PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 21, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

Oak Hill Country Club

Flash Quotes

Q. Do you look at somewhere you could have picked up who shots and regret those, or is the second-place finish a bonus?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would probably think about the two shots. I had two of the worst lip-outs that I have ever seen on No. 1 and No. 9 today. The balls were trickling, and I thought I was ready to take a step like they were going in. One horseshoed at trickle pace, and the other one lipped out and stayed about an inch from the edge.

Outside the that I played solid golf most of the week. In order to win these tournaments, the putts have to fall in to win the tournaments. I hit a lot of good putts this week. They didn't fall, but I put up a good fight. I played great today.

I gave the guys on top of the leaderboard something to think about, and I kind of made a little bit much a move, but Brooks just played some fantastic golf this week. He played too good this weekend for me to catch up to him.

Q. What hole were the lip-outs on, and when did you feel the most in contention?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I always felt like I was in it most of the day. The lip-outs were on 1 and 9. I felt like I was in contention most of the day, and then I started making some birdies on the back nine and felt like I could make a move.

Maybe looking back, I could have gotten one more there at 15 or 16, but I hit some good iron shots in there and got a weird wind gust there on 16 and didn't hit the best shot there into 15.

Maybe I could have gotten that one a little closer, but I'm not going to sit around and think about what could have been this weekend.

I put up a good fight, and I'm proud of how I played. Congrats to Brooks. He beat us this week.

Q. How did you shake off yesterday, especially the front nine yesterday when you got home.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I wasn't really thinking about the front nine by the time I got home. I wasn't thinking about the front nine by the time I got to the back nine. I was trying to stay in the moment, stay in the tournament. I did a good job of hanging in there and giving myself a chance. Saturday is probably what cost me the tournament.

Major championship golf courses, it's really hard to play four rounds under par, and if you do, usually you're holding a trophy at the end. If I would have done that, that's where I would be this afternoon instead of going home with second.

Q. I guess everybody handles what happened on the golf course differently after the round. I'm just wondering, you know, you coming in, obviously you were far enough behind Brooks that you had a chance; you were essential in that group, but you would have had to put a good score together, which you did today, and obviously he did as well. I always think about, what's it like the night before, how you deal with it, get up in the morning; how you are dealing with it, because you have late tee times. Just wondering how you dealt with it knowing you probably wanted to get out there as soon as you could.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just staying in my routine. I think at this point we're kind of used to the ebbs and flows of a four-day event. Just part of it.

Last night we got done pretty late, so I grabbed some food here. The people upstairs were nice enough to stay and found me a burger there at about 8:00, 8:30 last night. Then went home, did an ice bath. Got all my recovery stuff done. Watched some TV and then we want to sleep.

Woke up this morning and made breakfast, packed, watched a little bit of the coverage, and then came out here ready to go.

Q. Not that it changes anything, Viktor Hovland just tied you for second, but still, just to let you know.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yes.

Q. What is significant according to World Ranking gurus you, become No. 1 again this week. Is that something important to you? Does it make any difference?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Do I become No. 1 again?

Q. Yeah.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's great. I mean, it's just an algorithm. It's nice, but I really don't care (laughing).

Q. Why don't you care?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't play for world ranking. I play to come out here and compete. Right now I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to get the tournament done, but I'm proud of how I fought, I'm proud of how I played the back nine today to give myself a chance. I got beat by somebody that played better this week, and tip of the cap to Brooks.

Yeah, it's just how it goes.

Q. What was the strongest part of your game this week, and maybe your most enthusiastic about going to Colonial?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I struggled with my putting for a few tournaments in a row there. Masters, I should have had a chance to win that tournament. I just putted horrendously. Hilton Head, didn't putt great.

Then I started to gain some momentum on the greens last week, and this week I hit tons and tons of good putts. I felt like my putting inside of 10 feet this week was significantly better than it has been in the past.

I feel like I'm starting to feel some results from the stuff that I've been working on for a while, which is always nice. Yeah, definitely, I mean, a lot of solid putts. Especially pressure putts this afternoon. I hit a lot of good putts.

My ball-striking was there again this week, which is good. This week was unusual. I felt like I made more putts inside of 10 feet than I have in the past, and I didn't make the 10- to 20-footers that I usually do. Just sometimes the putts go in and sometimes they don't. I hit a lot of good putts. I can start feeling the ball coming off the blade again the way I want to, which is nice, and so definitely some confidence going into next week.

Q. Absolutely with Brooks winning now, our understanding is he moves into the top 6 potential Ryder Cup points to get on the time. Irrespective of what tour he plays for, would you welcome a non-PGA TOUR player on the Ryder Cup team?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I want to win the Ryder Cup. I don't care about tours or anything like that. I want to win the Ryder Cup. It's something we talked about last year when we finished, or I guess a year and a half ago now. We want to beat those guys in Europe. It's been a long time since we've beat them.

Whoever the best 12 guys that make a complete team, it's different than individual tournaments. We want a team of guys that are going over there together to bring the Cup back home, and that's all I really care about.