THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 21, 2021

Charl Schwartzel

La Quinta Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Great round, 67 on the South Course, probably one of the better ones today on this course. Three birdies on the front in a row and four on the back in a row. Just talk about that round a little bit.

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, I started off a little slow, missed a short putt on 2 for bogey and I was 1-over early on.

But putter was good today. I made maybe three putts from 30 foot. I hit a lot of good shots. I've been working on the game on the off-season, considering I didn't go back to South Africa this December, so it allowed me to play more golf than what I normally would.

So coming in here my game felt like I was in good shape to make good scores and on this golf course you need it. I felt like I did good with it today.

Q. I was going to ask you about that off-season Christmas you usually do go back to South Africa. How different was that for you this year with the situation not being able to go?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: First time ever in 20 years of traveling out here that I didn't get to go back to South Africa. I haven't seen my folks in more than a year and I haven't even seen my new baby boy that's a year old, so it's sad.

But just staying here in Florida, we had good weather, so a lot of people want to play golf, so ended up playing, like I said, more golf than I normally would when I go back to South Africa. And I got to spend a little bit of time with David Leadbetter and everything just sort of kept it in good shape to start the season.

Q. Was there one area of your game that you are particularly pleased of this today? You said you did a lot of work on your game in the off-season, was there one sort of thing that stood out?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I thought I drove the ball pretty good for my standards. I don't hit the most fairways out there, but I hit it pretty long, I hit it straight. And I did a lot of chipping -- I don't like to hit a lot of balls during the off-season, so, but I tried to spend a lot of time chipping and I thought I chipped really good today.

Q. How different is your mindset coming into this tournament, there's usually a lot of low scoring, a lot of birdies, but given that we're not playing La Quinta and we have three goes at the Stadium Course, which is pretty difficult, how do you adjust to that coming into this week?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Well, for me it's all new, I played this tournament once and I think I was like 6-under and missed the cut by three, so I don't know.

Q. Do you feel that works in your favor then?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I feel playing the tougher course more definitely works in my favor. The way I play that it suits me better.