WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 22, 2022

Scottie Scheffler

Austin Country Club

Press Conference

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome current FedExCup leader and former Texas Longhorn, Scottie Scheffler, to the interview room here at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Certainly good performance here for you last year, runner-up, and coming off two wins over the last few months. Maybe a couple opening comments on your game.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, my game feels like it's in a good spot. I had some good starts here recently. It's good to be back in Austin. We've got some good friends that live down here, and last year was such a dream getting to play in front of all the fans, so I'm looking forward to this week.

Q. You've probably been watching the basketball tournament a little bit; how would you describe the importance of seeding in that versus the importance of seeding in this tournament?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a good question. I have no idea.

Seeding in that -- it seems like both of them, anything is going to happen. I would say it's probably more likely for the 64 guy to beat the 1 guy in golf than it is in basketball. But obviously the brackets are -- I don't know about your bracket, but my bracket sucks. (Laughing).

It's already busted.

I would say it's probably more important in basketball.

Q. Do you even look at the seeds in this tournament?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: In this tournament? I mean, not really. I know we have like the kind of ABCD thing going, but they could really kind of randomize it to a point. Seeding is not too important here.

Q. If somebody were to ask you for your one or two best pieces of advice on match play, whether that's psychological, practical, whatever, what would you say?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'd say for the most part, I think people overthink it. I think a lot of people put too much strategy into giving putts or random stuff like that. For the most part, sticking to your game plan. I think the only time your game plan really changes is if the guy you're playing with makes a really big mistake.

Q. In your group I notice you're drawn with three British golfers. Do you think there's going to be some kind of collective revenge for the Ryder Cup there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I hope not. That would be bad news for me.

No, both those guys -- all three of those guys are all really good guys, and it should be a fun week. It's kind of funny that Poulter is the lowest-ranked player out of the group and he's got a pretty good match play record. Should be a good challenge for all of us, and it'll be a fun week.

Q. Anything specific you remember from playing Ian last year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I remember most of the match. That was a pretty important match for me with it being the round of 16 and going up against somebody who's obviously so great in match play. I have a lot of good memories of that match. Ian made a couple of long putts and I made just barely enough birdies to beat him.

Q. Wanted to ask you, just in terms of group play and then into the knockout stage and whatever, I'm assuming that was probably the first time in that format for you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was a longer week than I expected. I think probably towards the end, the four of us that played 36 holes on Sunday definitely ran out of gas for sure. It was a long week, but it was a ton of fun.

I just kind of learned a little bit about kind of keeping that energy level high and make sure I get my rest at the beginning of this week because it really is a long week.

Q. In terms of keeping your energy level high, I was kind of struck by Sam last week talking about trying to keep his low, at least through the week. That's probably coming off -- I think it was at Bay Hill, but then THE PLAYERS and that long week and just trying to conserve as he was playing. What's the difference of trying not to run out of gas and trying to keep your focus and energy high?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, that makes sense. I may have misspoke. I was more so saying keeping the energy high as the week goes on. Last year in the tournament, I felt like I was playing better as the week went on, but my energy levels kind of went down. So that's just kind of managing my prep going into the tournament week and then Monday and Tuesday, handling it a little bit differently.

Q. Obviously this week you guys are playing match play. There's a team event in Zurich. I'm just curious if there's any other format or type of tournament that you'd like to see played on TOUR? I don't know what games you play at home, if any of that could translate to this schedule.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I can't even really think of another format outside of Stableford.

I would say I think we've got a good mix. I feel like we could see a little bit more match play throughout the year, but we play a great schedule as it is, so it's hard to pinpoint one thing that could improve the TOUR as it is. I really enjoy this week. It's a lot of fun. I think when they changed it over to the pool play, it made it a lot better because let's say I go out tomorrow and Ian beats me on the 18th hole, I don't go home. I don't play 18 holes and go home. I still have two more days to play golf, and we may end up on a playoff on Friday. You don't know what's going to happen with the pool play, and I think that was a good improvement on this event.

Q. Do you play Skins or Wolf or anything at home?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah.

Q. Do you think that could potentially be a one week -- why not?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't see it. I can't even begin to think how that would work out here, to be honest with you.

Q. When you won for the first time in Phoenix, was there a ton of relief just to get that first one out of the way?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I wouldn't say a ton of relief. I definitely was pleased with the result of that one. A lot of hard work goes into winning out here, and I was very pleased with how that week went. I wouldn't say necessarily a huge sense of relief. It was definitely a lot easier coming into this room. I came into it rarely before, but after Phoenix and Bay Hill, I am coming in a lot more to talk to you guys.

I've answered it a few times. People have asked me if winning really changed a ton for me and all these different things, and I don't feel any different after Phoenix. It's nice to accomplish that goal and my main takeaway is I want to keep doing it again. It was a lot of fun to win that tournament and Bay Hill was obviously great, too, and I just like being out here competing, and that's what I look forward to.

Q. You mentioned later tee times sometimes. Were there other perks and did it change your life off the course in any way?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really. Life off the course is still pretty much the same for me.

Q. Except you're married now, right?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I got married a little over a year ago, so that's been a lot of fun. I would say life at home hasn't really changed too much. I've had a few random people congratulate me when I'm eating at my local restaurants and going to the club. There's a few more random people that will say hello and nice job, which is fun. But outside of that, not much as changed.

