U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2023

June 15, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

The Los Angeles Country Club

Flash Interview

Q. 3-under 67. Compared to what you thought, how did the course play today under championship conditions?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The scores were a bit lower than I imagined them to be, but going out early on Thursday it's the easiest conditions you're going to see most of the week.

I said that a little earlier, but hopefully I'm teeing off a bit later the next few days than I did today. Hopefully that'll be the easiest conditions. But, yeah, heck of a round by Rickie. I got off to a pretty slow start today and so I was proud getting in the house there at 3-under.

Had a little hiccup there at the last but can't complain. Hit a lot of good shots today and I did a good job of staying patient out there and posted a good number on a day in which I got off to a pretty slow start.

Q. How would you say you putted today compared to recent tournaments?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Pretty good. I mean, I rolled it nice, saw some putts go in. Pretty good.

Q. When you look at just getting back to Rickie, when you look at that number out there, 62, I know you weren't in that group, but what do you make out of that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's a pretty low round at a U.S. Open. I joked a bit earlier. I think the USGA will be a bit frustrated that the number was that low today. I don't think you'll be seeing too much of that over the weekend.

Heck of a round, U.S. Open golf course. I didn't see 8-under out there today, especially with the way I started. For him to just -- it's one of those golf courses where I think if you can pick up some momentum and capitalize on some really difficult holes all of a sudden it starts to open up and you see those easier holes.

I guess Rickie started -- the back nine is harder than the front. Rickie starts on the back, and I didn't see his whole round, but if you shoot a couple under on the back and all of a sudden you make the turn got, you got No. 1, got you No. 8, you got 6 got, you got a lot of holes where you can kind of get after it.

I'm sure confidence was riding high after his front nine, and he just kept it rolling into the back.

Q. Regarding Rickie, he's obviously been climbing his way back a little bit. As you've made your ascent, he kind of stepped back a now he has been grinding to get back up the World Ranking. Have you seen him out there working? I don't know how well you know him --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I know Rickie fairly well. I wouldn't say that he's been grinding to get back. I think he's just grinding for years. I think in order to become one of the best players in the world, which he has been now for probably 10 years at least, you've got to put the work in. You've got to put the time in.

Golf is a hard game and sometimes you struggle. I think when people watch on TV they imagine it's easy because you see the guys just playing good all the time, but it's not that easy of a sport.

You go through the ebbs and flows of your career, and as long as you keep working hard and keep the faith in yourself, which Rickie has, he's climbed his way all the way back, and he's been playing some really solid golf this year.

Q. Did anything surprise you out there today? Obviously you had a couple practice rounds, but did anything come up and say, I didn't really see that before?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The greens were softer than I thought they'd be this morning. Outside of that, no. It played kind of how I thought it would. There were some gettable pins today.

I would just say the only thing that surprised me, we started on 1 and that green seemed like it was concrete, and then we got to No. 2, and I hit a 9-iron in there, and it landed like very soft for a U.S. Open.

I would say the greens were just a bit softer today than I thought they would have been.

Q. What's your biggest weapon when it comes to the majors do you think?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't know. I like competing. I like playing against the best players. I like hard golf courses. So I guess those all kind of line up with the majors. For me it's a fun challenge, and it's nice -- for instance today I started on 1, and 1 is probably the easiest if not the second easiest hole on the golf course. I hit a good drive and it ends up in the lip of the bunker, and I don't really have a shot advancing it down the fairway.

There's literally one place on the entire hole you can hit it where you won't have a shot, and my ball found its way in there. And not only that, it found its way to the downslope, too, which is even worse.

In regular tournaments, stuff like that can really hurt you, and in the majors you just feel like you can kind of wait for your moments and hit really good shots, and like today I kind of waited for my moments and hit the nice shot at No. 9 and made a good putt and then just got on a good run there and was able to capitalize.

I just feel like the challenge of everything suits my game better than some of the easier tests that we see on TOUR throughout the year.

Q. What do you think was the most difficult shot you executed out there today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The most difficult shot I hit?

Q. That you successfully executed.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I have no idea.

I hit a good shot into 17. What I'm most proud of my round today was I got off to the slow start. Like I said, the front nine is easier than the back nine, and I think I played the par-5s 1-over today.

It was frustrating to get off to that slow of a start, but I still was able to shoot 3-under, so I was most proud of how I hung in there today and played some solid golf.