TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2024

Scottie Scheffler

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

of the day. Got to be as successful of a first day as you can ask for.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm trying not to think much about the starting strokes stuff. I think it's still a bit weird with it not being a traditional event. But yeah, it was nice to get off to a good start in the first round, and I feel like I did a lot of things well today.

Q. Did the course kind of play how you expected it to play after a couple days of practice?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I was more interested to see how they wanted to set up the golf course, because if they we wanted to set it up as hard as they possibly could, I think you get into an area where with new greens and the way the run-ups are still a little softer because they're new, as well, you could end up in some spots where you're not really rewarding good shots, and I felt like today the golf course was set up in a way in which the good shots were rewarded.

If you're coming out of the rough to these pins it's still very difficult to hold the green. Anytime you're in the rough you're really struggling to try and make par. I thought it was an appropriate setup today.

Q. What did you feel like the best shot of the day was?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Gosh, I don't know.

Q. Was there any reaction when after one hole the lead is gone?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I wasn't thinking about the lead out there today. There's no reason to. It's the first day of the tournament. It's 72 holes. It's a long time out there to be playing with a lead or whatever it is.

I was just focused on staying in my own world and continuing to just try to execute.

Q. Is this going to be as much a stamina test with how hot it is, last week of the season down here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think there's definitely an aspect to that, especially coming off two weeks in a row where you had a really hot week in Memphis and you had some altitude this week that the definitely tire guys out a little bit, so I'm sure there will be an aspect to that.

Q. Is there some homework for Ted then to adjust to the new course?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, there was a lot of extra homework for Ted.

Q. Was there a place where it came in especially helpful?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's hard to really narrow it to one shot, but pretty much every shot is very important. Just his knowledge of the course, he put a lot of work in this week to get us both ready, because like you said, I came off the last two weeks where you've had a hot week and then a week at elevation so fatigue could be a factor.

I did my best to get some rest in the prep week and Ted did a good job getting out there and doing all the work we needed to on the course.

Q. I know you mentioned that this format is not exactly your favorite, but this is the third year in a row that you've come in a with a substantial lead. How important was it today to get off on that right foot.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just like any other tournament, if I came out here and shot 2-over par and this was a regular stroke play event, I'd be sitting pretty far back from the lead. So treating it like I would any other tournament, just staying in my lane and doing the things I'm good at and that's just trying to focus on the task at hand and let all the other stuff take care of itself.