THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 7, 2023

Xander Schauffele

TPC Sawgrass

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Xander Schauffele to the interview room here at the 2023 PLAYERS Championship. Making your fifth appearance at Sawgrass. Do you want to start off with some opening comments on what it's like to be back.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's always great being back. THE PLAYERS Championship is a big event. It feels like a very important week. So it's always nice to be back here. The weather seems to be pretty nice. Just looking forward to a good week.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take some questions.

Q. Is there an easy answer to how you played this course since the first time and when it was still in May? I know nobody was beating Webb that week, but you did tie for second. Since then, did you think you had it figured out a little bit or what's been going on?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, you're actually the second guy, someone outside reminded me how terrible my record is now since my tied second finish. So I wasn't aware that I was so bad here. You guys are crushing it. Reality check's always nice. Usually my wife gives me one. So we'll just let it be in the media room today.

But, yeah, it's just different. It's a different style. Last year I would wash up as an X. Felt like we were at an Open Championship and I got the bad side of the wave. Became a bad statistic there last year, unfortunately. So looking for more reasonable weather this year. Sort of a more even keel split there in the draw. That would be helpful for me to I guess get over the hump here.

Q. But do you think your overall skill set fits this course and will as the years go on?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I firmly believe my skill set is going to fit any golf course. That's kind of what we've tried to work on is make sure that I can play anywhere. It's just going to be a matter of if I can wrap my head around it or not. So I'll have to dig deep this week after these interviews to make sure I'm coming out positive.

Q. I asked a few players about this. Do you have -- if were you to pick, do you have a favorite hole on this course, and which hole do you find the most challenging?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: There are a lot of really good holes on the property. 18's a really good hole. It's really hard. 18 could be up there, I guess. If I had to go through like sort of the -- you're asking the wrong guy if you're talking about architecture and things of that nature. I'm sure Pat will come through here at some point.

But the course plays very difficult. The design sort of rewards aggressive play. You have to aim at flagsticks, and sometimes when you're short-sided you're actually chipping uphill, versus kind of going towards the fatter part of the green. It will leave you sort of a 60-foot putt that's up and over and then downhill at the end. So I think a lot of that has to do with sort of Pete Dye's design and how he sort of envisions the flow of the course.

Q. Do you have any specific memories from last year like when you think back on your tournament experience how crazy that wave is, what comes to mind?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, yeah, 17 was awesome. 18 was even better. I think Austin showed me the stat on his phone. That's why I got rid of social media, but I think he showed me like a first ever to go from like the top 10 to outside the top 100 or something like that in like one hole. So like I said, my team's all about giving me reality checks and I got one.

Q. What's your sort of big picture take on these PGA TOUR changes?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, like I said to you before, I'm pretty aware of them. I think just with everything and any sort of line of work you need a certain sample size of certain amount of years to sort of see if a change is going to be correct or not. They look fine to me, if you ask me.

But I think unless you get enough sort of years under your belt where you see how the flow of it is, if someone's going screwed or someone's not getting screwed and things of that nature, if good play's rewarded. I think you just need a bigger sample size to sort of adjust and move on.

The TOUR has obviously shown that they're not afraid to make changes, so if things aren't great, if people are -- some guys aren't very happy right now, some guys are happy. If people aren't super happy, the overall membership, then we've got to adjust it moving forward.

Q. I'm wondering have you watched the Netflix show?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No.

Q. Do you intend to watch it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Man, I just -- I'm really trying to get over the hump this week. So I don't know how watching a show is going to help me with my sort of mental stress levels right now.

Q. Beyond this week could you see yourself doing it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Man, my wife watched it.

Q. Did she like it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, she did. She told me I need to watch it, actually. She watched Tony Finau's episode and she said it was awesome. So her and Alayna get along, and I heard great things about his episode, as well.

So I don't know, man. I'm more of like a murder mystery; I don't really like to bring my work home. Unless there's any murder on the show, then probably not.

