THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Sawgrass

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome five-time PGA TOUR winner and world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler to the interview room here at 2023 THE PLAYERS Championship. You're making your third start here at TPC Sawgrass. Thoughts on entering the week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, excited to be here. Golf course is in really good shape. Should be a good test. This is obviously one of our favorite events of the year with the field being so strong, and definitely excited and looking forward to going out there and playing tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Awesome. Coming in off a great finish at Bay Hill, just on recent form again.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, feel like my game's in good shape. I've had a lot of solid starts this year. Obviously the win in Phoenix always helps make the year feel a little bit better. If it was second, it probably wouldn't feel as good. So looking back towards this year, definitely feel like I'm playing solid and trending in the right direction.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions.

Q. I know it's been a couple days now, but I was wondering if you could just take us through the finishing stretch at Bay Hill. Certainly for viewers it was a really exciting tournament with it changing hands a lot. What was your impression being involved in real time?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was interesting because the golf course changes so much there day-to-day, so Friday and Saturday had high winds, but the greens, they watered them, and they weren't nearly as fast. Then you got out there on Sunday and you figured it was going to play a lot easier because there was virtually -- feels like no wind, but it was still probably five to ten miles an hour, which out there is basically no wind.

It seemingly played harder on Sunday somehow for those last groups. The greens were almost basically dead. They were so fast and firm.

I got off to a really bad start. I think I bogeyed 1, bogeyed 3, and then I think I doubled 8 if I remember right. But then chipped in on 9, and then after we got off 10 I made a really good par on 10, and all of a sudden, I was like I was somehow still in the golf tournament. When I looked at the leaderboard, I was like, okay, this is cool; I guess I'll go try and win now.

It was a lot of fun. I gave myself some good looks. It was definitely really hard to make putts out there. When you get that little friction on the green, any sort of little bump sends the ball off line, and there's nothing to catch it back on. Like when there's enough grass, the ball will bump and then it will actually like kind of keep holding its line. When there's no friction, it just hits and then it just keeps going. So it's very challenging to make birdies.

I gave myself a good chance there at the end. I hit a really good shot into 18 that just game up a tiny bit short, but it was definitely a lot of fun in that environment. Kurt played fantastic golf. After making a triple on No. 9 and still being able to win the tournament is pretty special playing.

Q. Were the greens that crispy, do you think that that's fun? Is it too far? Somewhere in between?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say that if we were to do that every week, I would probably get a little bit worn out. I think Bay Hill's probably one of the most tiring places to play golf on the PGA TOUR. I like the variety. I like having some tournaments where you can go out there and make birdies like an AmEx or Phoenix and then having weeks like Bay Hill where you're just going to have to grind it out. I like the variety that we have throughout the year.

Q. It looks like sending the top three players out in the world together for the first two rounds here is maybe away of showing fans, sponsors and even the rival league that this is as good as it gets. Is that how you look at it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The way I'm approaching it is I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Rory and Jon are very talented golfers. I'm just looking forward to going out there and watching them play and having a good time out there and competing together. I'm sure that the fans will be out there watching us, and it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll be able to make some birdies and give them some roars. Should be a lot of fun.

Q. If you put your fan hat on for a minute, can you appreciate what's already gone on this season and what could possibly happen this week with you guys going head-to-head in Phoenix and then L.A. and then Bay Hill?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I would say the model is succeeding for sure. We've had some really, really great finishes so far this year, having a lot of best players in the world going up against each other. Most of that is thanks to Jon; seems like he's at the top of the leaderboard every single week (laughing).

But it's definitely been very successful, and it's been a lot of fun playing. As a player that's what you look forward to. You look forward to being there at the end with another guy that's at the top of his game and you look forward to beating the best players in the world. So far we've had a lot of opportunities for that this year.

Q. You've had experience playing this course for quite a few years even going back to the Junior PLAYERS a decade ago. What do you feel like you've been able to learn from this, learn from your experience about how to approach this course best?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: This golf course is different. It's one of those places where as a player I think you appreciate it because it's not really -- there's not one guy that has an advantage around this place.

I was talking to a few guys earlier, and somebody said it was a thinking man's golf course, and I said it's actually kind of the opposite because you just have to hit really good shots if you want to play well. You can't scrape it around this place. You just have to hit fairways and hit greens and go from there.

If you're not playing really good golf, you're not going to score, and if you are playing well, you're going to shoot low scores, and so as a player I think we really appreciate that.

Q. I was reading through the transcript of your press conference at Bay Hill, and you talked a lot about the limited field events and how getting the best guys together more often would lead to the battles that you were talking about. But with the cut issue where did you stand? Where did you land on getting rid of the cuts in those events?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The cuts is a hard one because I don't have a strong opinion either way. I'm 50/50 on that because as a player I think a cut is good. I think when you go to the other side and you go to sponsors, a cut is probably bad.

But from a player's point of view, sometimes there's value to making cuts. Like if we're going to have an elevated event the week before a major and there's no cut and I show up and I play two awful rounds, sometimes you would rather be just like, all right, just kick me out of the tournament, let me go regroup and get ready for next week.

