PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2022

Scottie Scheffler

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JULIUS MASON: Scottie Scheffler is joining us at the 104th PGA Championship.

Scottie, you are on a pretty remarkable run. Can you give us a peek maybe behind the curtain and tell us what it has been like for you since winning the Masters?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, it's been pretty fun. You know, winning the Masters is a huge honor for me and we've definitely been able to enjoy that a little bit.

You know, after a little while, it's kind of back to business and so I've been preparing and getting ready for this week.

JULIUS MASON: Very good. About this week, you're playing in your third PGA Championship and in your previous two, you've had two top-10 finishes. What is it about the PGA Championship that pleases you so much?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think I've just gotten comfortable with the golf courses. You know, I was comfortable around Harding Park. I was comfortable around Kiawah last year and played some decent golf, and this year this is a place I'm comfortable around as well.

I think it's going to be a good challenge this week. We're going to have a windy first few days and it may calm down a bit Saturday and Sunday. But it will definitely be a challenging first few days.

JULIUS MASON: How familiar are you with Southern Hills Country Club?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm pretty familiar. I played two college events here and one amateur event and I came out a couple weeks ago and played a practice round. Outside of that, I didn't feel like Gil made any massive changes to the course and it still played fairly similar to how I remembered it other than a lot of the run-offs are a bit different. But outside of that, it still feels pretty much the same.

Q. What was it that led you to make the statement that it might be your favorite course, and did anything change? I know you said you didn't think too much, but were there many changes that would alter your opinion to think it's better or maybe not as good?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I couldn't tell you when I made that statement or where y'all found that or something.

Q. It was a Big 8 event.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I usually try and -- Big 12? I usually try and pick a golf course that's off the radar or something like that just because, I don't know, everyone has their favorites, and Southern Hills is definitely one of mine.

You know, I haven't heard any bad things about the golf course this week. It's one of those places I feel like if you come and play it the first time you kind of know where to hit the ball. It's just really hard. It's right in front of you. You know what to do. It's just hard to actually do it.

Q. After you won the Masters, I interviewed your former roommates Max McGreevy and Drew Ison, and they said that that might not have actually been the best you ever played and that it might have been during COVID when you shot two 59s in a few weeks. How does your game compare right now to during COVID?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, it's a shame we weren't playing any tournaments during that stretch, I guess, at home. I was beating up on those guys pretty good at home though, which was fun.

But yeah, my game feels like it's in a good spot. I've obviously been on a pretty good run here recently and I'm definitely not trying to stop it. So hopefully going to keep it rolling this week.

Q. Your short game was impeccable at Augusta National. I'm wondering, will it take an equal effort to win here this week or is something else perhaps more important in the skill set?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I think in order to win major championships and beat these amazing fields, you've got to have really faith in all aspects of your game. You can't really be protecting against anything because you've got to put it all on display out here, and to get around this golf course it's not going to be just pure ball-striking or anything like that. It's going to take a variety of different things in order to play well out here.

For me I've just been preparing like usual and my game feels like it's in a good spot and I'm just looking forward to this week.

Q. Brooks was in earlier saying that when you're the world No. 1 and a Major Champion you walk with a bit of a strut and your chest puffed out. You're the world No. 1 and Masters Champion as well. Did you feel any different when you arrived on the range this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No. Tiger's here so nobody really remembers that I'm here, so it's all good.

No, like I said, I don't feel any different. I don't get any extra shots this week. You know, it's nice to have the ranking, but at the end of the day when I show up at a tournament, I don't have any advantages over the field other than we all start even par.

So for me, it's a tremendous honor, but at the end of the day when I show up to a tournament, I'm starting at even.

Q. How does it affect your confidence, not just the accomplishments but everything you've done this year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I've never really been a guy that looks at too much stuff about myself. I don't want to get too high or get too low.

I've really just performed my best when I keep my head down and not really pay attention to anything else. All I've been doing is we celebrated for a bit after the Masters but not too long.

And I was preparing for last week. I didn't have my best stuff. I made a few errors but I still gave myself a decent chance to win the tournament. I wasn't there on the back nine, but if I would have made a few less mistakes at the beginning of the week, I could have been there.

This week, you know, I feel like I'm in a good spot mentally and I'm well rested, and it's going to be a long week so I think rest was definitely important.

Q. I think there's 98 days between the Sunday at Phoenix and Sunday this week here, in which time you could have won five times, two of them majors. Can you possibly put into words how insane this stretch of golf has been and possibly could be?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I don't really look too far into the future so I don't -- I had not really thought much about this week until I showed up here. We did come play a practice round, but outside of that, I was still preparing for last week.

I don't know, that's kind of stuff for y'all to write it. Like I said, I don't really get too high or too low. If y'all want to write up stuff and come up with stories, that's fantastic. But for me, you know, I'm going to try not to read them whether they are good or bad.

Living in the moment is usually what works best for me, and like I said, I don't want to get too high or get too low. So if you guys are really building me up, then you know I may prepare not as -- or I may not prepare as hard because I show up being like, I'm the guy, I'm the man and no one can touch me. That doesn't work for me.

And if I show up too low then you guys are saying, oh, Scottie doesn't have it. He's not any good anymore. Then I'm going to show up and maybe I'm going to prepare too hard; I'm not going to get enough rest. So for me, kind of staying in my own lane and doing my own thing is what works best.

Q. There's a bunch of guys who have come in here and said they have zero experience at this course this week. But having tournament experience here, has there been anybody who's come up to you and asked for advice on how to get through here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I think if they hadn't redone the golf course, there would have been more guys coming up to me.

Like I said, a lot of the run-offs around the greens play significantly different. Like I said earlier, this is a golf course you can show up for the first time and know exactly where to hit the ball; there's not really many tricks to it. You've just got to show up and hit good golf shots and stay in position because once you get out of position this golf course will punish you in a hurry.

Q. Wondered if you had played any practice rounds with Jordan this week or any coming up, and also you and Jordan are playing really well at the same time. You've known him your whole life. Have you thought about how fun that would be if you got to come down Sunday, you and Jordan are battling for the PGA Championship, like you have so many times back at home?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think being in contention is always really fun. Doesn't really matter who is on the other side of the tee box or whatever; I don't know how you say that. But being in contention is fun, and I think that's what we all look forward to and I know Jordan looks forward to that.

Last week with him coming down the stretch, I'm sure he had a good time. With it being a major championship, I think that makes it even more special, and so you know, for the both of us, I think that's what we are kind of looking forward to is kind of hopefully putting ourselves in a position where we can win this golf tournament.

Q. I wanted to ask you, you've played this course a handful of times. Are there any specific holes that stand out or a hole that maybe you look forward to playing?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, I feel like it's one of those places where you kind of get on the tee box and you look at the hole and are like, man, this is a really cool hole, and then you get to No. 2, and you're like, man, this is a really cool hole, and it just keeps going.

I wouldn't say there's one hole that stands out too much than any other. It's a really solid golf course.

What I found interesting with playing the Big 12 Championships here, there was always one day it seemed like where somebody kind of blitzed the golf course and shot 5-, 6-, 7-under. But I think I won the golf tournament like 3- or 4-under.

It's a really hard golf course, but when you're playing great golf, you can kind of make your way around it just because it's so simple. And I don't know, it's just kind of a funny place when it comes to stuff like that.

I'm not sure what Tiger won with here in 2007, but it was also one of those deals where he had a crazy round and almost shot a 62. It's one of those places where if you can put your A Game together for a round, you can really make it special.

I don't think you're ever really going to find yourself too far out of the tournament.

Q. I've heard Justin Thomas talk about how when he goes to a major and he has a lot of confidence in his short game that he's able to play on his approach shots differently because he can say I can get up-and-down from anywhere, I can take on this pin. Do you find yourself saying that right now because your short game has been so good over the last year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think, you know, something I always go back to, Jordan said in an interview after one of his first few majors is that you have to have trust in all facets of your game in order to win these tournaments. Kind of like I touched on a little bit earlier, but having trust to say, hey, I can attack this pin because I know this spot off the green is somewhere where I can get the ball up-and-down. It may not be somewhere where everybody can get up-and-down from, but I know I can. It may be sort of an eye test thing. I may see shots a little bit differently than other people do. There could be some really easy ones where I'm like, no, that doesn't really suit my eye.

I think a lot of it is just kind of managing your way around the golf course, and with the conditions looking -- if the wind stays up like it is right now, it's not going to be any crazy low scoring. So it's going to be a lot of kind of managing your way and making a lot of pars.

Q. Tell me if there any difference whatsoever between the guy who had zero wins and the guy who had four wins, whether it's demeanor, confidence, your mindset, walking down the street and somebody sees you that maybe didn't recognize you before and now does. Is there anything different about you than before?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, I would say when I show up to tournaments, it's a little bit different. There's more people kind of hollering at me when I'm playing a practice round wanting to get signatures or whatever it is. You know, at home, I've been recognized a few more times than I did in the past. But I kind of stay in my own little bubble, and for me not much has changed when I'm at home. Not much has changed the way I practice. When I show up to tournaments, I don't feel any different.

