THE RYDER CUP

September 27, 2023

Scottie Scheffler

Marco Simone

U.S. Team

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: I'm joined by the World Number One Scottie Scheffler for US Team. Give a sense of how nice it is to be back in a Ryder Cup environment and what you're looking forward to this week.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, definitely excited to be back. The week has been fun so far. I'm just ready for Friday to get here.

Q. Can we start back two years ago and that Sunday singles match against Jon and what your recollections are of going into it, entering that stage and what you feel like it brought out of you.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I was excited for the match. I think I was probably the only guy that wasn't favored to win my match, and so I knew I was going up against a great competitor in Jon.

I had a lot of confidence going into the match. I had played two solid matches. Bryson and I had halved with Jon and Tyrrell on Friday, and it was a great match back and forth. I think they ended up birdieing 18 to halve with us, and 18 is a pretty tough hole out there.

It was a good match, and then Saturday we came out with a win. It was a match we were down on the back nine and ended up flipping it and winning 2&1, so was given a lot of confidence. I had played Jon in match play at the beginning of that year, and we were familiar with each other's games. And that was just -- it was a good feeling to be able to put up that start so everybody could kind of see it on our team. I think that really fired guys up.

So I felt like I had -- it felt like an important match, and when I got off to that good start I was excited that everybody could see a big lead up there on the board, and hopefully ignited a few guys.

Q. Can you put into words -- are you able to even recognise the guy from two years ago, just how much your life has changed or game has changed, your place in the game has changed? Was that even recognisable now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I don't feel like I look that much different. Hopefully I haven't aged too bad in two years. But no, I feel like I've harped on it a lot, but my life off the course hasn't really changed so much. So when I'm at home, I don't feel any different. I've got the same group of friends that came to the last Ryder Cup are coming to this one. Life at home hasn't changed too much for me.

Yes, I do recognise them. I like being on this end where I didn't have to rely on a pick and I didn't have to sweat as much on Monday after the TOUR Championship. That was definitely a lot easier day this year than it was two years ago.

Q. Do you feel you have a different voice on this team than you did that team?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, maybe. On that team, it was definitely a different situation where I was a guy who hadn't really proven myself. I was really on that team because I felt like the guys wanted me on that team. It wasn't because I necessarily earned my place. I was relying on a pick.

Maybe my voice is a little bit different this year. I'm a major champion and I won THE PLAYERS this year.

I don't think it changes that much. It's the same similar group of guys. We have our leaders and we have guys with more experience. This is only my second Ryder Cup. There's not really one guy who's making the call for everything other than the captain.

That's who we rely on if somebody needs anything. We can go directly to him. When my input is needed, it's definitely there, but there's not really much for me to say. Who do you want to play with? I'd like to play with this group of guys. And then we kind of go from there. It's not like I'm telling Xander and Patrick they have to play together, stuff like that.

Yeah, it's not a big deal.

Q. I don't think your name has been mentioned this week without mentioning Phil Kenyon. How did that come about?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I've watched Phil for a while. I've never really had an instructor teach me anything really other than Randy. It was something I was thinking about kind of towards the end of the year, and Phil was a guy that I had watched, and he teaches a lot of really good putters, and he didn't seem like a method guy. So he was the first phone call that I wanted to make.

I called him maybe Monday after the TOUR Championship -- maybe even texted him Sunday night. It was something that I didn't want to think about as the year went on because it would have been a change, but right when the TOUR Championship ended, I was just thinking about it and I was like, oh, I'll see what he's up to. And he ended upcoming to Dallas a few days later, and we got some good work in. And it's been great. He's a fascinating person to work with.

Q. Is there anything you can elaborate on maybe what he's helped you with so far, whether it be --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, well, I mean, basically he just told me I sucked, he couldn't believe I ever won a tournament with how I putted. That's what you want to hear, right? No, on a serious note, I had a feeling what I was doing wrong. It was something that -- my suspensions were kind of answered. It was just I was trying to fix it in the complete wrong way. To get into the details of it would take a little bit of time, but it's really very simple.

The way I moved the putter through the ball, I was kind of fighting the toe rising on the putter as I went through, and so sometimes I'd miss contact a little bit in the heel. In order for me to try to keep my putter head low, the way I would do it is I feel everything in my hands, and what I would do is I would lower my hands. But when I lowered my hands, it actually caused the toe of the putter to go higher and higher. So as the year went on, my hands are getting lower and lower, and the problem is getting worse and worse.

It was something I couldn't figure out, and it was preventing me from hitting as many putts on line as I should have. Like I said this year, I really did hit a lot of good putts. Now I feel like I'm much more consistent hitting my start line, especially my practice.

I see the ball rolling end over end a lot more than I did a month ago, and it's exciting. It's good for me to have a little bit of direction. I think the second set of eyes with Phil was really, really helpful. It was good to get my brain in order and feel like I'm working in the right direction versus playing a bit of a guessing game. So Phil has been really helpful.

Q. For you personally, what's the most challenging part about playing foursomes?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Foursomes, I think the pace is just different. So like if I'm playing odd holes -- if I tee off on the first hole, I hit the tee shot and then I don't hit a shot until the second hole, the iron shot. It's just the pace is a little bit different. But the goal is obviously just to get into a good rhythm and just start executing shots. When you're over the ball, it's still the same thing, just try and stay loose in between shots.

Q. I wanted to ask you another Phil question. Are you already feeling the benefits and you'll see that this week starting Friday? Also, what's it like having an Englishman in the American camp?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, Englishman in the American camp. When he came to Dallas, I was joking with him. I told him his stuff is going to work so well he's not going to be welcome back at his home club when he gets home after the Ryder Cup.

No, I feel the benefits already. I'm more comfortable over the ball. Like I said, I have more direction in what I want to do. I feel like at times this year I would try one thing and a few weeks later I'd try another.

Like even something as simple as lining up the ball, sometimes I would do it and sometimes I wouldn't, and I wasn't using the line in the right way. Phil kind of gave me a different perspective on using the line that's been really helpful.

It's just little things like that. I haven't felt like I've made a huge change. I just kind of got my mind right. I feel like we made little changes to where I'm more comfortable over the ball and now I don't have to think about my stroke. That's pretty much all it is.

If I get the setup correctly, the body will move correctly from there. I just needed a little bit more help.

Q. Do you feel a lot better going into this Ryder Cup than maybe you would have a month ago?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, definitely, yeah. I did not finish off the year like I would have hoped to, so being able to get some work in with Phil and just get some rest. I got really worn down at the end of the year. So if this tournament was three weeks ago, I would have felt definitely a lot more tired. But going into this week, I feel refreshed. I'm excited, excited to go out there and compete.

Ryder Cups only happen every two years, and I'm just glad to be a part of this team, and we're excited to play an away game.

Q. Was there any good advice that anyone gave you about handling your first Ryder Cup?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think the most important thing for me was just getting kind of what the environment would be like, what the week is like leading up. I think that's the stuff people don't really think about as much. They focus more on what happens when you're actually on the course, but by the time you get on the golf course, you're doing what you know how to do.

This week you've got to prepare for just a lot more stuff. This week I've got an hour and 15 minutes of media, where it's usually 15 minutes, I come in here and that's it. We'll do dinners every night. Like tonight we have a gala, and I usually don't do a gala at the Byron Nelson. We're usually sitting at home eating dinner.

Everything is just a little bit different. The crowds, everything is more emphasised. But I think when you're prepared for it, it just becomes part of your routine.

Q. The thicker grip on the putter and choking up on it, was that Phil's advice?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, just wanted to get the grip more in the palms, just like that would kind of take out a little bit of what would cause me to hit -- I don't know exactly how I would say it, but I guess the toe to go up on the putter, so get it more in the palm of my hand, so bend over a little bit.

If you think about it, my putter looked like it came a little bit too -- opened a little bit too much and closed a little bit too much. It had a lot of rotation. So if you rotate standing straight up, now you're working around; and if you go all the way to 90 degrees, you're basically working straight back. So kind of finding that happy medium where I'm just turning.

Q. You said you hadn't really worked with many people other than Randy. What's the process of a new voice coming in and you having trust?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's pretty simple. I called Randy. I said, hey, thinking about calling this guy named Phil. He said, yeah, I know him, I think it's a good idea, let's do it.

