AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 11, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Craig Ranch

Quick Quotes

Q. Kind of a roller coaster round. You had a hot start, then the putter went cold, then you rebounded well at the end. How key was getting those birdies and eagle back at the very end in that closing stretch?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I was pretty frustrated mid round. I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong, I just kind of got on the wrong end of a few things, and the putts definitely weren't falling middle of the round, but the beginning and the end everything was going in.

Yeah, I'll remember those putts towards the end and the beginning of the round, I hit a lot of good putts today and was fortunate to shoot a good round.

Q. I asked you about it yesterday, just kind of the putting and whether you felt like it was just hitting a lot of good putts and they weren't going in. Was that kind of similar to how it felt today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I had kind of -- I hit two really good putts on 9 and 10 that the one on 9 just hopped extremely hard off my line, and then on 10 I hit another really good putt, and then I would say I probably hit a bad putt on 11, and outside of that I hit a lot of really good putts today.

Yeah, so I'm pretty happy with how I performed. Obviously I wish I didn't have so many bogeys, but it was -- the golf course isn't super challenging, but when the wind is up, golf gets pretty difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to keep a cleaner card tomorrow.

Q. When you see someone putting up 11-under before you get on the course, does that change your mindset early in the first round?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really. It's a long tournament, and the guys this morning I would say probably didn't have as much wind as we did in the afternoon. I think you saw that with the scores; there definitely wasn't an 11-under out there in the afternoon.

But outside of that, just tried to go out there and play a solid round of golf and know that it's a long tournament and you've got to make a lot of birdies, but it's still golf. You've got to play really solid and try to keep the mistakes to a minimum.

Q. I know you wanted to be surprised on No. 17. What were your thoughts on the par-3 setup that they had with the stadium built up around it now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was good. It was good. A lot of fun. Whoever is doing the music back there, I did not like the music out there today, so whoever is in charge of the aux out there needs to change it up a little bit. But outside of that, it was awesome. It's a great setup. It's a really fun place to have the fans out there, and yeah, it was a good environment.

Q. What did you see on your second shot on 18 to get an eagle look?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, it's pretty much a full 3-wood. I actually barely caught it in the heel and fortunately got through the wind and that's one of those ones when you're hitting a shot from that far away, you're really just trying to hit it on line and see what happens. I was fortunate it finished up there about pin high and then hit a really good putt that went in.

Q. The eagle at 6, did you see the ball go in?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think I barely caught the end of it, but the crowd was right there, so it was pretty obvious when it went in, which was definitely a nice feeling.

Q. You were pretty nonchalant about it, almost like a walk-off homer where you knew off the bat it was good.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I definitely did not know off the bat that chip was going in. That was a pretty challenging spot down there.

It's kind of a nice amphitheater around that green. You have the stands there in the back, and there was a lot of people on the right side. My chip landed in a really good spot, and then you could kind of hear the crowd going -- their volume raising as the ball got towards the hole and then they all celebrated when it went in. So that's always fun.

Q. You and Ted had a nice little handshake.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah.

Q. 6-under through 6 there. Does your mind start thinking about anything or just thinking it was a great start?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just a great start. I was just trying to continue it, and then unfortunately I had a three-point and then didn't take advantage of the par-5, and then I had a couple more bogeys.

Fortunately I finished off the round really nicely to kind of get back out in front of where I was just because after the great start there was still some gettable holes that I needed to play, and I wasn't able to take advantage of them, but I finished really strong.

Q. Looking at the forecast, knowing there's potential for some nasty stuff, how nice is it to be in your own bed?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's good, yeah. Hopefully the weather stays out, but we'll see what happens.

Q. I did want to ask you, there was a video going around today of you and Tiger Woods on the range and you were reacting to him not taking divots on the range. I don't know how long ago that was, but was there any backstory to that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I was just wondering why he wasn't taking any divots, and he said he always does that, and I kept asking him about it, and he like didn't give me an answer.