I will say, after my first win in Phoenix when I was in contention, and Bay Hill, I definitely took some confidence from Phoenix. I think I made four bogeys the first 11 holes and still won the tournament, and I think in the past, I believed I had to play perfect golf on Sunday in order to win. So for me to know that I can make mistakes and bounce back from them and still be able to win tournaments is really important.

And I would say that's probably really only biggest change was that Sunday at Bay Hill, and like I said, I made some mistakes then, too, and I was able to kind of pull out the tournament. Golf is really chancy. It's not consistent like other sports. We play outside, there's bad waves, bad bounces, all kinds of stuff that can happen.

For me just trying to keep my head down and play good golf.

Q. A little bit of a follow-up to that, some of the comments you made on Sunday morning about the Masters, it seemed like it was a really emotional period for you, even if it was short, I don't want to put words in your mouth but seemed like you felt the weight of the pressure on you and were in a state of doubt. To come through that and to have won the Masters, that has to be transformative in some way. How does it feel to have felt so bad and prove you can win anyway?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I wouldn't say I felt bad. There's just a lot that goes on with that golf tournament. For me I always struggle kind of letting people in, so in that moment I was just honest with my wife. I was like, man, I'm really scared. This is a big day for me. What better opportunity to win my first major than the Masters. It's a tournament everybody wants to win the most and I have a three-shot lead and there's really only a handful of guys that have a chance. So for me what better opportunity there is than now.

I kind of felt the weight of that because I've wanted that for so long, and so I just told my wife, I was like, man, this is hard. It's not easy to win golf tournaments. It's not easy to win the Masters. I don't believe that it's easy for anybody. I think, you know, what Tiger's dad told him before he won in '97, he's like, it's going to be the hardest round of golf in your life but it's also going to be the most rewarding for him. I don't think it's easy for anybody to win golf tournaments, and so for me to just be honest with myself and approach it the way I did, I think was really helpful.

Q. Where is the green jacket this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think in my closet at home. Hopefully safe.

Q. Have you done anything yet for Randy Smith, Blake, Rocky, those guys that have been with you so long to commemorate what you've achieved?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not yet. We are still kind of in the midst of the season. Especially Randy, Randy is not really one -- we celebrated a lot that not but after that it's back to work. We are not going to look too far into the past. We are still in the middle of the season. Celebrating and doing all kinds of crazy stuff while I'm trying to play golf is not going to especially help me play well. So for us, we are going to try to stay in the moment and keep preparing.

Q. What is the one thing you remember most that he said to you in the victory when you celebrated?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: He couldn't really speak right after, so he didn't have much to say. He was sitting there crying. That was a really special moment. It was a whole line of my family and Randy and Blake, and we even got Blake in tears which was pretty special.

It was one of those real moments that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life. You know, it was so special, having everybody there, and it's been a really kind of cool stretch for us, and so we definitely enjoyed it. But the work we put in is what got us to this point, and so for us, not much is going to change on that front.

Q. How long was it after you won the Masters before somebody said the words, "Grand Slam," and do you remember who said it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: To me?

Q. Yeah.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Like right now.

Q. Only until now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. Like I said, I kind of keep my head down and do my thing --

Q. Only one guy who can do it this year.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I guess, and I'm a fourth of the way there.

Q. So it's really at the forefront of your mind, is what you're saying?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's all I've been thinking about for the last few months.

To be honest with you, I haven't thought about that, or looking at the British Open or the next tournament is not going to help me play good here.

Q. This is obviously your first major since winning a major. I know you've talked about how you don't feel any different coming to tournaments. But having the evidence that you can win at this level, is that any added confidence or comfort going into another major?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, we'll see how it feels during the round. Right now I don't feel in a tournament -- I want to win this tournament as bad as any other one. For me not much changes, whether it's PGA Championship, Masters, British Open, whatever it is. I'm an extremely competitive person. I want to win. For me winning is fun.

You know, it took me awhile to win the first one, and I guess I've been on a stretch now. But outside of that, being in contention and winning golf tournaments is the most fun. Finishing 50th place is not as fun. You know, the higher up you can finish and the more nerves you feel, that's kind of the more fun stuff for me.

JULIUS MASON: Enjoy the week, Scottie. Thanks for being here.