THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY

June 6, 2024

Xander Schauffele

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes

Q. Pretty tidy today in terms of the round.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know what you saw. I putted really well.

Q. Leading the field in putting.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it felt that way, even with that miss there on 18. Yeah, I'm going to go to the range after this, after we finish talking, and hit the center of the club face a little more, find some more fairways and some more greens.

I'm happy. I'm happy with how I played, with how I stuck in there and really happy my short game bailed me out on a day that could have been a lot worse.

Q. How you played or how you scored?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: How I scored.

Q. What happened on 5? What kind of lie did you have in that bunker?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I just had a mud ball in the middle of the fairway, and I wasn't going to aim OB left to have it finish on the green, so I aimed at the green and it finished 50 yards right of the green. The lie was fine. It was just a little bit wet, which is actually kind of nice for a longer bunker shot. I kind of just jerked at it a little bit, knowing that short's going to plug in that bunker and that's going to be an auto bogey. So lucky there, lucky it didn't go in the water and it was in the rough and got up-and-down.

Q. Did it land on the green or into the rough?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I couldn't even see it. When the ball was in the air, I closed my eyes and it was, you know -- I wouldn't call myself religious, but I was hoping that thing was going to be okay.

Q. You're joking about shooting 40 or whatever your first day back --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Um-hum. I had a sloppy day, some missed tee shots that were in bad spots and some missed short putts, but it was just a practice round.

Q. I know, I understand, but I was just wondering from there to today --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, if I didn't make some of the putts I needed to today, it would have been like a 2-over probably or worse. So, again, really happy I was able to see the -- I saw the lines sort of quickly, even from the get-go. I was looking at leaving putts in the heart short. So as soon as I got the speed down, I was rolling.

Q. Is this the kind of follow-up you want out of what happened two weeks ago?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. Yeah, it's good. I'm in a good spot. I think Scottie put it to a foot on 18, so he's at 5. So you just want to be in touch. It's only Thursday and plenty of golf. I know I need to clean up some of that longer stuff. This course is really hard, and the wind is supposed to blow really hard tomorrow, even more than today, so I know I need to clean it up.

Q. We don't get a chance to ask you much, but you took three weeks off, two weeks off, whatever the heck it is --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: You guys are killing it, yeah.

Q. What do you do when you're not playing? You said you didn't play some. What do you do? What's your routine like when you're not playing?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I started practicing, believe it or not. I know you saw some weird shots today, but I was practicing -- I started practicing on Thursday after I got home. I was hungover on Monday, I had media on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I started golfing on Thursday.

Q. When you say "practice," do you play -- do you play or --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I'll play nine holes. A lot of guys are out there. JT was out of town, but Rick was there, Pat was there. Rick was there after he got back from Colonial. I saw some of the LIV guys out there at Medalist.

So, yeah, just -- you know, it's like me asking what you do for work. You probably type a bunch of stuff and do interviews. For me, I putt, I chip, I hit, I play, I have lunch in between and I work out after. It's just --

Q. So did you do anything else outside of getting yourself ready to do this?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, I hang out with my wife and my dogs and -- you know, right now, I'm not watching anything on TV, but you know, pretty low key, my man.

Q. When you say Monday you were hungover, did you just sleep in, is basically all, or were you just slow all day?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I was so fired up. I went to bed at like -- I think Austin and the crew left at like 3 a.m., somehow found a Uber from the rental property, and we flew back at like 1:00-ish and I went to bed at like 5 or 6, and I woke up at like 8:30 just wide awake and super happy, for some odd reason.

Q. Do you feel any differently this week mentally just having that off your back?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Not really. I think overall, you know, a lot of people are saying congratulations. It's the first time I've been back out. Everyone has been super kind to me, caddies, players, staff. So just a lot of good energy coming my way and just trying to take advantage of that.

Q. This is obviously a smaller field, so some of the lower-ranked golfers aren't here, but to have a leaderboard like this on a Thursday, I mean does that make you change anything, what do you think of that?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think that's exactly what we were trying to do as a TOUR. It's the product we want to put out. When you look up at that board you want to see everyone's name as high up there as possible hashing it out on Sunday. That's what people want to see and that's what we want to give 'em.

Q. You're not a big social media, self-promoting guy, you pay attention mostly to your golf and your dogs. I'm curious what, what value, on the media you did Tuesday, Wednesday. Some of the shows that were really, really came across pretty cool and whatnot, how did that come about, why did you think it was important to do, or did you?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: My agent e-mailed me, you know, my uncle, my agent, yeah, manager, uncle, he was like, I got some media for you, are you good? And I was like, Sure. I wasn't doing anything else on Tuesday, so didn't seem too difficult to put a plant in the corner of the rental property and put a smile on with the trophy right next to me. Felt like a no-brainer.

Q. All from home?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Um-hum. Yeah.

Q. Did you see any value come out of it for you?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know. It's not really my job. If he tells me that it would be helpful to do something I try to do it. If he tells me I don't need to do it I probably won't do it.

Q. Did you use the Wanamaker for drinking purposes, because you said you were going to do it when you went to California.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I did. We had some champagne out of it. It was hard to find -- sounds like Scottie's getting drug tested (laughing). I just got, you know, the Olympics guys came and got me back at home in Florida -- so, yeah, so I don't remember what your question is. Yeah, we had champagne out of it and then, you know, one of the members at Valhalla was super kind and gave me five bottles of whiskey from the club there. We didn't polish 'em all off, but we did some damage.

Q. You've been in the mix in this tournament now the last few years.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Not really, to be honest.

Q. Right, a little bit in the heart of it, but to get off to a fast start, how did you feel the course played today?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, no, no, I wasn't trying to be rude there I just, I thought I was like doing better than I was. Someone told me my best finish was tied 11, so really want to put that mark down on this property and overcome it, so off to a good start.

Q. You crushed that guy.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Oh, did I?

Q. Oh, yeah, he's emotional now about it.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, I mean, he probably had lunch with you guys and that's why he's emotional.