind today that, all right, if you're not going to win the whole thing, what you're playing for after that is sort of the difference between what would be the winning amount any other week? When you look at the money, it's a lot even if you're not winning. I wonder if that even creeps into your mind.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I looked up at the board. I was hoping to hit my wedge a little closer than I did. I knew I wasn't going to win, and I figured, might as well try and make that last putt and make a little extra cash.

I didn't, which sucks, but I tried my best, and that's all that matters.

Q. Normally you guys get to exhale a little bit after a tournament like this. How do you get right back into it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, go back to San Diego, reboot, try to stay on East Coast time, and I'll be flying out Sunday night. I think it's good for me. I'm starting to kind of hit my driver better, hit my irons a little bitter, obviously putted incredible this week, and it's a good time to start playing well before a major.