So I called him. He found a way to come to Dallas like three days later, which I was very grateful for. It was a long trip for him. So very grateful he was able to do that. He did his thing, and Randy sat there and watched and tried to soak it in.

We got two really good days of work in, and then he left, and Randy basically just kept an eye on me from there.

I think that's what's really cool about having him as a coach. He's taught me since I was seven years old. He's the only guy that's taught me.

I think most people would -- their pride could almost get in the way I think sometimes. That definitely wasn't the case with Randy. He's 71 years old and he still loves to learn and try new things. He wants what's best for me. He's not an ego guy.

He was more than happy to have somebody else come in and help us, and it's been really good. He loved what Phil had to say, and we loved the way he communicated with both of us. It was kind of some new, fresh ideas. And he's a great guy, and I'm excited to be working with him.

Q. You said it helped get your brain in order, was the expression you used there. Can you kind of expand on whatever it was, the frustration, whether it was questions from us, whether it's been just not seeing the ball roll the way you want to, how that kind of affected you beyond when you're over a putt?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I would say even in my practice, I could tell something wasn't right to where I was having to use my hands more than I should, and the idea behind a slightly different setup is so I could use my hands as the tool that they are. It's my greatest asset, but in my putting it was becoming a bit of a weakness because I had to use my hands so much.

I'd say it was probably the same thing I fought with my golf swing in college. When I got injured, my swing changed and I had to use my hands so much that it became a hindrance to where I would drop the club inside. And then I'd use my hands, and I fought a left miss the whole time because I feel like I have good instincts and I could sense the club trapped behind me, and I'd flip it and it would go left, and so I fought a hook.

So getting my brain right is basically just -- I think Phil confirmed a little bit of my suspicions that I wasn't starting as many putts on line as I should have, so now I feel like I'm starting almost every one on line.

Then I have a good direction in the way I see putts. I feel like I read putts really well with the same technique that I've used since I was probably eight years old, and then the way I use the line on the ball is slightly different than I used it before. And so, yeah, I feel like I have a much more clear picture of what I'm trying to do on the greens.

Q. Did you and Sam talk shortly after the captain's picks were announced, and how was that conversation different than 2021?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was definitely different than 2021, much more happy phone call. Sam was obviously pretty excited to be on the team. For players, it's such a huge goal just to make this team. To be one of the 12 best players in the United States, to come here and represent your country is really special, and it's something that he definitely didn't take for granted.

Yeah, that was a good phone call.

Q. Do you remember who called whom?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think he may have texted us, and then I think Meredith and I, we were out doing something. I don't remember what we were doing. But we ended up FaceTiming him. We parked somewhere and FaceTimed him and Caroline. It was nice. It was good.

Q. What's the line on your ball look like now? How is it different?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's the exact same.

Q. I thought you said it was different.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, it's the same. I use it differently.

Q. If this Ryder Cup came down to one match left on the course for the whole kaboodle and that's a ton of pressure, I would assume if you were to ask all 24 guys here, they would want to be in that match, they would welcome that pressure. Do you think that's true, and how many do you think are being really honest with themselves?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think in order to get this far in your career, you have to have that kind of self-belief, so I would imagine all of them are telling the truth. It just depends on who can perform in that situation when it really comes down to it.

Pretty sure everybody here has won at some level of the game, and whether you're at the Ryder Cup or trying to win a junior tournament when you're a kid, it all feels huge.

So yeah, I think they're telling the truth.

Like if you imagine when you're 10 years old, like if you can go back that far to when you were 10, when I think of when I was 10 years old, winning, whether it was a local NTPGA tournament, or I won a tournament called the Future Masters once, and going down the stretch it felt like the Masters because I didn't know any different. Every tournament was the biggest tournament I ever played.

To this point, Ryder Cup is probably that way, and so when you're in the moment and you're competing, in my head it doesn't make a difference whether it's to beat my buddies on 18 -- I don't want to have to listen to them when we go to the 19th hole. I don't like listening to y'all -- what is it like coming in second, how does it feel. Well, it doesn't feel good. It's the same way as it feels losing money in a "Wolf" game. It's not fun. I'd rather win the money and I'd rather win the tournament and you ask me how much fun it is. I don't want to talk about losing.