Q. How would you assess the opening round?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I've got to look through it. I think there's a lot more good in there than bad. Had a ridiculous mud ball there on 16 with Scottie. We were in the middle of the fairway, and I don't know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably. I'm not sure. I aimed right of the bunker and it whipped in the water and Scottie whipped it in the water, as well.
It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it's just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It's kind of stupid.
Q. Did you have mud balls --
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: All of us. I'm not the only guy. I'm just in front of the camera. I wouldn't want to go in the locker room because I'm sure a lot of guys aren't super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out.
It sucks that you're kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.
Q. Did you have another one anywhere else in the round?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, everyone did, yeah. It's just wherever it ends up on the ball. I got lucky three or four holes in a row where it ended up sort of on the top of my ball and then you're kind of guessing how much spin it's going to take off. But back to my round, that's my bit there on mud balls. I think I hit a lot of fairways compared to how I've been driving it recently. Felt like I put a lot of good swings on it and just didn't get enough out of my rounds, especially on the par-5s.
Q. For the next three days, conditions being what they should be, what do you think is going to happen?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: The mud balls are going to get worse. That wasn't your question, but they're going to get worse as the plays dries up. They're going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it's kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. I mean, you just keep -- I don't know, maybe it hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn't carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It's a bit of a crapshoot.
A lot of the same. If I can keep hitting the driver in the fairway, I'll be fine.
Q. Good feelings for your game?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I feel fine. Besides that shot on 16, if I take that away, was able to hit the green and two-putt, I shot 1-under and probably would have been a decent start to the tournament.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports