THE RYDER CUP

September 26, 2023

Xander Schauffele

Marco Simone

U.S. Team

Press Conference

TOM CARLISLE: Good afternoon. We are joined by Xander Schauffele in the interview room here at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. It's your first Ryder Cup on European soil, and you have a few ties to Europe yourself. How unique is this week to you, and how much are you looking forward to it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'm excited for it. It's my first time in Italy. Just trying to take it all in.

Q. It's pretty rare in a golf tournament people are openly cheering against you. How have you been at using that as fuel throughout your career, and have you been able to use that as fuel throughout your career?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, I've never played overseas I guess in a Ryder Cup. I've only played a Presidents Cup in Australia, and the fans were great. I thought they had a really good time coming up with chants, with the names and making things pretty funny on the first tee. I think all of us pros really enjoy that and enjoy that sort of banter.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Q. So Pat just said that what he gets the most out of playing with you is your positivity, and it just makes me wonder what in the world you take from him?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Positivity (smiling).

He's an incredible golfer. He's an easy guy to lean on because he's so good at golf. We just have a really good time, and when we get things going, it sort of feels like we kind of kick into cruise control.

Q. To follow up on that, you're not exactly like Mr. Rah-rah, either, out there, like pumping your fists or waving your hands a lot. When he says you're the positive one, how is that expressed between you two or how do you show that to a partner?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: We do talk while we're walking. So words of reinforcement, not that he ever needs it, but he knows how I like to sort of dig in. And no matter where we are on a hole, fortunately he usually puts me in the fairway, where if he's chipping, he chips me to tap-in and things like that. He's an easy person to lean on to stay positive.

Yeah, he knows that I'm never going to quit and I'm never going to give up. And I don't think anyone on our team would, but he knows that I'm trying my best, and that's all we can ever do.

Q. Is Patrick a guy that you do have to lift up sometimes? You're around him a lot.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No. I must say, his ability to focus is probably his -- what I think is probably his strongest attribute, besides all the incredible golf and everything he's good at. But his ability to focus is pretty uncanny.

Q. So continue probing this relationship, you're friends off the course, as well. What is something about his personality that's different from yours that you like that brings you guys together that's different from you?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He's really measured. He's super measured, and I appreciate it. A lot of my friends growing up are more measured now than they used to be. But for how young he is, he's extremely measured, and I appreciate a lot of his takes on several things. We both have a pretty dry sense of humour, so we do mesh when it comes to that stuff.

Q. You and Pat have obviously gotten good at foursomes in the various events, but the format has not been easy to grasp for anyone, and it's gone back and forth with the Americans on how well they do. Why do you think that is, and what are the challenges to getting good at it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's really hard, in terms of getting in any sort of flow. You're hitting half the shots. So if you start off kind of cold, I mean, you have quite a long time to hit your next shot depending on sort of what the hole is.

You know, I think it's something that we're going to get better at, now that everyone is a similar age and everyone really gets along well and everyone seems to -- seemingly play sort of golf as a whole has gone one direction that's sort of hit it as far as you can and do everything else in between.

I think guys are starting to figure it out.

Q. What is it about these international competitions that bring the best out of you from the Olympic Gold Medal to The Presidents Cup to the Ryder Cup?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: They are just really fun, and I enjoy competing in them. I've said before in the media room that I don't play my best golf when I'm angry. I usually play my best golf when I'm having fun. I think just the week, being with the team and having the captains around and everyone sort of being on the same page, is really fun and very different.

Q. If you do get angry during these kind of competitions, is that when perhaps your partner can offset that a little bit? What can he do?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He can, if I hit a bad iron shot or something, Pat will probably chip it close, and I'm capable of making a putt here and there.

Yeah, it's definitely nice to lean on someone when you're not playing your best, and I'm sure it's the same going the other way.

