ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 3, 2023

Xander Schauffele

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. (No Microphone.)

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: So far, so good. Yeah, happy with the 2-under.

Q. California's not known as a windy state.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It gets windy there.

Q. What was the best part of -- what did you do best out there today to kind of play in the conditions?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just mindset. Austin did a really good job with me. I tried to get impatient at times, but he just kind of -- just because we knew that front nine -- we're on the better wave. So I knew that this side was going to play really hard and that I wanted to make as many birdies on my first nine as possible. I wasn't able to do that. So I was getting a little testy and he was able to tell me to cool off. So it was good.

Q. On days like today is that where the teamwork part of it really comes into play?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, for sure. It's just, you're so subject to results and the wind and all kinds of stuff happening. So it's easy to get lost in the sauce, sometimes.

Q. Was the putting more difficult also because of the wind?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think it's just really hard to putt out here in general. Some of those pin locations were really difficult. So, overall, I felt like I putted pretty well.

Q. Did you have to play for the wind?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, for sure. On some of those exposed holes -- sometimes when the grandstands are behind the green or something it will block some of the wind. But some of those areas that are exposed and it kind of swirls through.

Q. Is it a ball, is it two balls?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I wish I could tell you. I don't have that.

Q. It's not in anybody's Aimpoint.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah.

Q. You know it's going to be a tough week and then you got wind crop up. What portion of this week is mindset?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, like out of a hundred percent? Shoot, I mean, it's always a lot. But this one's probably a little extra. It's just a really hard -- with no wind it's just a hard golf course.

Q. You know it's coming at you.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's just ever hole. Every hole you got to be on. Can't take any holes off.

Q. You played some golf at home with Kurt. He's put himself up there in some tough tournaments. What's he like? We don't know a lot about him. What's he like behind the curtain?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, Kurt, we call him Quadzilla or the Quadfather. He's got really big legs. So I call him Quadz with a Z at the end. He's a good dude. He's a really good player. He hangs tough and he's got a good head on his shoulders. So not surprised to see him up there on the leaderboard.

Q. Strength of his game?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He hits it a mile. He hits it far, putts it well, he does everything good.

Q. When you -- obviously it was tough condition day out here, but Jon has been on such a bender for a long time, how jarring --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: A bender?

Q. Well just --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think your version and my version of a bender are different.

Q. Actually, mine is the same as yours.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Okay, got it.

Q. But if I was playing that well I would be on a bender.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I was going to say, I think he's sober while he's winning all these tournaments. If he was drunk then that would be unbelievable.

Q. Is heater a better word?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Heater, there you go, yeah.

Q. But if I was on that much of a heater, I would be on a bender as well, I suppose.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Touche.

Q. When you see a 76 out there, obviously you're close to it, how, when you realize how amazing he's been playing for so long, is that eye opening a little bit? I mean, obviously he had just a couple of swings on 6.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I played with Jon since college. Pretty much every year in college almost. I think three years in college I played, once I transferred from Long Beach State. He's always been unbelievable. He always sort of has this gear to him. He was No. 1 ranked amateur I think when I played with him in college. So he's always been someone that I've been trying to gun down and he still is now.

Q. But when you see a 76 next to his name, that's not, we haven't seen much of that in a while.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, just, I mean, he had a ball blow away from a hole. It was like a foot and then it blew like five feet and then he missed that. It's not hard to do out here. You're going to see a lot worse scores than 76 today, I promise.

Q. Are you going to go watch 'em? Do you watch, do you find yourself watching golf on TV?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Watch the carnage on TV? Depends if I'm in the mood. Maya is here, so probably not.

Q. Does she like watching carnage?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No. I think she came out for nine holes. I told her it was going to be really windy, so she probably didn't even watch me for all 18.

Q. How did you play yesterday?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: 4-under.

Q. A string of pars or did you bounce some in there?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I can't recall. I'm so just trying to go hole by hole it's not even funny.

Q. Are you happier in a round of a clean card with a few birdies or would you rather have a lot more birdies and accept a few mistakes? Does it tell you anything more about your game, one or the other?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's definitely an approach. I think when you see like eight birdies and three or four bogeys you know the guy was shooting at every pin and like he was a few swings away from shooting 60.

So, we try to play clean. Austin's really good at being disciplined to spots and to numbers and things of that nature. It's helpful when it's windy like this.

Q. You say the ball blew on the green for Jon you're saying?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I mean, I wasn't paying too much attention. I mean, my ball like kind of came back. It was the same hole. It was just, it was really hard. The wind was right-to-left. It kind of rolled a little bit away. It was just unfortunate. Just caught a gust.

Q. Was that on 8?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. That would be 8.