Q. You and Kurt mentioned last week you guys play quite a bit together at home. You knew how good he was. Just wondering if you were expecting that out of him last Sunday?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. Kurt's great. He's got a lot of firepower. It was honestly inspiring to watch, just because I've played with him a lot. I've seen him rattle off 10, 12 birdies playing at home. But to do what he did on a big stage, like I said, it was awesome. It was cool to watch. Couldn't be happier for him.

So am I surprised? No, not really. I think it just sort of for me, the inspiration came from just a little ounce of self-belief can go a long way in big moments. He obviously showed a lot of that on the back nine. So happy to have a little go around with him this week.

Q. Just shifting gears a bit, I know people have been talking about asking about your favorite hole and things about the course. But I've been closely tracking the antitrust fight between LIV and the PGA TOUR. And my question for you is, if there was a settlement, what do you think the PGA TOUR should push for so that its players are protected?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Sorry between who?

Q. Between LIV and the PGA TOUR. The legal fight. Say if there was a settlement.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I got it. What should they push for?

Q. Sure.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, man. I am no lawyer. And I have not wrapped my head around a lot of that, to be honest. I have not followed -- similar to "Full Swing," I haven't really followed a lot of the legal complications.

I figured we have the right people in place to handle big battles of that nature. My job is to go and play golf on green grass. I'm not really sure what -- I'm sure Jay, I see him up there right now, I'm sure that's a good question for him in terms of what he would like to settle for. But as I is see it right now, I think the TOUR's doing just fine.

Q. But anything from like the players' perspective in terms of what you would like to see? Just sort of hypothetically speaking like a merging or a possibility to maybe potentially have other players come back. I'm just curious if you have any thoughts?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, once again, it's so fresh, this is such a new sort of fracture in the sport that it's pretty, it's too soon to tell. I can tell you that I want to compete against the best players in the world. If there's a chance that some of those players are on that TOUR right now, yeah, I would say so. So we'll be able to see them at the majors, and if Dustin's beating me every week, then, yeah, I would like to get a piece of Dustin when I can and make sure it's not only four times a year.

But at the same time, I don't know if that ship has sailed in terms of doing some sort of merger of that nature. But I don't know. You're asking the wrong person, to be honest.

Q. When you see them at the majors, like what do you think it's going to be like in terms of the dynamic if the players from both sides are face-to-face or sitting together?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean I don't really care. To be completely honest, I have pretty much had almost no beef with any of the guys anywhere. It's not like completely in my nature to do that. I try to call it how I see it for the most part, and you know, everyone on that TOUR's had a reason for leaving and everyone on this TOUR has had a reason for staying. So we're just going to go play golf, and I'm sure there will be -- I don't see any fights breaking out or anything crazy of that nature. But, you know, I'm sure there will be some funny looks here and there. But other than that I'm sure I'll be happy to see some of those guys again.

Q. For those of us who are just getting to know Kurt Kitayama, what do you think is the most interesting thing about him?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, man I can't reveal too much stuff about him. I don't know. His legs used to be bigger.

Q. Really?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Hard to wrap your head around, right.

Q. What makes him such a great player?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean he put it on display last week. I think he's just a lot -- he looks so innocent but he's a lot tougher than he looks. He hung tough to make a -- I think the first guy in a long time to make -- he hit two balls OB that week, and he won the tournament. So I mean I would say, to be fair, you're probably not going to be able to do that on any other property. You can kind of, when I say get away with it at Bay Hill, you know what I mean when I say that, because it's so hard. You have to just pick up shots somewhere else. But guys are going to lose shots to the field, and that's just how that tournament Whisper Rocks.

But, shoot, if I hit two balls OB, I would try my best, but that would be a hard one to come back from and to win. So he obviously stayed really stoic throughout that whole process, which was really impressive.

THE MODERATOR: That's all the time we have for questions. Thanks for taking the time. Best of luck this week.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Thank you.