AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 11, 2022

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Craig Ranch

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Scottie Scheffler world No. 1 and FedExCup No. 1 to the interview room here at the 202 At&T Byron Nelson. Scottie, local here, what's it like kind of playing in a local event for the week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's fun. Nice to be sleeping in my own bed this week. Obviously love the Byron Nelson Championship and look up to Mr. Nelson. And I guess this is my fourth start? Do you know?

THE MODERATOR: Fourth.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I played once in high school and then -- no, fifth. Did it get cancelled one year? It got cancelled during COVID? Yes, so fourth start. I had the honor of playing in this tournament in high school, so I got a lot of good memories playing this event and I'm looking forward to this week.

THE MODERATOR: Going back to your first appearance here, do you have any specific memories from that when your sister was on the bag?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, that was cool event. We had a ton of fun. We had like half of our high school out there watching, so it was a good time for sure. We have great memories of this event. I'm sad she's not going to be able to be here this week, she's going to have a baby here in about three weeks so she's not allowed to travel, but she will be here in spirit.

THE MODERATOR: There's been a picture floating around where I've seen you as a child with Byron Nelson. Is that something you kind of remember and the significance with this tournament playing with Byron?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I remember I had the pleasure of meeting him a handful of times when I was a kid. Byron Nelson's always been very gracious with people an he was gracious with me and it was a pleasure to meet him and definitely have some good memories.

THE MODERATOR: Only the second year it's at this course but obviously very familiar with this course. What do you like about it and especially after just getting done with your pro-am.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, the golf course is in great shape this year. I have a bit of experience around this place, but having a golf course where you know it's going to be in good shape and looks like the weather's going to be really good this week so it should be a nice test and a fun week. Should see a good amount of birdies around this track, which is definitely fun for us.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Looking ahead to next week you played Friday last week at Southern Hills, how did you play and why is it one of your favorite courses?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Southern Hills, I just think it's a really good test. I hadn't played the new golf course yet. But it looked pretty similar to what it did before a lot of sight lines off the tee were still very familiar to me. And I wouldn't say Gill made a ton of change, definitely cleared out a lot of trees, but other than that most of the green complexes are pretty similar to what they were before and there wasn't too many huge changes, but it was really nice to go up there and see the golf course again.

Q. What have you been doing with your self since Zurich?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Since Zurich? Just been hanging out at home, getting some practice in. I did a few things here locally that were really fun. Did the puck drop at the hockey game, I went to a Mavs playoff game and then threw out the first pitch at the Ranger game. Stuff like that is pretty cool, I enjoyed those a lot. But other than that just been hanging out relaxing, practicing.

Q. You talked before about how important faith is to you and everything. Ted Scott shares your faith values and you're with your caddie more than anybody else when you're on the golf course. How important is it for you to be with a caddie that shares your own values, you talk about golf but also more important things?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I would say it's definitely very important. Teddy keeps a very level head, he doesn't change often. He's a great guy to have out on the bag. He works extremely hard and I trust him a lot on the golf course. So to have him out there by my side is really special. And he works really, really hard and I admire that about him and he's a really easy guy for me to trust out there.

Q. (No microphone.)

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Extremely important. We get along. We have good conversations and I think him being a man of faith is definitely why he's so level headed all the time and he's a great guy to be around. He has some good jokes too.

Q. What do you expect this week from, like who is coming to watch you, what kind of friends and familiar things do you have going this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it should be a fun week. We definitely have some friends and family. We got a few people staying at our house this week which is fun. So it's going to be a great week, it's been a good week so far. The beginning of the week is very relaxed, it's a lot of fun. And the tournament, it will be great too, but the beginning of the week you don't really have any responsibilities. Other than this, I didn't really have anywhere I had to be. So for me beginning of the week was really fun and the tournament will be a good time too, it's just a little bit different, you kind get more into tournament mode when Thursday comes around.

Q. Jordan's been a headliner here in his hometown event for awhile, what's it going to be like for you to sort of join him in that realm coming off the Masters win?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it should be a pretty fun environment for both of us. We were talking about it a few weeks ago, we figured we would get paired together at this event so we're glad that we did. It will be a fun pairing, Jordan's an easy guy for me to play golf with and he's fun to watch as well, so it should be a good time and hopefully we'll draw a little bit of a crowd and make some birdies for them.

Q. Xander mentioned like how important it is to have tournaments close to home when you're on the road a lot and to be able to stay in your own bed. So between the puck drops, the first pitches, now a home tournament, how important is it to have moments and times like that in busy season in between majors and things like that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I would say rest is something I didn't value as much as I do now. Early in my career when I played the Korn Ferry that's kind of one of the things I learned is the value of rest. So definitely like Xander says, having some events close to home and especially one where can I stay in my own bed is such an advantage, I don't really feel like I'm traveling and playing this week. It's good to be at home. I love Texas, I love Dallas and to have an event here is really special. I'm definitely looking forward to this week a lot.

Q. One piece of news that's out there that just came down yesterday about the TOUR denying the waivers to the LIV Invitational. I wanted to get your reaction to that and if you've talked to other players in the locker room and sort of what the collective reaction of that might be?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, so I haven't been able to talk to anybody else so far today. The news came out last night, we had a busy night at our house last night, so I didn't really see it until I was going to bed. I woke up this morning and did my pro-am and now you just asked me, so I haven't really processed it very much.

I guess first thoughts would be I kind of figured that was something that would happen. If you're playing here on the PGA TOUR, playing in something that could be a rival series to the PGA TOUR, being a member of our TOUR, it's definitely not something where we want our membership to do because it's going to harm the tournament that we have opposite that and that's, I'm sure that's why they were, why they did not release the players. Because if we have 15 guys go over there and play that hurts the RBC and the Canadian Open.

Q. Why is it important for you and Sam to host a retreat like you did back in November and share with younger golfers like that? What do you get out of that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So College Golf Fellowships was important to me, had a pretty significant impact on my life, and so and be able to give back to that foundation and share some of my experiences with younger guys is really important. And it's a really fun weekend too. We had a good time out there last year. I've done that now, that was my third year, and to have Sam be a part of it as well was really fun for the both of us. And if some of our experiences can have a positive experience on some of those guys lives then that's something that we're going to want to do for a long time.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you for joining us and we wish you the best of luck this week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thanks y'all.