THE 149TH OPEN

July 17, 2021

Scottie Scheffler

Mixed Zone

Q. Scottie, could you give us some thoughts on your performance today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I got off to a slow start. I was not hitting it very good at the beginning of the round, but I did a good job of kind of hanging in there. I had some really nice up-and-downs to start the day, on 1, made a nice putt on 3 and again on 5. I really worked my way into the round.

After that I was a little bit frustrated, wasn't able to get anything going on the back nine, I wanted to make a few more birdies. Still overall can't be too upset with under par at a major, but still within striking distance for tomorrow.

Q. How satisfying was that birdie on the 18th?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was good. Give me some momentum going into tomorrow. I wanted to sneak a few there towards the end of the round. I knew those holes wore going to be gettable, so it was a little bit frustrating not giving myself too good a chances on 16 and 17, so it was nice having a little gimme there on 18.

Q. How are you finding the conditions out there? Are the greens and fairways firming up or is there a little bit of give there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, the fairways and greens are definitely firming up. The golf course is continuing to get more and more difficult. I think the winds are going to lighten up tomorrow, so I think scores will be pretty similar.

It all really depends on what the R&A wants to do with the pins, if they want to make it gettable or make it pretty brutal tomorrow.

Q. Did you think the second shot on the last was going in at some point? It wasn't too far away.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it wasn't too far away. I was just glad I got over that ridge. It was rooting for it to go. Once I saw it take that bounce over the ridge I was very pleased. I was even more pleased when I got up there and it was a kick-in.

Q. With that in mind, nice bit of momentum builder for tomorrow. There's a good chance tomorrow that you might put in a challenge and test the guys out front.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, for sure. I think if I get off to a good start I can get myself in the mix pretty quickly. Those first five, six holes on this golf course are pretty difficult, so if I can get a few birdies there early, I think I'll be right in the middle of it.