THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Sawgrass

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Scottie Scheffler to the interview room here at the 2023 PLAYERS Championship. Third round leader here. You're in at 14-under par. Two-shot lead heading into tomorrow's final round. Maybe just some opening comments on the day and what you're looking forward to in the final round.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I played really good today. I got off to a nice start, which is always good. Kept it rolling from there, gave myself a lot of looks. Good finish as well.

So overall very solid day, only one bogey, which is really good around this golf course.

Thoughts about tomorrow, I think the conditions are going to be pretty tough. From what I saw, it's going to be pretty gusty winds tomorrow in the afternoon, so it should be a good challenge.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take some questions.

Q. Can you describe your comfort level right now just being out here. It just seems like you're constantly on every board every week for the last year plus since you -- even before you broke through really, but with your win. But what's it like for you out here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah I feel very comfortable. We've got a lot of good friends out here, and I guess this now is my fourth year on TOUR, so feeling very comfortable. Put in a lot of hard work over the years, and it's been a blessing to see so many results, and it's been a lot of fun. Hoping to continue that going into tomorrow.

Q. Now that you and Rory and Jon have been playing ping-pong with the No. 1 World Ranking for over a year now, do you feel like that's something off of your to-do list and the much bigger priority is just winning, regardless of where the ranking falls, or is the No. 1 ranking something important for you to hold over a long period of time?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think the ranking is just an algorithm. For me, I would much rather win the tournament than get back to No. 1 in the world. So that will be my focus going into tomorrow is just going out and having a solid round of golf, and the rankings will be the rankings.

It's tough to rank professional golf, and the OWGR has done a good job of that over long period of time, but at the end of the day for me, it's just an algorithm, and I'm going to go out there tomorrow and try and win the golf tournament.

Q. A lot players come in saying they believe they can win each week. Do you kind of come into it now almost expecting like a top-10 finish at this point?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm always hopeful to play well. I prepare to be in these moments. I prepare to come out here and play well. So when I'm at home getting ready for tournaments, I'm hopeful that I'm going to be in this position, and I've been fortunate so far this year that the hard work is continuing to pay off. I've been on a lot of leaderboards, and I've said it a few times, it's a lot of more fun being in the lead than it is being in 20th going into today and shooting 2-under and finishing 30th or whatever it is. It's a lot more fun being in the arena and being in the moment.

Q. Can you describe the shot on 2 and then what the conversation between you and Ted was after you made it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, so I did not hit a good second shot in there. I pulled it a little left. Then I had a decent lie there in the rough and was able to hit a flop shot pretty much exactly where I wanted to land it.

Those shots you're always just really trying to get a look. Yeah, I was definitely fortunate to see it go in, and then Teddy and I got a year-long thing going that I just beat him on and he owes me something, but he didn't have any of it, and so he owes me. It's an IOU from Teddy.

Q. Growing up among older players, was a short game contest something you enjoyed because as a little kid it's an area of the game you can compete against Justin Leonard and Colt Knost and so on?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah I grew up around those guys and they were always very kind to let me hang around them, whether it was a putting contest or short game contest or letting me watch them hit balls for hours on end. I learned a lot from those guys.

There's so many professionals out there that I was so fortunate to spend time around, and I can't thank them enough for letting a 7- to 12-year-old kid who was probably pretty annoying let me hang around and watch them for hours on end.

Q. I assume that was a 3-iron on number 8; I just wanted to make sure that was true.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yes.

Q. Looked like a decent shot.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, that was a nice shot.

Q. The length of the day you had of 26 holes and what you saw of the golf course, how much are you expecting it to change tomorrow given the conditions we have?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think it depends on the wind. If it's windy overnight, it will dry out a lot. If it's not super windy overnight, it probably won't get as firm as it was in the beginning of the week. But it's definitely going to firm up with the winds we're expecting tomorrow.

Q. How much did that change the dynamics of the tournament?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: If you had another day like today, probably have to go out there and shoot a low number, and tomorrow there may not be many low numbers out there in the afternoon. But the weather's always hard to predict, so we'll see what's in store for tomorrow.

Q. What's your thought process on settling yourself down before some of the gut-check shots coming down the stretch like second on 16, tee shot on 17, tee shot on 18? What's your process for settling yourself?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I just stick to my routine. That's pretty much it. Just remember to breathe, and breathing is part of my routine, and I've imagined being in those moments and so I know that I'm prepared to be in them, and all I can do is just try and hit a got and after that the rest isn't up to me.

Q. What's a breathing routine? Can you give us an example?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's just some deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth.

Q. Like five or ten?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: What do you mean? Not 10 breaths, no. Just like one or two.

Q. You told us at last year's Masters obviously that the morning was tough on you. You cried because of the nerves. Do you still get nervous in those Sundays before a late tee time or is it different now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I always get nervous. I get nervous before Thursdays. I want to play well, I want to win this tournament and going into tomorrow that will be my goal. But at the end of the day I'm just going to try and prepare or, sorry, just try and hit good shots and approach things the right way mentally and then go from there. All you can do is be committed to your shots.

Q. Do you know Min Woo at all?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I do know Min Woo, yeah. He's very, very talented. I don't know how much y'all may know about Min Woo, but I've heard about him for a long time and he's a very talented player.

Q. So is your chip-in contest if you make a certain number he owes you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yes.

Q. And you've been doing that the whole time with him or previous caddies, is it just something to --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's just something he came up with that was just fun. Fun for us. Probably more fun for me than it is to him. He occasionally cheers for one to not go in, if that makes any difference. (Laughing.)

Q. It's not really in his best interests to root against you on those, but...

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: All right, Scottie best of luck tomorrow. Thank you.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: All right, thanks, y'all.