U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2021

June 20, 2021

Xander Schauffele

Torrey Pines Golf Course

Flash Interview

Q. Xander Schauffele, even-par 71. Summarize the week for us.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It was awesome. Playing at home in front of friends and family is always really cool. I played well. It obviously wasn't enough. I was hoping, birdieing the 1st hole was exciting, but it kind of went flat after that. Overall, pleased that I was somewhat in contention at points, but just didn't really have enough this week.

Q. How would you evaluate Torrey as a major championship test, and would you want to see a major championship here again?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I'm biased, of course. I'm from here. Sleeping in my own bed is always nice. Yeah, I think it was fair. It held up fair. The USGA did a nice job with pin locations this year. They could have easily let that get out of control, but they did not. It was kind of the U.S. Open that we expected.

Q. I know you feel really confident going into today. What kept you from having the round that you thought you might be able to have?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's the U.S. Open. Sometimes you need things to go your way, and it just did not. You need a couple bounces, a couple of putts on poa annua to bounce your way, and it just didn't. Overall, I probably could have done a few things better. I'm happy I didn't let the round slip away from me. I hung in there until the end. Thought I could make a few birdies coming in, but I didn't. It's all good.

Q. You talked about having the familiarity around here. Father's Day, your mom's around, family. How nice is it from that standpoint given the holiday weekend and given the way things have been the last year?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's always -- I think it would mean a lot to my dad if I could have won something on father's day. We always joke in our family, every day is Father's Day and every day is Mother's Day, so it's not too special.

Having my family here and a bunch of friends and familiar faces is always really cool.

Q. Not a lot of players get to play in a hometown U.S. Open with all that goes with it, the pressure, all the talking points leading up to it. How do you think you handled all of that this week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, I'm probably going to end up losing by a few shots, just like any other tournament. I probably could have found a few shots that I could have made up, but that's kind of how these go. It's really tight and bunched up in the end. It's just a little bit of focus here and there and a couple of lucky breaks here and there, and it's a different story.

Q. Xander, Jon Rahm just made a birdie putt to go to 5-under, so he's tied for the lead. If he wins, is that somewhat like karma?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: If you believe in it, then yeah, I believe so. That would sum it up.

Q. Secondly, I'm assuming you're going to go to the Olympics since you're qualified. Is that true?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: That is a decision -- my goal was to try to win this. I haven't really reached. I knew I had to try and qualify for the team. It was getting really bunched up with everyone behind me. I haven't really made a decision yet. It's something I was going to decide tonight or tomorrow morning.

Q. What would keep you away if you decide not to go?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Logistics are tricky. There's no opening ceremony, no experience of Japan. You're kind of locked down in your hotel. You can't go and see other venues or events. In terms of an actual Olympics, obviously, you're playing for some hardware, some gold medals and whatnot, but the overall experience, which I hear is really cool, isn't going to be there in Japan this year. That would be a reason not to go, I'd say.