Q. Scottie, you said earlier this week that this is the most prepared you've been for any tournament this year. Did that preparation manifest itself in the score today?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, yeah, I think that was more the nature of just the time that I've had to get ready for the tournament post-injury I would say.
As far as my preparation went, I wasn't doing anything different, I was just able to get more and more reps in. Just through time, I felt more prepared than I did for any other tournament.
Q. If someone would have told you 4-under this morning, how would you have felt about that?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would have felt pretty good about it. I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm. The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small and they get even smaller when the greens are firm, so there's definitely some challenge to the golf course today, and I'm sure that'll continue as the week goes on.
Q. What was the lie like in the divot on 8?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, it was a divot. Just one of those deals; sometimes you get good and bad breaks. Fortunately there was still a way I could play the shot, but yeah, I was just in a divot about that big. Pretty deep.
Q. Challenging?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was pretty challenging, yeah. I hit a really awesome shot to get it to about 15 feet. I had to put it in the back of my stance, stand close to it, make sure I got ball first and I hit this kind of low skipper.
Was fortunate to be able to get some spin on it because it was sitting so deep in that grass, I was surprised it didn't hit the front of the divot when it came out. That's how deep it was.
But was able to get some spin, spun it to the right of that hill and gave myself a good look that I was able to knock it in.
Q. You talked a couple weeks ago about not being quite as sharp as you wanted to be. Where were you seeing that? Was it driving accuracy, proximity to the hole, short game?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, it's hard to really nail it down. I think sometimes you can just feel a little bit out of sorts. That's why I said I felt more prepared than I have all year just because of time. I've had time to get reps in, tournament reps. I got into contention in Houston. That was really good.
Just felt like I was in a good spot and my game was starting to trend in the right direction. That was just through reps.
Q. In Houston what were the competitive feels that you got there?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Anytime you're able to get into contention I think it's a lot of fun. I think obviously I wish I would have performed better over the weekend to be walking away with the trophy, but man, we played some great golf two weeks ago, and it was nice to put myself back in it and kind of have some fun.
Q. There are a lot of trends here recently that the eventually winner is in about the top 10 after the first round. What is it about this place that makes it so hard to be in chase mode as the week progresses?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, I don't really think about that stuff very much. I don't really care what happened in the last few tournaments. I think anytime you get close to the lead, it's going to be easier for you to win the golf tournament. That's a simple fact of the matter. You get off to a good start, statistically you're going to have a better chance to win the tournament.
I think around major championship golf courses, too -- it's funny because this is a golf course where there's a lot of opportunities. There's a lot of opportunity over the weekend. There's a lot of opportunity on Sunday with where they put the pins.
I'm a bit surprised that it's like that, but I wouldn't say that it can't be done.
Q. Big saves on 7 and 17; how important were those?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I hit a really, really good bunker shot there on 7, was able to get a lot of spin on it, get it close to the hole.
Then 17, hit what I felt was a decent shot off the tee and kind of get into a tough spot over there on the left side and was able to hit a nice bunker shot and rolled in about an eight, nine-footer. That was just a really good putt.
Q. You gave an interesting answer the other day talking about the difference in results versus feels and sometimes they don't correlate. How do you feel about your score today versus how you feel?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I felt pretty good. Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it's a really good thing. Like you said, I struggled for what felt like two pars today.
I had to make two really good up-and-downs. But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports