MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 4, 2023

Xander Schauffele

Quick Quotes

Q. Xander, how do you find the course playing here so far?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's a little softer than normal, I'd say, but I guess a year's passed since COVID, so that's on par.

Unfortunately, it's been raining a ton and the course is pretty saturated. It's supposed to rain a lot more and get a lot cooler. So I think weather is going to be a big factor in this year's Masters. Kind of settled the ship a little bit. Nice to come into this week.

Q. Especially coming into a place like this where you've had past success. Feel good coming in here and have good feelings at a golf course. How does that go?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, you never want to come into any major, especially this one, searching for anything. So just a level of comfort, I think focusing on resting. It's always a thing us players need to try to do here.

We want to hang out and practice and play as many holes as possible and just be on site. Just like any tournament, you've got to be fresh to compete at a high level. I guess that's number one right now.

Q. What's it look like for you this week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, not playing too many holes. Not staying on the range too long. If you look around, there's a lot going on. Whether you like it or not, your brain's going to be busy. If it's not busy, you're working on focusing on what you're doing, which is also taxing.

Getting off site and away from everyone is always a good thing.

Q. How comfortable do you feel on this golf course?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, pretty comfortable, I would say. I have played well, which is helpful. Kind of got over that hump I guess here on property and giving myself a chance to win on property a couple times. That's definitely something I have kind of in the back pocket.

Obviously I haven't gotten it done, but I think playing well on any golf course helps, especially this one.

Q. Everybody talks about patience needed to win.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's always important in major weeks, but with the forecast and sort of not really knowing what it's going to do here. It was supposed to rain a lot yesterday. It didn't really rain from that 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. window.

So you anticipate rain and you think it's going to be really soft. Then it doesn't rain, and you have the SubAir going.

So I think patience kind of clicks in on all fronts when you're out here and trying to focus. You've really got to deal with what's in front of you and take what the course can give you, which is sometimes not much.

Q. What are the advantages to... (No microphone.)

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: For sure, yeah. No doubt. I've never seen Washington Street so packed on a Monday because Tiger was out here. It's always a reminder of what he can do for our game and it's a beautiful thing.

It's insane. I haven't been here that much. I was supposed to be coming the correct direction up Washington Street, and it was absolutely a parking lot. That's because of him.

It can definitely be distracting with a lot of people moving around. After he finishes, if he taps in before you and if you have a six-footer for par there's going to be some movement and people shuffling around to get in position to watch his next tee shot.

Q. What have you learned about this place that makes for a good game plan?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just getting comfortable. There's certain tee shots that are deceiving. Certain approach shots that are deceiving. Pitch shots that are deceiving in terms of you can't see the surface.

Looks like you can fly it here, can't fly it there. Greens get really fast. There's a lot of trust in memorizing what a ball can do from a certain spot. When the greens are really quick you can kind of drop a golf ball on any part of the green and ten of them will roll within three feet. You just have to get it there.

I think just having that knowledge around the property and it being sort of in the back of your brain, not really -- you don't have to think much. It feels like you're playing a home game to an extent where you can remember all the small things.

Q. Where did you guys watch the game last night?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: At home. Austin and I, we stayed up. I watched the entire thing. It sucks to stay up late and lose, but San Diego State had an incredible run. It was really cool. I saw Coach Fish in the stands, Dutch was there.

The patience to stay in this for so long. The group of guys, they weren't this highly touted group, which is really cool and kind of what San Diego State is about sometimes. They play hard knocks, and they're really disciplined with their defense. They got within five there, which was really exciting, there at about 11:00 p.m. here.

They gave us some good entertainment for a bit, but UConn is obviously pretty solid.

Q. Do you have a strategy like if I'm at this yardage or more on 13, I will go for it? What if you're on Sunday and you're one club longer and you feel like you need a birdie or even an eagle?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It puts you in that no man's land. The green is so small from left to right off a hook lie. It's kind of a no brainer honestly. You just lay up. There's not much to it.

Not a lot of guys are going to be hitting comfortably -- if you're in the lead, you're not hitting 3-wood or hybrid into that green unless you really need to.