ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 9, 2024

Scottie Scheffler

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. Wyndham was talking about the degree of difficulty on this golf course, and how close it is to having a good hole versus a bad hole. Is that sort of the unique challenge of this course?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. I think so. Any time you hit a good tee shot it seems like you may have a chance to make a birdie, maybe, but then it's a big maybe on that one. It's just challenging. The greens are really firm. The winds were up today. It was very gusty. It was quite challenging.

Q. You made some good putts on the back nine. Do you feel good with the putter, is the putter switch having an effect or anything else you're working on, or just making some?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think I'm just doing a good job of trying to stay in a good head space on the greens. I missed some putts that I should have made today on the front nine. A lot of that I just attributed to how gusty it was with the winds. I think I let some of the gusts and stuff kind of get to me. Maybe I should have backed off of a couple of putts that I hit. The wind can be a bit of a distractor at times.

On the back nine I did a really good job of just trying to stay as much in it as I could and hit some good putts, and sometimes you really just got to get lucky with the wind whether or not it's going to gust up during or after -- like, I can think the putt I hit on No. 2, I hit a really good putt, wind gusts it. I think it was 5, I hit another really good putt, got gusted with the wind. Then I hit a short one on 9 today where I kind of felt a gust and I didn't hit the putt the way I should have.

Going into the back nine, I just did my best to try to commit to hitting good putts. It's still a factor, it's just fortunate that I was on the right side of it on the back nine and kind of on the wrong side of it on the front.

Q. How is it playing compared to two years ago when you won? That was a pretty treacherous weekend, very low winning score. Is it anything similar or was it harder then?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think my winning score was lower or higher, I don't know how you say that. It was like 5-under, I think. I believe it was a lot of days like there was today, where it was just windy and gusty, and the greens are pretty much dead. So, it may have been a little tougher a couple years ago, but I think today was pretty comparable. It was just, a couple years ago, I think it was like that most of the days. We had two rounds here this week where it wasn't very windy. Tomorrow I think we're going to see more of the same or more of what we saw today.

Q. Do you thrive in that a little bit, do you think? Doesn't sound like it's a lot of fun, but --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You could argue it could be fun. I think sometimes I like that style of golf a lot more than just a birdiefest. Here, you really got to think your way around, you got to stay patient, you can make some mistakes, and it's all about how you bounce back from 'em. Today, I felt like today and yesterday I did a really good job of, or really all three days, I did a good job of getting off to rough starts and really just grinding it out and staying patient and just finishing really strong.

Q. You have won here, been close another time, is that the key tomorrow? What do you expect tomorrow and what's it going to take for the guy who wins?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's going to take another really good round. The golf course is extremely challenging. Got to stay patient and grind out a lot of pars.