PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

Oak Hill Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Scottie Scheffler joins us now at the 105th PGA Championship. Scottie, a 2-under 68 for you today. Could you maybe summarize your round for us?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I felt like I did a good job of grinding today. I had some nice up-and-downs and kept the course in front of me for the most part. Didn't hit as many fairways as I would hope to.

Still, to shoot 2-under, especially on a day where the rough got really wet and it was really tough to play out of, to post a number today was good, solid golf.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions.

Q. You mentioned the rough getting thicker, but it did seem like the course softened a little bit. Do you feel like the rain made it a touch easier because most of the guys up near the lead were in your wave.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say the rain made the golf course easier when you are executing. When you get out of position, I think it's just as challenging, just because the rough is so wet.

There are certain places where you would be able to advance the ball further if the rough wasn't wet. But when you are hitting good shots and hitting fairways, the golf course is definitely more accessible this afternoon just because the wind kind of died down, and the rain was on and off, but mostly it was just due to the wind dying, I would say, because the fairways didn't really seem like they softened up much to me at all.

Q. Scottie, obviously, you're tied for the lead right now. Does your mindset change at all going into the weekend?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No. The tournament is halfway done. I had two good days so far, and I'm just hoping to continue that as the week goes on.

Q. Just a quick question really about you say when you show up for tournaments, events, you always try and keep the best possible attitude at all times, but how challenging is that when it's so tough out there, and more rain to come? Must be really challenging.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's very challenging, but I feel like on a golf course like this, I'm one swing away from getting everything back together. You get rewarded for good shots out here, and if you execute, you can birdie pretty much any hole. Granted, it's going to take two pretty incredible golf shots to do that, but it can be done. It's not impossible.

So when you can kind of hang around the lead and stay in position and hopefully wait to get hot, it's a good position to be in. I've done a good job the first two days of keeping the golf course in front of me and scrambling well.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit a few more fairways than I did today, make it a little easier on myself, but ultimately, 2-under is a good round around this place.

Q. You never give too much away in terms of your exterior, but what is going on inside you at times?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I was just trying to grind today. Like I said, I wasn't hitting as many fairways as I hoped to, and so this golf course can get pretty challenging with stuff like that.

I made some good pars out there and took advantage of a couple of holes there on the back nine. I'm in a good position going into the weekend, but other than that, I don't really have much to say.

Q. How did you feel the end of the front nine, last four holes were playing today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: End of the front nine, last four holes.

Q. 6, 7, 8, 9.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: 6, 7, 8, 9. That was a point in the round where I felt like the rain was coming in and out. 8 is really the only gettable stretch in there. 6 and 7 were brutally tough. I mean, 6 is probably the hardest hole I've ever played. I don't know what everybody else is saying or the scoring average, but it's pretty stinking hard.

Q. Why is it so hard today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's hard any day. With how firm the fairways are, your line off the tee is right on the edge of those bunkers, and the ball can go through when you hit a good tee shot. Just challenging. If you don't hit the fairway, you really can't hit the green in two, so it's just a hard hole.

Q. So you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that it was the hardest hole in PGA Championship history today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No (laughing).

Q. Scottie, been in this position now a few times over the last few years. Does it get any easier, or do you find at least you're more comfortable contending so often, especially in the big tournaments?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. I find myself comfortable in these situations. These are the positions I want to be in. I want to be near the lead. I don't want to be in 30th place or going home. I show up to the tournaments to perform at my best. I'm proud of how I did the first few days, and I'm excited to be in a good position going into the weekend. With that being said, I'm going to keep my head down and keep doing what I'm doing.

Q. Was it uncomfortable at the beginning when you finally did get into this position, and did you have to actually kind of fight through that at all?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I just think that golf is a difficult sport. That's pretty much it. Golf is pretty hard. To show up and do my best each day and see where that puts me, and recently it's put me in some really good spots. I'm proud of that, and I'm hoping to continue that moving forward.

Q. Can you give us a sense of difficulty and the challenge? Just being a couple of yards off on 18 in that rough, what are you able to do with that ball? How tough is that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just trying to get it up there near the green somehow. I thought I had a lie to get the ball up on to the green. I swung really hard at a 4-iron, and the ball came out with a good amount of speed. With how wet the rough was, just couldn't get enough. Couldn't get enough height and spin on the ball.

I mean, if you are barely off out her, you're going to get punished pretty severely. It's just a challenging golf course. It's fun to play just because of how difficult it is. It's a grind.

Q. Do you find yourself in attack or conservative? Is par a good score here, but you say you could birdie every hole? How do you not risk --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You can birdie every hole.

Q. I didn't say you should.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You can (laughing). You can birdie No. 6, but it's pretty challenging. No, I think I just try and stay patient out there. I'm not thinking conservative or aggressive.

There are certain places where I can attack, and there are certain places where I can't, and whether that's having a comfortable number where in terms of going after a pin or having a number where you guys may seem -- or you guys may think that it's a place where I should be attacking and I don't really love the way the shot looks, so I'm going to play more conservative. All I do out there is just pick my lines where I'm comfortable and try and hit good shots.

Q. Have you ever been on the border this week of being impatient?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really. I think once you get impatient around this place, you're going to try and birdie every hole, and that's when you are going to start digging yourself a pretty deep hole.

Q. I know you're doing your own thing out there, but was there any thought to seeing Gary Woodland, such a good golfer and good guy, struggling the way he is? Are you ever thinking I hope he can get it together and make the cut or anything like that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Gary is a good buddy of mine. He is one of the guys I grew up learning from at Royal Oaks. He used to take from my coach Randy Smith, and I used to sit there and watch him hit balls for a very long time, and he was always very kind and let me hang around him and learn from him.

Yeah, it's just hard. Golf is a difficult game. Sometimes you don't have it, and sometimes you do. Gary is, obviously, a very talented player and a major champion. It's strange when you see a guy like that struggle, but it's part of the sport. You see the ebbs and flows of guys over their careers, and it's just a difficult game. It's just part of it.

Q. In this situation do you do anything as a playing partner, or do you just let him do his thing? How does that work?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You just -- I feel like everybody stays in their own little world out there. We're all competing against each other out there. Gary is staying in his own little space trying to do his best. Anytime someone hits a really good shot, there's always a good compliment coming their way, but I wouldn't say we're talking too much about the round of golf or conversing between holes. It's more just random other stuff.

Q. What's the worst you got out of position today, and what do you consider the best kind of recovery from any bad position?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was probably all on 17. I hit an okay tee shot there that was just a little bit too far right. Probably would have been in the rough if it hadn't hit the trees, and it hit the trees and went, like, 50 yards over there into the rough.

It was a hard shot for me to be able to get the ball back in the fairway. So I figured I would just try and get up there around the green somewhere. Since the rough was wet, the ball didn't come out as high as I thought, and I wasn't able to slice my 3-wood enough. I had 50 yards out of pretty thick rough to a tough pin. I got up-and-down, so it was definitely the best recovery of the day.