BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2024

Xander Schauffele

Castle Pines Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You guys are all learning a new course, but I guess you were learning a new course at Troon and Valhalla, as well, and maybe it's not really fazing you very much?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I mean, just a little bit of a trust factor with the altitude, so your eyes and what you see -- we're pretty good at seeing what looks like 200 yards. Also the architects are really good at sort of deceiving you. We can kind of get a feel for what looks like a 9-iron or an 8-iron, at least ballpark within one club.

I think out here there's a few times where you're going over water and it's downwind and you're off a downslope and you're doing your calculations, and the numbers are putting you five steps short in the water, and it's just a little bit of a trust thing on certain holes still.

Q. On 11 tee, you have a drastic drop and then you obviously have elevation. Is that the hardest club to pull or are they all hard to figure out?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, it's not too bad. There was a bit of green to work with over that first swale. There was probably 14 yards short of that pin where you could still get it on top of that shelf, and if you just hit over the green, you're just on the fringe putting. It's just in those spots where the wind is kind of in or off the left and you're kind of tucked to a right pin and short-sided is terrible is where the guessing game begins. Too often, I guess.

Q. You had a lot of questions about Scottie before playing. What's it like playing with him on a Thursday in this kind of environment? What were you talking about?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's a comfortable pairing. Teddy and Scottie, yeah, they're fun to be around. We've played enough golf together. We can talk if we want. We don't have to if we don't want to. We're not talking too much walking up these hills trying to catch our breath getting to the ball. But yeah, it's a comfy pairing.

Q. Did you notice Scottie having any issues with his back today?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, not really. I don't even know if he's having issues with his back. Is that what he said to you?

Q. He said he had some tightness.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, there was a few times -- maybe when he turned his head a few times he looked a little stiff. He was stiff at the Masters, at THE PLAYERS and had to get worked on all those times. I guess it's a bad sign for everyone else.

Q. How good is your PT guy?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, Marnus is amazing. I'd like to think he's the best.

Q. You talked about that trust factor. When you're playing a course like this it's a little bit different when you're accustomed to. Is there a trust with your caddie that you lean on him a little bit more? Is that part of it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's more so you're sitting there and you get your initial number and then we're breaking it down to sea level, and then there's two or three numbers because I always want a short and a long and the pin, so there's like six numbers, and then I'm talking about wind, all those numbers, and there's nine numbers. Then I need the final number for the shot I'm hitting at sea level.

I messed up today on 10, which was my fault. I think we had 110 or 112 pin and I ended up hitting a full 60, and I remember him saying something like close to 100 yards or 95 yards, and I hit it like 108 yards, and I was like, man, why did that go so far, and I was walking up, and I literally got lost in the sauce of one of those 10 numbers that I just listed.

I had one hiccup today when it came to that sort of altitude/sea level situation.

Q. Seems like too much math.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I went to San Diego State, so it's the most math I've done in a while for sure.

Q. How much are you thinking about next week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, while I'm playing, not as much. I think in preparation, training-wise, sort of practicing-wise, rest-wise, I think a lot. Everything I'm doing is to try and make sure I'm geared up and as fresh as I can be for next week.

I don't think you'll see me this week or many guys this week -- the range is really nice, but unless you're trying to make that top 30, if you're in a decent spot for next week, you're just trying to rest up and save some energy. Unless you need to work on something to sort of get sharp.

Q. If you're in the same spot next year that you were going into this year, would there be any part of you that would consider skipping the first one for rest purposes?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I thought about it this year, to be completely honest. It came down to the good old, will I regret it situation, the thing my dad taught me a long time ago. You assess everything and then you ask yourself that question right at the end, and I asked myself that question, and I slept on it for like two nights, and I would have 100 percent regretted it just because there's no better way to get tournament ready than playing in tournaments against the best players in the world.

If I was sitting at home in Florida hitting balls on the range watching guys at St. Jude, I would have probably done my head many. Happy that I sort of rested up as much as I could and played.

Q. That was after the Olympics you were thinking about --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, just the Olympics falling every four years, you kind of catch a -- you just catch it the wrong year at times, and I was playing really well and played really bad on Sunday. I said I wasn't tired and then I felt really tired when I got back to Florida. Then I just tried my best to recover.

Yeah, that was pretty much it.

Q. How do you feel about them changing East Lake?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, I would have obviously loved if it just stayed the same. I've played really well there. I thought the course was amazing. Typically when something is amazing, it's hard to make it better, just like our golf games. I'm curious to see how the course -- how Green did next week, and regardless if I make it less, it doesn't really matter, I still have to go and compete.