Q. Two unrelated questions, one regarding J.T. His form going in has not been his usual standard this year, and there were questions about whether he would be a captain's pick. How would you describe what makes him good in this format and this forum?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I played with J.T. in Florida before we came here. His form was pretty good. We had a couple good matches. One, really, he smoked me in one match, but we had one other good match that we tied which was really competitive.

He hates losing. He's said before, I've heard him say it, he gets up for these. You see a lot more emotion out of him, raw emotion out of him than you normally would at an individual tournament or on the PGA TOUR.

Q. And regarding the whole first tee vibe and the emotion and pressure and what you feel, obviously you've just done one of these things, but how is it different with these gigantic grandstands? You've played in majors, played in that cauldron before. What's different about this?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: They are gigantic grandstands. There aren't gigantic grandstands at other tournaments, really, and no one is running to get to the first tee and no one is coming up with songs and chants for each individual player out there. It's just a completely different vibe.

Q. Are you more nervous in that element, or do you thrive in it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's definitely a thing you guys like to cover a lot. I get it. Like it is -- for golf, it's spectacular, you know.

But it just counts as one shot. So just the same as like a tap-in or two-footer. It's just one tee shot you hit. I don't even know, depending on whichever hole you're teeing off on, you may not even hit the shot, you can just watch your partner hit it.

It's a special moment. I think you really embrace it and try and get the fans going, and it just makes the experience even better.

Q. A very quick, simple question. Has Patrick Cantlay ever told you a joke?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He actually was just telling a ton of jokes at lunch. None that I can repeat in this room, obviously.

Q. Rude jokes?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Depends on what rude means to you.

Q. We are all adults. Nothing at all you could tell us about?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's 2023. There's not much you can say anymore, is there. (Laughter).

Q. You and Patrick had a match against Jordan and J.T. I was wondering how that went and how seriously do you take matches like that in the run-up to the event?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's just a tune-up. Jordan was able to get way ahead of me on a couple side bets this morning, which is pretty difficult for me. I was never going to be able to climb out of that hole.

It was great. We played some good golf today as a crew. It's fun for us, and it just keeps us sharp. If we can have just one or two shots that are really important in our nine-hole or 18-hole match, that's the only way to replicate real pressure in a real tournament environment.

Q. You may recall this, but a couple years ago after the win at Whistling Straits and when asked if, while this one was great, do you feel like there's still unfinished business, you said you're going to enjoy this one first. Now two years later, do you feel like there is still unfinished business winning one over here?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'm not going to lie, I don't really remember answering any of your questions at Whistling Straits post -- post tournament. (Laughter).

But it sounds like a pretty good answer I came up with. Everyone knows, even our team, sort of the record we have overseas. Myself and this crew are aware of it, and we are determined to do better.

Q. How much in your recent move did Patrick influence you moving to south Florida, and how much has that helped you moving there?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, all the guys, to be honest, Rickie, Pat, J.T., those are guys I see quite often. I've seen Brooks a couple times, Dustin Johnson still, AJ, his brother. It's just golf mecca. I saw Mito, Joaquín, Carlos Ortiz. I can just go down the list of players that pop in and out of Florida.

It's just a really competitive area and a really great place to play golf out of and travel out of. It makes sense that everyone, including myself now being a West Coaster, has moved.

Q. Does this golf course remind you of anything?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I can't say that it does.

Does it remind you of anything?

Q. You've played it. I haven't played it. Doesn't bring to mind any other golf course you've played necessarily?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't think so. I'm not sure if there's a course on the PGA TOUR that plays to this sort of style. The greens are really pure. There's a couple forced sort of lay-ups on certain holes, unless you're trying to hit driver into an eight- to ten-yard window. There's a few guys that may try it on our team, but I'm not sure. Doesn't seem to be like anything I've played.

Q. What's your favourite part of the Ryder Cup? And if you could change one thing about it, what would it be?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: This is only my second one, so my favourite part is hanging with the guys and being in the team room and just having a good time. I'd probably need to experience at least five; I need a bigger sample of Ryder Cups to answer that second part.

TOM CARLISLE: Thank you, Xander, enjoy the week.