Q. Does this make you more prepared to win a major now that you've won twice already this year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I will say that, yeah. I think winning out here definitely -- I always felt like I could do it, but I think once you actually accomplish that goal, it's a little bit different. I definitely felt a little different on the course at Bay Hill in that final round. Whether it was the mistakes I made early in the round -- those definitely didn't weigh on me as much as they had in the past. And I kind of used that experience from Phoenix where I did make a lot of mistakes on Sunday and I was still able to get the job done with a good finish.

Q. I wanted to ask you about John Fields a little bit, what he's meant to Texas golf. Obviously you and Jordan are kind of the face of golf on the TOUR, but with Doug and Kramer and Jhonny Vegas and on and on, what has he meant to you and to Texas golf?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think if you asked any of the guys out on TOUR, whether it be the guys I play with like Beau, Kramer, and Doug or the guys before me like Frittelli, Vegas, and Spieth, I think everyone would have the same opinion of Coach Fields. He's a fantastic guy, really good coach. He put us all in a position in college where if we wanted to, we were able to have a chance to succeed.

Whether it be the schedule we played, playing against the best teams, the best players, the best courses, and whether it be at home, having the facilities to prepare and get ready for those events and then supporting us as we turned pro, as well. Really just across the board, he really did a great job for all of us at the program.

Q. If you took your 2016 runner-up team in Oregon and you faced the 2012 team that had Jordan, Frittelli, Cody Gribble, Hakula, Julio Vegas, who would win in match play?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Us versus 2012? Well, since they won the national championship, I guess you've got to give them the edge. We came up just short.

You know, that's kind of one of those hypotheticals, we could probably actually figure out now. Maybe we'll have to do that at some point. A lot of the hypotheticals you all deal with is different eras, but we're only four years apart so maybe we could do it now.

Q. Coach Fields said without a doubt you would want to face Jordan; is that rue?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'll face whoever. Jordan and I play a lot at home. Maybe I've seen enough of him. He probably wouldn't want to play me either. We see enough of each other at home. Maybe we could spread it out a little bit.

Q. Being based in Dallas, just want to know what you know, if anything, about Southern Hills and Tulsa, and if you plan to go up there maybe for a little recon trip between now and May.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I played Southern Hills twice in tournament golf, or actually three times. I played an amateur tournament there, I played two Big 12 championships there, and I haven't played the new course. From what I hear, it's not drastically different. They definitely made some changes and improved the course, but it's not a totally different layout. I'll definitely make a trip up there before Southern Hills or before the PGA just because it's convenient. It's close to home. That'll be an easy one.

Q. It's a pretty unique -- you've been up there, pretty unique layout, the hills and everything. Is there one type of player you think could be successful at the PGA in May?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't think so. I think Southern Hills is one of those places where when you're playing good golf, whether it be you're a short, long hitter, whoever you are, if you're playing good golf you can score out there.

Q. Just curious, does Jordan talk to himself more when you guys are home playing golf or when he's at a tournament?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: He's basically the exact same. I mean, it's the exact same.

Q. I had a two-part question that I don't want you to think is related. A, how much do you think your performance -- how far did it go, do you think, in being a pick for Whistling Straits --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: My performance here?

Q. Yeah. And B, if you were the Ryder Cup captain, how much stock would you put in a performance this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a good question. I think that my experience in match play maybe had a little bit of a factor. I really don't know how I ended up put on that team. Outside of the few of the guys -- I had a vote from a few of the guys on the team. I was just pretty blessed just to be a part of that team. Kind of going on as the last member pretty much, I was the lowest-ranked guy as a rookie.

There was definitely some people, whether it be y'all in the media or people on Twitter, whatever, there was definitely some voices that said, there could be other people that could go on the team over me, and I would have agreed with them at the time.

Maybe this helped a little bit. I'm not really sure. If it was me as the captain, probably not too much.

There's only certain players where -- like for instance, I think you look at a guy like Kevin Kisner who plays really, really well at this tournament seemingly every time, and then a guy like Poulter who just kind of destroys match play. But across the board, I don't think there's too many of those guys in American golf now.

Not that we're bad at match play. I just think you see the guys playing good at stroke play events, they're probably going to play good here. I think you've got to look at the whole body of work over two years to see who you really want on that team.

Q. As close as you and Sam are and competitive, too, I think even though none of us are Steve Stricker, it seemed like if it wasn't going to be you, it was going to be him. Does that ever get awkward in a relationship when it goes to the other?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, so I would say it definitely could have. Sam is a great guy, and we're great friends, as well, so he handled that about as good as anybody could have.

We never really spoke about it. I'm sure it could have been awkward. But I talked to him that afternoon after the team was selected, and my heart hurt for him. It was tough. But he was happy for me to be a part of that team.

He was very celebratory of the way that tournament ended, and then watching him win Sanderson the next week was awesome for us at home. Seeing him have the success and play good last week, hopefully we'll both be on the team next time around.

Q. I was going to ask you about being a married man now. Does that affect your golf game? Does she travel with you on the road?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: My wife travels with me pretty much every week. It definitely made traveling a lot more fun. We have a great time out on the road. We get a ton of alone time. It's just us two. Feels really like we're a team. So marriage for me has been awesome.

Q. And the money you've made, are you a big saver or do you do some extravagant things that you spend your money on?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really. I still drive the same car I drove in college and high school. I think the only thing I really spend money on is food. That's pretty much it.

Q. A little Tex-Mex, huh?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, a lot of chips and queso.