TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2022

Scottie Scheffler

TPC River Highlands

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Scottie Scheffler, FedExCup No. 1, World No. 1, to the interview room here at the 2022 Travelers Championship. Scottie, we always appreciate your time. You're making your third start here at the 2022 Travelers Championship, obviously a pretty incredible event, given the last dramatic finishes and so forth. Great field this week. So with that, just some thoughts on being here.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, glad to be back in Cromwell. We're staying at a house this year, which is a lot of fun. We're kind of right here in the community, which is nice. Got, like, a minute commute to the golf course, which makes things really simple.

It's a fun event for us to play. Like Doug said, the exciting finishes. I remember when we were flying home last year we were trying to get Wi-Fi on the airplane, on like an American flight, I think, trying to get like American Airlines' Wi-Fi to work for like YouTube TV streaming, trying to watch Kramer and Harris battle it out.

It's just a fun event. Everything here is really easy for us as players. They take good care of the caddies. They take good care of our wives. They take good care of us. So it's a really simple weeks for us.

THE MODERATOR: A couple weeks ago in Canada, when I got to sit with you, I introduced you as having eight top 10s in 17 starts this season. We add one to that, nine top 10s in 19 starts coming off your great finish last week at the U.S. Open. Just some thoughts on how you're feeling as you're heading into the week coming off of that good finish last week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, game feels like it's in a good spot. I've played really well this year. I played good again last week. I hit it really good. Just to win major championships, those putts got to go in, you got to get those little breaks here and there.

And last week unfortunately I wasn't able to get the job done, but it was a fun ride there at the end. My start on Sunday was extremely exciting and fun, and to be in contention on the weekend at a major is always such a good time. Coming up one shot short hurts, but at the end of the day, it was a fun ride.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up and take questions.

Q. When you're in a tournament with Rory, No. 1 and No. 2, is that something that you're conscious of? Do you relish that challenge of being in a tournament with the guy who is closest to you, at least in the rankings?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, he may be close to me in the rankings now, but he's won a few more tournaments than I have out here. Rory's a pretty historic player on TOUR, and so anytime we can be in fields with guys like Rory, Jordan, JT, and having opportunity to compete against those guys on the weekend would be really special for all of us.

I grew up watching Rory on TV. I grew up a few years behind JT and Jordan, and I've looked up to those guys for a number of years. I've taken good bits and pieces of advice from them as well. So to be able to kind of be out here competing with them is really a dream come true for me.

Q. I'm way off topic, if you don't mind. I heard a story, when you played your first U.S. Open at Erin Hills and made the cut, had a good week, or second U.S. Open, I guess, wasn't it? Either way, you were supposed to play in the Northeast the next week and there was an assumption that you would withdraw because it had been an exhausting week, and you went ahead and played. Do you have any kind of a policy or theory on when you say yes, it's a yes?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, yeah, I mean, I like to be a man of my word, and so this would be another event where playing the week after a major is not necessarily easy, especially when you're in contention, and for me, I've, I committed to this event, and I want to be here. It's a fun event.

So, yeah, definitely, I want to be a man of my word. When I say something, I want to follow through, and it's definitely something that's important to me for sure.

Q. You haven't played here with a full, the full atmosphere with all the fans and everything. Have you heard anything about this event and what are you looking forward to?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, shoot, if last year wasn't full fans that was pretty exciting. There was some loud roars and watching that playoff on TV was really cool, especially with those putts the guys were making. I remember the putt Kramer, I think he made it in regulation to keep things going. He made like a 10-footer and everything on the hill around 18 was just going crazy.

If that wasn't full fans, then I'm really excited to see what it's going to be like this week with full fans. So I haven't been in contention at this event either, so I haven't really gotten the full feel of everything, and playing in front of large crowds is always a good time.

Q. There seems to be something about this tournament that produces exciting finishes. It seems like year after year there's a Sunday that produces fireworks. Is there something about this course setup or this tournament in particular that leads to that and do you think that might have something to do with the strength of field that continues to show up here each year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I think the strength of field you see just from it being hosted on a good golf course. This is a really good golf course. There's nothing really tricky about it. You're not going to have guys complaining that it's either too hard or too easy or whatever it is.

