AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 10, 2022

Xander Schauffele

TPC Craig Ranch

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Xander Schauffele to the interview room here at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson. Xander, this is your second start in the tournament, but it's been awhile since you've joined us here at the event. You played in 2017, but here at TPC Craig Ranch for the first time. I guess you managed to hit a few balls, what's your impression of the golf course?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's been very windy. Played five holes yesterday, it was pretty windy then, windier than today. But, yeah, course is in really good shape, greens are rolling really nice, wind's supposed to lay down a little bit. But, yeah, just felt like I needed to get some reps in before next week and sort of a stretch of golf. So here I am.

THE MODERATOR: Talking about, we haven't seen you for a couple of weeks after your victory at Zurich Classic with Patrick Cantlay. That must have been a nice feeling to get that victory under the belt, haven't had one for awhile. Can you talk about that?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it was awesome playing with Pat, he played very well. It was as sort of easygoing, I guess, of a finish as I can imagine, having a partner, hitting half the shots, sort of half the stress, I guess.

But, yeah, it was an awesome experience and sort of played a lot of golf together, competitively against each other and together in team formats, so it was cool to be able to share that one with him.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously it kind of caps the season, but I was looking at your stats and your season so far has been really interesting to me. It's been very, very consistent, you played I think 11 or 12 events, along with a win. But you've only had two missed cuts, but a number of really good finishes, consistent finishes. The two missed cuts came in tournaments that I thought were pretty prominent.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, big events. Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Is there a reason for that?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, THE PLAYERS was, I was in the fun side of things. I went from, I became a statistic that I didn't want to be a part of going from tied 9th to tied 200th or whatever it was after two holes. So that was unfortunate, I was playing pretty well at that point.

Then the Masters was a big struggle for me, really wasn't able to get anything going there, which was unfortunate.

So, yeah, it's been a kind of a funky deal for me year-wise. A lot of my statistics, like you said, are fine, everything's pretty mellow, just haven't really put anything together during a week. So it was cool to sort of get things going with Pat there. I don't even know what that really, you know, doesn't count for everything, I guess, and for me it's not like an individual win, but it's a good start and I'm not complaining at all, it was an awesome week.

THE MODERATOR: It's an official win.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: That's right.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take some questions, please.

Q. Why was it important to play this week to kind of get ready for next week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just to get some reps in. Some guys -- I've gone the route of playing no golf leading into majors and just practicing and trying to get ready for the event and then I played well doing both. I never won -- I was talking to Scottie sort of -- we played five holes yesterday and I was talking to him and he was sort of like -- he's playing this week and I asked him if he normally played before the majors, you know, did you play before Augusta. And he goes, No. So I was like, Well you got one under your belt, I have zero, so I don't even know what really works for me. We had a good laugh about that.

So I'm just -- I was at home, I wanted to play last week, at TPC Avenel. I got back from Zurich and wasn't feeling very well so ended up taking that week off and I needed to get some reps in before next week.

Q. Does the weather kind of help, because it's going to be probably similar to this next week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, weather and grass. I think the grass is similar for the most part. So I think I'm kind of one of those guys who likes to play before big tournaments just to sort of get the ball rolling, figure out your tendencies and sort of what you need to work on coming into a big week.

THE MODERATOR: Have you played Southern Hills?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I played -- shoot, I played the Trans Mississippi Amateur a decade ago. I think Will Zalatoris actually won. It was a three-day event that got shortened because of weather. I played terrible. I think I may have missed, if there was a cut I probably missed it. But I think the course has been redone one or two times since then.

So I don't really have a big recollection of it, I remember one of those finishing greens pitching very steeply, a big bank coming up.

I remember the second hole, straight away par-4, really long. I kind of remember the property, but not many of the holes.

THE MODERATOR: (Question about playing on similar course conditions this week to next week.)

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it can be. I feel like if you can kind of get your game in a good place it almost sometimes helps. There's a conversation about, you know, if your game's in a good place, you kind of just -- your guy tells you to hit it at that tree and you hit it right at that tree and you don't know about any trouble around.

So there's pros and cons to knowing a lot about a course and playing really well and not knowing it. So I haven't been one to really travel out to major championships too much prior. I feel like I try to get in Sunday and play nine holes each day, with no pro-am in those events, and usually playing two rounds of 18 is enough to sort of feel comfortable.

THE MODERATOR: (Question about playing this event on a new course in a new city.)

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's good. Sometimes it's easy to get stuck going through the motions here. Talked to a lot of veterans that have been travelling a lot, you know, they have been out here 15, 20 years, they just see the same hotel, same sort of areas, it's like deja vu for them.

So it is really refreshing to be in sort of a new city for me and playing on a different property.

Q. You just mentioned Scottie and this is kind of his home event, I guess. Wondering what you have seen out of him this year, this run he's been on, what are your impressions from watching him have the season so far?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, a lot of good golf. He is, yeah, local, he's staying at home, which is always a nice thing for us to do since we travel so much.

I imagine him being very comfortable, which is a dangerous place for the current world No. 1 and, yeah, he's just the same guy. He's very playful, practices really hard, you're always going to see Scottie out there chipping or putting pretty late in the day. So I'm not surprised that he's been winning so much and playing great golf.

THE MODERATOR: Last week when Max Homa won in his press conference he mentioned the importance of -- one of his biggest goals is making the Presidents Cup team. You played on the Presidents Cup in Australia, you played on a Ryder Cup team, can you just explain to us like how different that is from a regular PGA TOUR event and keeping a goal like that, being on a team, meaningful?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, it's just fun. I can always see why people are upset when they miss it if you've been on it and why everyone wants to be on it if you've never been on one.

So I think Max is just -- Joe, his caddie, has been on one, I'm sure he's talking to Max's ear about how awesome the experience is. There's that funny clip of I think Charley clotheslining Joe at Liberty National when they chip in during a match. And you don't ever get those moments in a normal event.

THE MODERATOR: Do you recall any of the history of watching any of those events, the U.S. Open or PGA Championships at Southern Hills?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I can recall John Daly, certain clips of him there. Tiger. I don't know what years those were. But nothing too specific, to be honest.

I'm sure -- the other day I watched, it was like a highlight reel on Golf Channel of Tiger winning, I think. So I watched that recently. But the course is going to look a little bit different than that.

THE MODERATOR: All right, we appreciate you making the time and good luck this week.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Thank you.