THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2024

Matti Schmid

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. First of all, what's been your impression of the course and the way it's played these first couple days?

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah, I mean, my first 27 holes the course played very playable, I would say. The greens are soft, there was not much wind, but the last nine holes the wind got up a little bit. I think the greens are going to dry out a little more, and I think it's going to be difficult over the weekend for sure.

Q. Who do you have here? Is Ted here?

MATTI SCHMID: Ted is not here. I have my dad here, my uncle, and my girlfriend is coming this evening, actually.

Q. From where?

MATTI SCHMID: They all coming from Germany.

Q. What are their names?

MATTI SCHMID: My dad's Roland, my girlfriend's Nora and my uncle is Marcus.

Q. Are they all on the same flight?

MATTI SCHMID: No, they are all on different flights.

Q. Slow start with a couple of missed cuts what have you found these last couple weeks after a great finish last week and a good start here?

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah, yeah, I took a big off-season. Thought I needed it after a long season and I hadn't had things clicking at all early in the season, but last week was great. It was so much better, closer to what I've been doing end of last season. Yeah, just want to keep following that trend.

Q. Anything specific that you're working on or just knocking the rust off and getting back into the swing?

MATTI SCHMID: Just everything. We put in a lot of work, like in every -- not too technically, but in every part of the game, and I think it's paying off.

Q. You just started with Jonathan Yarwood, is that right?

MATTI SCHMID: No. I mean, we had a couple sessions, yeah, but I'm not full-time with him.

Q. Who is your normal coach or do you not have one?

MATTI SCHMID: I don't really have a coach at the moment.

Q. Can you tell me about losing at darts and having to do this thing?

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah, I lost a darts challenge and I had to like, we had fist bumped on 18, which kind of hoped the guys would have forgot about it, but no, they were there to remind me.

Q. And this was Stephan Jaeger?

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah, Stephan Jaeger beat me, and Flo, the SKY Germany guy, he beat me as well.

Q. Would you run us through 16 and 17?

MATTI SCHMID: 16, yeah, I hit a beautiful drive, pulled it almost a little bit but it was perfect in the end. Then I hit a 7-iron a little clunky, which it bounced just short and rolled up there pin high, which is nice, nice enough. Then just a lovely putt. I don't know what it was, 20 feet, probably. Just outside the hole.

17 was a little pitching wedge for me, it's the kind of hole where you would probably rather hit a full shot, but, yeah, it was a 120 meter pitching wedge for me and, yeah, hit it very nicely.

Q. On 18, did your tee shot --

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah.

Q. -- go in the trees or what happened?

MATTI SCHMID: Yeah, I tried to hit a draw on that hole because I think it just suits my eye. Just bailed a little bit. With the left-to-right crosswind, it's probably difficult, more difficult than yesterday, for sure, and yeah, then I clunked a tree, had a so-so lie in the fairway, and then I just hit it a groove low and it went over. It happens.

Q. When you got to Louisville did you already speak perfect English, and how many languages do you speak?

MATTI SCHMID: I just speak German and English, and no, my English, it's better now, for sure, yes.