MARK WILLIAMS: Scottie Scheffler, thank you for joining us here at the 2020 Sanderson Farms Championship. This is your first tournament of the season. You've played nine holes of the golf course, maybe played a few more, I don't know. Just share your thoughts on starting the season again, so to speak.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, starting the season, yeah, I feel like I got a little break. Not a break I necessarily wanted, but I felt all right, so it's good to be back out here feeling healthy again.
The course is in great shape this week. I think it's kind of a hidden gem on TOUR. Not many of the bigger names on TOUR have played this event, but I'm sure if they came down they'd enjoy the course. It's a great test, and looking forward to this week.
MARK WILLIAMS: Maybe just elaborate on that. We all know the situation, missing the U.S. Open due to testing positive must have been pretty painful for you sitting at home watching all that happen. Can you share some thoughts on how that sort of happened and what it was like being at home that week?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, yeah, that obviously stunk, catching COVID. But I felt all right, and only one person I knew was also infected, and so we kept our circle pretty small, and it paid off for us. It was obviously scary for my coaches and the few people I was around that week, but everybody was feeling all right, we're all recovered now. Only one other person tested positive, so it's good.
It definitely stunk sitting at home all week watching the U.S. Open, especially the way I was playing leading into it. I felt like I had a good chance of winning. It stunk, but it's the world we live in. I felt okay, so very blessed to have felt good through all of it and came out on the other side recovered, so all good.
MARK WILLIAMS: Obviously it was a wonderful season for you, voted by your peers as Rookie of the Year last season. You only get one chance to do that, so how satisfying was it to receive that award? You've obviously had a little time to digest that and just some thoughts on reflecting on it.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, yeah, I had plenty of time at home to digest. I think they told me like Tuesday and I was quarantined another six or seven days after that. Plenty of time to reflect on the year. I felt like I had a really solid rookie season. If you had told me that was going to be my results going in, I would have been pleased. I would have liked to have had a win last year, but I feel like that's coming on the horizon, and game feels like it's in a good spot for sure.
Like I said, last year, it was great. I had a lot of solid finishes, gave myself a lot of chances to win, and I feel like I'm getting close to breaking through. Definitely pleased with the results of last season.
MARK WILLIAMS: The 59 you shot in the second round of the Northern Trust, that's obviously a highlight for anyone in their career to break 60; it doesn't happen often. What sort of reaction have you had from folks at home and obviously in the few weeks you've had off, how often does that come up in conversation?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it seems to come up a decent amount. With my friends at home, they told me "good job" and then kept making fun of me after that, so there wasn't too much discussion there.
But definitely people around the game have been very congratulatory towards me. It was a great round and something that doesn't happen too often out here. It was recognized by my peers, which is pretty cool. A lot of guys saying "great round" and stuff like that, which is great.
As far as that, there's no fans or anything out here, so life feels pretty normal still. Or normal as it can be during COVID. But yeah, not too much has changed.
MARK WILLIAMS: This is your third appearance here at Sanderson Farms. You were T45 in 2018 and T16 in 2019, showed an improvement in each year. What do you feel like a good result -- obviously you're here to win, but just going into this week your first tournament back, how do you feel about competing here at the Sanderson Farms Championship again?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I feel my game is still in a good spot. I think there's still a few areas that are a little rusty just from taking -- having not played tournament golf in the last three weeks. A little different feeling coming into this week. I'm not as in rhythm as I usually am, but hopefully I'll pick back up soon, but like I said, my game feels like it's in a good spot.
A good finish this week would be nice. Not really going to look too far into it. Obviously I'm here to win and that's the goal, but really just trying to go out in the first round and do as best I can and see what I've got this week.
MARK WILLIAMS: Without having played this season, and we've had three events already, have you happened to catch any of the action on television and sort of what have you observed if you have over those three events?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So I did not watch much in Napa. I watched a little bit of the U.S. Open. Not a huge golf watcher when I'm not playing, especially during COVID week -- or during when I had COVID I was trying not to pay attention. It kind of bummed me out watching everybody on TV. But seems like the season is starting again. Guys are playing well. We had a few winners.
It was great to see Hudson win last week, that was great to watch; and Stewart win, as well. It's cool seeing guys like that win tournaments, and obviously watching Bryson win at the U.S. Open was awesome, and seeing him succeed has been fun for us to watch.
But the season seems like it's off to a good start for everybody, which is great.
MARK WILLIAMS: Scottie, we appreciate you making the time to come and give us some insight into the last few weeks, and good luck this week. Appreciate it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports