ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 8, 2024

Scottie Scheffler

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. What's the biggest take away from today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think I just did a good job of staying patient, and just a great finish, I would say. I think I was even for the round going into 12, and would have been 5-under my last seven, so yeah, just a really good finish.

Q. As often as -- I mean, do you still get excited to have your name high on the board going into the weekend, as often as you seem to have done it the last two or three years?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. Yeah.

Q. Do you fall into the trap of making this that, well, it's almost routine?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I hope it becomes routine, that would be nice. No, yeah, of course I get excited to see my name at the top of the leaderboard. There's a lot of names up at the top of the leaderboard right now. It's pretty stacked going into the weekend. I'm proud of how I finished today to kind of give myself a good chance.

Q. Today on the greens did it feel any differently than yesterday or they just went in today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think they just went in today, and I would argue that there's a few that I thought were going to go in that didn't. I would say that I'm proud of, the last couple days, getting off to poor starts, missing short putts on No. 11 today and yesterday, and kind of sticking to my process and doing a really good job of not letting things bother me. That's kind of been my main goal this week, not trying to be perfect, just go out there and hit solid putts and see what happens.

Q. Rory had said on the broadcast at Genesis about switching to go a mallet. Did you hear that at all? Did that inspire your decision at all or influence it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: My coach Randy joked about that at home, because he had already thought about it, and I think Rory just had said it in a way in which he used the blade for a long time and then he switched to a mallet, and that's something that works for him. I think, as a lot of good players out here know, something that works for Rory may not work for me, and something that works for me may not work for Rory. I did hear that he said that, and it was just kind of funny timing.

Q. What was the greatest satisfaction today, shot, moment, whatever, and what was the biggest frustration?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Biggest frustration I would say would be No. 12. I pushed my drive a little bit. I hit what I felt like was a good second shot. It lands in the first cut and if it lands on the green I'm going to get a big bounce and be putting from 25 feet up the hill. Instead, it lands and spins back. I felt like what I hit was a good chip, and with how dead the greens are, everything's been firm, and that one somehow decided it was going to check up. Then I had a 12-footer that I hit right on my line, perfect putt, look up, it's exactly going around the divot I think it's going to go around, and it hits something and knocks it like four inches to the right, and it's a putt that breaks this way and it doesn't go in. I'm just like, this is, I mean, it's so frustrating when you feel like you do enough to kind of save one and steal a shot and the ball doesn't go in.

I would say most satisfying was getting it back immediately on the next hole with the chip in.

Q. Given your experience around here, winning, contending whatever, when you get a board this stacked with 36 to go, what do you think is the biggest factor leading to separation? Is it not screwing up or is it low score?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it depends on what they do with the greens. I saw the wind was going to be up this weekend, so it may be a survival test. It depends if they decide they want to water the greens and slow 'em down a little bit because they're going to expect high winds. But we'll see what they decide. I'm not in charge of golf course setup.

Q. Is there a player that you sought out to play practice rounds with at the Masters, and if so what did they help you with?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: At the Masters specifically? Practice rounds? Not really. I've always been a guy that kind of does my own thing. When I was an amateur I had the pleasure of playing like a practice round with Dustin and Brooks one year at the U.S. Open. A lot of that was just kind of learning how they prepare for tournaments and stuff like that.

Going into my first Masters, I had a good sit down with Carl Jackson, and he kind of walked me through the greens and stuff like that. I asked as many questions as I could to people like Carl, Ben, Jordan, those guys. But as far as playing being practice rounds, no. I kind of stuck and did my own thing. Being able to play the golf course with people -- I think I played a couple rounds with Phil one year, and then I played one year with Tiger, and I learned a lot by playing with both those guys around that golf course.

Q. What did Carl teach you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Secrets.