But from a sponsor and fan point of view, it's arguably not very good. So for me I don't stand too hard on one side of the fence on that. I'm not the guy running the business. I'm the one out here trying to play. So all I can do is go out there and approach these events.

But it's something maybe we'll fiddle around with in the future. I don't know exactly what the format will be for every event next year, but we'll see.

Q. When you're being paired in a group like with Jon and Rory who have obviously been around a little bit longer and have the attention, have grabbed the attention of the world, how much does it juice you up knowing that whoever makes the birdies or makes an eagle it's going to produce a roar in the crowd? How much does that kind of juice you up when you know the gallery is also pretty stoked for what's going to happen or whatever you guys might deliver?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think any time we're playing in front of people it's a lot of fun. Hopefully the environment here will be the same, and I'm sure it will. As a player, that's stuff that you look forward to. I like hearing them cheer. You don't like hearing the groan when you miss a putt from about 10 feet. It's more fun when the ball goes into the hole and you hear nice applause. It should be a lot of fun, and I'm sure we'll have a great crowd out there and hopefully be able to make many so noise.

Q. Do you recall the very first time you played the 17th hole? What were the circumstances? Were you nervous? What happened that day? Just the situation.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I remember I played here once when I was a kid. I played in the junior tournament here a couple times, but the first time I played here I remember there were punched greens and I think I hit a really good shot. I was just out there with my dad. It was just us two, and just going out there and having fun. Yeah, all I remember, I think I hit a pretty good shot.

Q. Did it feel different being on that hole that you surely saw on TV so many times?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think anytime when you see stuff on TV it always looks so much larger than life, whether it's a person or a hole or a golf course, and then you get out there and you're like okay, wait, like it's a normal sized green and I can do this. I was pretty young at the time. I was maybe 10 or 12.

So to be able to come out here and play this golf tournament was definitely -- or play this golf course was a very special treat, especially as a young kid. I was just trying to go out there and have fun with my dad. He's always done a good job of helping me enjoy things because I feel like I'm pretty serious when it comes to golf, and he does a good job of keeping things light, and we went out and had some fun, and it was definitely a special memory.

Q. What's the most fun you've had in golf without your dad? I mean really fun, Scottie.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: (Laughing.) That's a good question. Most fun I've had on a golf course? Without my dad? My dad actually, growing up, he didn't play much golf with me. He kind of dropped me off. I had three sisters growing up, so he wasn't spending too much time with me at the golf course because three other kids got to -- the golf course was actually a really good place for him to be able to just drop me off and leave me for the day. So we didn't play too many rounds together.

But I would say favorite golf memory, I mean, I don't know. Probably the Masters.

Q. I would hope so.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: But he was there though so I don't know if that's cheating.

Q. It almost sounds like you're guilty at times of taking this too seriously even though it's your profession.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I've always taken golf very seriously. I think that's why I try to focus so much on the present, just staying present. That's what's important for me. I don't want to look too far ahead or look too far back. I take golf very seriously. I've put a lot of time into becoming good, I guess, and I've spent a lot of time trying to continue to improve.

So when it comes to out here and it's time to compete, I'm usually ready to go, and I expect myself to go out there and play well. Sometimes it's good to have that reminder that I'm not in control and that there's more to life than just my score.

Q. Did you ever throw a club as a kid?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, yeah.

Q. Have you done one as an adult?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah.

Q. I've never seen it. I don't think I've ever seen one.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Maybe you don't watch enough. I don't know. No, I used to -- I actually struggle with anger a lot because, like I said, I thought that you had to go out and play every round well because I prepared to go out and play every round well and I didn't understand bad shots. I didn't get why that would happen, because I don't know why, and so I would get frustrated and I would get angry, and I struggled with that for a really long time. I would say I still struggle with that.

Q. How did you learn to fix it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, just get over it. I still get angry internally, but I try not to show it on the outside. I could tell you some stories from when I was a kid, but I'll tell you that later. I don't need to do that up here.

Q. Can you give us your opinion of this golf course, of playing this golf course. People talk about it being very difficult. Do you see it as difficult or do you see it as you described it, point to point?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it's very challenging. If we were playing a video game I don't think it would be very challenging. But it's golf and there's elements and it's challenging, and you don't always hit it where you are looking, so anytime on this golf course -- basically on any hole, anytime you get out of position here it's a very challenging hole. But if you're hitting every shot exactly how you want to, which is pretty much impossible in a round of golf, it's pretty easy.

So when you look at a golf course from that perspective, it's actually great test of golf, and I think that's why you see different champions every year.

Q. Do you feel like you figured out what it is you've done wrong the last couple years here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, last year I got the wrong tee time. The year before that COVID happened. Or was that --

THE MODERATOR: Two years.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Two years ago? What was my result in 2021?