This is one of those golf courses throughout the year where you're not going to hear many complaints from people and I'm sure that's why a lot of the top players will come. It's also a very simple week for us. Like I said, Travelers does a really good job of taking care of us as players, taking care of our wives, taking care of our trainers, taking care our caddies, and it's really a simple week for all of us.

So being able to come up here Connecticut and just have a nice relaxing week and enjoy competition is really fun. And the golf course, I think, with the way 15, 16, 17 are, and then, I've never really been a huge fan of having water on 18 as a finishing hole. I don't know why. I think like just a nice like classic uphill par-4 like this one has where if you hit a good drive you're going to be rewarded and maybe make a birdie, and if you get into trouble, you could make a bogie, but it's not necessarily like a crazy hard hole or a crazy easy hole. It's just a simple hole to finish. You see exciting finishes on stuff like that. So for me the golf course is really good.

Q. Two-part question. Being in the same management stable, were you surprised by Brooks' decision; and secondly, do you have any concerns about the immediate future of the TOUR?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I'll start with the Brooks thing. That was definitely a surprise for me. I was at a function with him last week and definitely wasn't what he had in mind. We were focused on building the PGA TOUR and getting the guys that are staying here together and kind of just having talks and figuring out what how we can help benefit the TOUR. So to see Brooks leave was definitely a surprise for us.

With that being said, he's made his decision. I'm not going to knock him for doing that. He made the decision that's best for him and I'm not going to be one to judge him on that.

For me, it's not where I see myself heading anytime soon. I grew up wanting to be on the PGA TOUR. I grew up of dreaming of playing in these events. I didn't grow up in playing in the Centurion Club in London or whatever it is or in -- I grew up wanting to play in the Masters. I grew up wanting to play in Austin. I grew up wanting to play Colonial, the Byron Nelson. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything at this moment in time. Those memories, to me, are invaluable. I would never risk going and losing the opportunity to bring, go back to Augusta every year or to do any of it. There's nothing that I would want to do right now that would risk having any sort of affects on the way my life is now.

The second part of your question, concerns for the TOUR? I think most of the guys are still, have a lot of faith in what the TOUR is doing. The TOUR is doing everything in their power to make it the best TOUR for all the players out here and I think we, getting behind Jay as our leader and just kind of figuring out what's best for the TOUR.

I think we released something today about some new events and new bigger purses and right now the best players in the world are still on the PGA TOUR. The guys on top of the leaderboard last week were on the PGA TOUR. Canada was one of the coolest events that I've been to and it was my first time up there.

Being able to play in front of the crowds and have those really euphoric moments where you're actually able to make a putt to win a tournament, like finishing out the Masters and becoming No. 1 in the world in Austin are memories that I can never, ever come close to replacing with an amount of money.

So for me, I'm not looking towards anything being able to take that away from the guys that have chosen to stay out here on TOUR.

Q. What's going on off the golf course has been dominating the conversation. Anytime you come in here you're going to get asked about it. I'm curious if the conversations are similar on the range? In the house? During practice rounds? Are you guys not as into this on a minute-to-minute basis?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, firstly, up until today I had two questions the entire year about LIV Golf, literally, and one of them was off camera and the second one I kind of put my foot in my mouth a little bit in Canada, and so now I feel like I'm a bit more prepared to answer questions about it.

But at home, yeah, we talk about it. It's definitely interesting. You have this government and the investment fund doing all these things to kind of try and attack our TOUR. Some guys are going and some guys aren't. It's definitely confusing for us as players. There's just a lot going on.

So at home, not much discussion. Definitely on the range, there's a little bit. But at the end of the day, if guys are going to want to go, they can leave. And like I said, I'm not going to sit here and judge them for that. It's up to them. They're going to make their decision and they know what's best for them. I don't know what's best for their lives. At the end of the day, that's probably, hopefully that's always going to be my position. I don't want to be getting in anybody else's business.

Q. Rory was mentioning a little bit about the fatigue level starting to set in for him after four tournaments in a row. So where is your fatigue level at this point and how do you measure that and decide when is a good time to take a break and when is not a good time to take a break, especially after a major?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think that's a real thing. Physically, I feel wonderful. Mentally, it's definitely been more of a grind this year. I've always been a guy that's played a lot of tournaments and life on the golf course has changed for me significantly in the last six months. Life off the golf course hasn't really changed at all, but life on the golf course, whether it's fans watching me play practice round or when I'm on the putting green and I finish up, there may be people always watching and it's like, Hey, can we have a picture, can we have an autograph, and I got to come in here every week now, and things are just a little bit different. And I'm more hadn't than happy to do all those things. Those are wonderful wonderful things for me to do and I'm happy to do them. It just takes more energy.

