THE SENTRY

January 5, 2024

Scottie Scheffler

Plantation Course at Kapalua

Quick Quotes

Q. Are you upset you missed the one on 18?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I thought it was going in. But, no, I was glad to tap it in.

Q. What were the keys to today's round?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Kept a good head on my shoulders. I played really solid. The few times I got into trouble I got out pretty quick and hit some nice pitches and a couple nice putts as well.

Q. You talked about the importance of consistency, how did you spend the break to rest, but then also make sure you were prepared to just play well from the start of the season?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I took a lot of time off after the Ryder Cup. Went on vacation after. I took a nice break at home. Started doing a lot of other stuff. Played a lot of pickleball, kept my mind off golf. Came back excited, ready to practice, and even in my time off I still put in the work in the gym, which really helps me when it comes to getting back into golf shape. If I just try to stay in shape as best I can when I get back out it doesn't take me too long to get my swing back. Whereas, when I took long breaks when I was younger, I don't think my body moved in a proper way and I think that's been a huge difference for me.

Q. Did Phil come over after the Ryder Cup at all or did that kind of first time at Dallas, give you stuff that -- are you working on the same stuff basically from when you guys started working together?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say, yeah, we're working on very similar stuff. He refines it a little bit, just because, just getting the right feels. He did, he came back over right before Thanksgiving, I believe, right as I was really starting to kind of ramp up to get ready for the Bahamas, and he was there as well, so we were able to get some good work in there.

Q. What are some of the things you do in the gym when you are taking a lot of time off that make you feel you can get back into the swing of things?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just stick with my usual workouts. Making sure the body's moving properly, making sure I keep my strength. We're not trying to get huge muscles in the gym, I'm just trying to make sure that can I move properly in order to swing the club. A lot of that is making sure I'm loading into my right side and keeping my hips nice and loose and just keeping the body feeling as best as I can.

Q. What was the most creative shot you hit today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Most creative? I don't know, I felt like I hit some pretty creative ones when the wind was up a little bit more yesterday. Today we didn't have to do as much, with the wind being down a little bit. But I feel like here you use what the golf course gives you.

Probably my tee shot on 10, I hit a low slice. I think that would probably be the most creative one, just because it's so hard to hold that fairway, especially with the wind blowing from right-to-left. So, I hit it pretty low and I kind of sliced it and was able to hold the fairway.

Q. You seem to like shaping shots, working it. Is there a course that you need to shape it or work it more than this one?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think there's probably not a course on TOUR where you have to use your feel more than this one. Especially with the wind direction today, there's so many holes where you're either hitting it very uphill and downwind, and then as you come towards the downwind holes, a lot of them are into the wind out of the left. So, you got to really use your feel, use numbers a little bit, but it has a lot to do with how you flight the ball in order to get it close.

Q. With the conditions, obviously a lot of people are shooting low, what's it going to take this weekend to win?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Probably a lot more of what I did today and yesterday. Scores around this place are pretty low, but it's one of those places if you go out there and play well you're going to get rewarded. If you start not hitting it in the right spots, you can get in trouble. Just got to keep the pedal down out here.

Q. How much does course knowledge or familiarity with being, having been here before, how much does that help here specifically?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it helps a decent amount. This is a place where we typically see a lot of the same wind direction. Today was actually the opposite that I've always seen the golf course, so my course knowledge didn't help too much going into today. It was a bit of an unusual day with the wind direction, but just adjusted, and obviously the scores are pretty low.

Q. You like this kind of wide fairway, up-and-down, a lot of change in elevation?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's a ton of fun to play. It's definitely where everybody wants to start their year. A lot of fairways are really wide, but some of them don't play nearly as wide as they are. You got to hit good shots, got to shape the ball different ways, and do a lot of different stuff in order to play well out here.

Q. After the devastating fire and everything, they kind of paused for a little bit, but they didn't really get kind of crank things up again until they decided to play this event September 21st or so I think was when they officially announced it. What's the shape of the course? How is it out there in only a little bit of time to make sure that it was ready?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: How is the shape of the course? The shape, it's in great shape. Yeah, it's actually as healthy as I've seen it. It's in really good shape. A lot of times I think here it can get extremely grainy. I think the grain is actually down a little bit this year. The pitching areas I think are a little bit easier to play out of than they are in years past. Yeah, greens are nearly perfect out there as well.