Q. Cut.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Cut. Didn't play good. (Laughing.)

Q. I asked Max this question yesterday, but in your opinion in sort of the world of the PGA TOUR right now with the Brysons, the Brooks Koepkas and the Patrick Reeds that are on the LIV Tour, there aren't many guys, at least we may know of, that kind of get under the skin of other players, at least from what we see on television and hear. Does the TOUR need guys like that to generate the sidebar story lines, or does just the fact that you have so many guys in the top 30, does that generate enough excitement in your opinion?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Sorry, so the question being?

Q. Does the TOUR need sort of like the heel to drive story lines? Is that what's missing? Does the TOUR need villains?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Does the TOUR need villains? I'm not sure. I know that there was a lot of buzz in the last few years about like rivalries and stuff like that, like the Brooks/Bryson thing really blew up for awhile.

From my point of view playing out here, I view a lot of that stuff as a distraction. Whether it be, I don't know, for me it's always best to just try and go out there and just play golf and go from there. I don't look to make a lot of noise with my mouth. If I'm ever going to become famous or noteworthy or whatever it is out here, I'd like it just to be for my golf. I don't want to be known as the guy who said the wrong thing or whatever it is I just let my golf clubs go out there and do whatever it is I'm trying to do. Other than that I'm just trying to live my life. So when you talk about the villain, maybe, from a business perspective, I'm not really sure, but that's not for me.

Q. Which hole on this course is your favorite and which one do you view as the most challenging?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say most challenging for me would probably be 18. I'm a guy that usually likes to fade it off the tee and there's a big lake on the left side there. So I usually will try and hit 3-wood so I can actually draw it around. That way if you do make a mistake and it goes in the water I can actually drop up there versus if I'm trying to fade a driver and I pull it I basically have to reload.

Then the second shot, it almost kind of teases you because it looks like you can hit it right at the pin and then if you land it just barely left of it just trickles over there into the water. So I would say most challenging is 18.

And then, I mean, the finish out here is so tough to beat with it being 16, 17, 18, all great risk-reward holes. I mean, really, when you go back to the whole golf course, if you hit good shots you're going to get rewarded for it. That is so great for us to be able to come out here and play and it's such a treat to be able to go challenge ourselves on this golf course. You don't see the same guys on the leaderboard every year, you see whichever guy's playing the best that week. As a player we really appreciate that.

Q. Based on results of the last year, you, Rory and Jon Rahm are maybe the big three of this year in the World Ranking. Do you think this can go on in this decade? Can you be the top 3 of this decade?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Who knows. That's pretty far ahead. Both Jon and Rory have won many many golf tournaments out here. I think if you added up all our wins together mine would be a pretty small percentage of that win total. So hopefully we'll all continue to play great golf. I think it's fun having three guys kind of jostling for the world No. 1 and I'm very pleased to be one of 'em. Rory and Jon are both such talented players that any time I can be spoken in the same breath as those guys it's special for me. Especially growing up watching a guy like Rory play golf for a long time. So hopefully we'll continue to play good and be able to compete for a long time out here.

Q. Do you think that because of the changes of the point structure and the ranking it will be more difficult to newcomers to reach your level?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Which ranking?

Q. Because the tournaments are pointing in a different way. So it is less points per tournaments in Europe and the United States.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, are you talking about World Ranking?

Q. Yeah.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Okay. I haven't really looked too -- I haven't looked very deep into the world rankings since it was announced or since the changes. I do know that I think some of it's a little bit flawed, because golf's such a hard sport to rank. I mean, when you're looking at football, baseball and basketball you get your record and there's more advanced statistics you can look at. But golf is so different than all the other sports. So I think it's a matter of opinion, but no, I mean, if you can make it here to the PGA TOUR and play good golf I think you get rewarded for it. You see a lot of those full-field events, whether it be a 144-man field, they get a lot of points because our fields are so deep out here. And then you look at a smaller field, like an East Lake, doesn't draw as many points. So there may be more of an opportunity now, there may be not as much. But always out here you get rewarded for playing good golf.

Q. I did look that up, and in 2015 Texas played across the street. You guys won the team title. Beau won the individual title. You, Beau and Kramer were in the top 10. Doug Ghim played -- and Taylor Funk was the individual. But anyway, the top-four guys on that team are all in this field. How good was that team?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: We had a great team when I was in college. I was very blessed just to be a part of that team. I got to learn a lot from those guys. Beau, I think it was his junior year where he won maybe seven times. We played a pretty difficult schedule. So I was able to learn a lot from Beau watching him play good. He won a bunch of awards that year. He was definitely the best player in college.

Barring an injury, we probably would have been national -- or we would have had a better chance at being national champions. I learned a lot from those guys. Kramer was a senior when I was a freshman. He was as hard of a worker as I had ever seen, and he was very structured in the way he did things, and I learned a lot from that.

Then you had Doug, who I played with for four years, and him and I would just bounce stuff off each other all the time. Doug was a really good player in college. I think he was an All-American definitely his last three years, and he was a first-teamer, Walker Cupper, and so I was able to learn a lot from Doug as well.

THE MODERATOR: All right, Scottie, thanks so much for your time and good luck this week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thank you.