So how Rory says playing four weeks in a row can be very taxing, it, I'm certain that it is. Three weeks in a row is taxing as well. And you kind of have to build your breaks into the season. And so when I get home for off weeks, I'm really doing everything I can just to get mental rest. Physically, I think the toll on actually playing is not as taxing as it is mentally.

Q. Is there any amount of money that would change your mind about staying with the PGA TOUR?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't think so. I think if there was, there's a place you can find it now (laughing). Like I said, the money that we have on the PGA TOUR, I never dreamt of playing for this much money as I do now. I mean, I can't, I don't know, I don't know how much money I've made this year, but it's definitely more than I deserve for whacking a little white golf ball around.

For me, the memories that I have playing on this TOUR and the dreams I have of wanting to be on this TOUR and, it can't be replaced by anything financial. Money's money and it's not something that I'm trying to let control how I live my life.

Like Rory said, when you're making decisions purely based off of financial reasons and fear-based stuff, it doesn't always work out what's best. For me, it definitely hasn't worked out best in the past, whatever I was doing. If I was doing it purely for financial reasons, for me, it's not what works. For other people maybe it is. I'm not going to sit here and tell them what they should or shouldn't do. For me, playing golf on the PGA TOUR is well-compensated plenty for how I, for what I do for a living.

Q. Going off of what you said before about fatigue. Something a lot of the players have been discussing is the fall schedule and how it is, the golf calendar is just full 52 weeks. So -- and you mentioned before about how what they're going to announce, new events and stuff like that. What do you think would be best for the TOUR to do during that portion of the schedule and what's going to come?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: During the fall schedule?

Q. Yeah.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, the TOUR's really bounced around a lot with their format of the fall series and stuff like that. Personally I think building an off-season into golf would be good. For me it's always been hard kind of managing, whether it would be stuff at home with our friends, if someone's getting married, if our friends want to go on a vacation, that stuff's always really hard to plan around. So for me, even if it's a month, just being like, hey -- December, for us has always been kind one where it's like, you know, we could have time here, but it's still difficult. So just having a little bit of an off season would be nice.

But that being said, I like playing golf. I've always been a guy that plays a lot of events. I'm sure when I start having kids and life changes off the golf course I'll slow down. But for right now Meredith travels with me every week and we have a great time out here on the PGA TOUR.

In terms of what they could do, I think guys always appreciate -- let me think -- trying to figure out how to word it. I think there's a good balance between rewarding people for good play and punishing those that may -- or not punishing -- but, like when I came out on TOUR you always had those World Golf Championships. So maybe having a few events like those back where those guys at the top of the FedExCup for that year or the top of the World Ranking or whatever it is will be able to have an opportunity where it may be a smaller field event. Those don't hurt, but there's got to be a good balance between giving guys that are either struggling to keep their card or coming up from the Korn Ferry TOUR where they get rewarded for good golf and they can get into those events and be a part of those.

Whatever we can do to get the best players congregated more often and have the guys that haven't made it to the top yet have plenty of opportunity to work their way into those events and into those fields and have opportunities at those tournaments, but whatever we can do I think as a PGA TOUR to get the best guys playing against each other at the most often, I think is what will work best for the TOUR in the future.

So like I think Canada turned out like a fantastic, turned out such a fantastic event because of the guys you had in the final group. You had Tony, Rory, and JT playing in the final group. I mean if you love golf, who wouldn't want to watch that? You have three historically great players in our game going and competing for the same trophy. Whatever I think we can do as a TOUR to have more of that would be beneficial.

But like I said you have to have avenues for guys that may not be at the top right now to be able to work their way into those events and have opportunities, because I think one of the strengths of the PGA TOUR is the level of talent we have across the board. And so you'll see it at events like this. Where a guy like a Kramer Hickok last year may not have been someone that was looked at a lot at the beginning of the week to win that golf tournament but he very easily could have won this tournament last year. And guys like that always need to have opportunity out here.

THE MODERATOR: Well we appreciate your time. We're going to have Commissioner Monahan right up momentarily, so thank you and have a great week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, you guys can ask Jay all those questions, that's perfect.