BRIONY CARLYON: Delighted to welcome World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, back to the Genesis Scottish Open.
You just have been outside on a glorious Scottish day here. Course has had a rerouting this year. Give us your thoughts on that heading into the week.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, rerouting the golf course, but overall, I'd say maybe the last few holes have got maybe a touch more difficult just because you know, I think 16, the original par 5, and now that stretch of really, really challenging holes.
The golf course hasn't changed much outside of that. I think I saw an initial bunker on 7th hole, but outside of that, I didn't see any changes to the course. Seems last week it's in good shape again this year. Should be good.
Q. How would you assess your season so far? How much does this week play into your preparation for next week?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: How would I assess my season? I feel like I get that question every single week. I haven't had a good answer yet. I'll try again.
I think I've been really close to winning some tournaments, and that can be frustrating. But at the same time, I've had some good results, and a fourth and a second are not bad results by any means.
Yeah, margins in golf are really small, and just keep trying to do my best. I feel like no matter how the season goes, there's always shots I wish I could have back. There's always tournaments I feel like I should have won and I didn't. That's just part of the game. You've got to ride with it, kind of the highs and lows. And like I said last year at The Open: It's not a satisfying venture playing professional golf, so try to take the good with the bad.
And then what was second part? Prep for this week, how this week helps? Yeah, it helps to get used to the time zone. I'm sure you'll get similar answers to that, a touch fuzzy with the jet-lag.
Overall helps me get used to a different style of golf, and this is a links golf style of golf, and get used to the turf and conditions. It's pretty significant from where I live at home. It always helps for me to get over here and play some competitive golf and get used to the time zone, especially.
Q. You touched on it, but for this event, do you want to see four days of sunshine?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It doesn't really matter. I think it would be tough if it was drastically different than next week. Like if we came up here and we got like a week of very, very calm weather, and all of a sudden get down to next week and it's blowing 25 each day, that would be a bit of a problem.
Like I said, coming over here and getting used to the time and getting used to links golf is important to me. The weather, it could be crazy windy this week or next week or neither. Like I said, it's nice getting over and just getting used to different things than I'm used to at home.
Q. The wind coming out of the west to east, how difficult is that in practise round and it's different to tournament rounds?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think the wind has a significant effect on how far the golf ball goes here and how the golf course plays. This is a course that we've seen a lot of different conditions over the years. So not really a huge difference, I would say. I don't have a lot of great -- see, that's the fuzziness right there.
In some spots, yeah. I feel like yesterday we played -- I guess now it's the 12th hole, the old third hole, short left used to lighter rough where you can run the ball up on the green. And I hit a shot thinking it would be right up on the green, and we got there and the rough was like a foot and a half long and it was the lushest green.
So I think there are spots where they are trying to add some rough maybe and add water. So there's some lush grass out there in some spots that there hasn't been the last couple of years. I think that's just trying to make the golf course difficult.
Yeah, definitely there's some spots with thick rough for sure.
Q. How do you reflect on your victory at Portrush last year, and how does it sit on your list of personal achievements given it's an overseas major?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm not really a good reflector, I'm really not. Sometimes I have a quick -- sorry, a short memory. I don't really sit around too much and think about the past, to be honest with you.
I feel like I'm in the middle of my career and probably the end of my career is more a time to reflect. Right now I'm just focused on what I need to do, and maybe I should sit and enjoy things more, but that's just not my nature. My wife is better at that than me. I'm not good at that.
One thing I will say is that I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Claret Jug. Like it was something to me that I always understood the history and the significance, and you see the names on there and how far is goes back. And it's like the perfect size trophy, not too big, not too small, and you get to drink out of it; that's an added bonus.
It was something that is very special to me. And you know, it will be very tough to hand it back on Tuesday next week, but I'll be fighting like heck to get it back on Sunday.
Q. While you don't necessarily reflect on it in a sort of pride kind of way, do you draw on those successes that you've had, whether they have been to fuel your career going forward?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think any time you can have an achievement in the game of golf, it's important to use that. Anything like that you can used bad experiences as learning experiences and use good ones for that, as well. Any time you have success it is really important to be able to feed off that, it can only provide for more in the future, knowing that you've done it before.
Q. What would a win in Scotland mean to you?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it would be really fun. I didn't come over here just for smoke and prep. I came over here to play golf and play well. Being over here in the Home of Golf, we have good fans over here. Always get good support. I don't think I've played in the final group here yet. So it would be nice to get up near the lead and experience that as well.
Q. A lot of Americans come over, and it's social week, as well, in terms of going to North Berwick or Gullane or whatever. What do you do? Are you out in the town with the family?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I always have goals of going out and doing stuff and trying to get down and play North Berwick, and I just never really quite find the time. You get tired at the end of the day. We are always getting used to the jet-lag.
This week is usually compressed. I have my family this week. We hang out and keep a low profile, enjoy some cooler weather. It's pretty hot where we live at home, and now we are just chasing around my older son and finding stuff to do around the house. It's a pretty relaxing week for my family. It's a lot of fun.
Q. What's been your strongest memory or fun thing you've done with the Claret Jug? And if you don't have one, can you make one up?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, after The Open last year, we had -- I call it a party. We had like a dinner with some of our friends at home, some of our really close friends. And we had from the PGA Championship, the Wannamaker, and the Claret Jug there, and it was really fun. We drank out of both of them.
Yeah, I'd say that was probably the most fun memory. We got some good pictures, all my buddies drinking out of it. My manager's son, 10 years old at the time and he had some lemonade out of it. Little stuff like that. It's really fun for me to be able to go home and enjoy the successes with my friends and family as well.
I'd say those are always the memories that really last. It's pretty rare in this game when you get to achieve something that you have longed for for a long time. It's fun for me to be able to go home and celebrate with the people that are closest to me and that helped me get into that position, as well.
Q. Did you take it anywhere?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't think so.
Q. Never left home?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really.
Q. Secondly, as relates to links golf, as someone who has said that you work really hard to get really good at this game, and there's a lot of control involved there. When you get so many quirky bounces on links golf, how do you deal with that?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You get quirky bounces in links golf. You get quirky bounces in regular golf, too. I think, yeah, mine, more of them here, but it's a different style.
You can tell, you know, like kind of why golf was invented here. If you and I were to go out and play, you hit the ball, I'm sure a little bit lower than me and probably not as far -- no offence. That style of golf works really well here, and you can hit a lot of clubs off the green. It's not the same club every time, and it gives you an option. You can get some funny bounces sometimes.
But it's also a pure and raw way to play golf. The conditions change pretty quickly, and that could have an effect on tournament. But when you have similar conditions over four days, it's a pretty true test of golf. There's always is the weird bounce: You hit off-line and hit in a pot bunker and chip out sideways.
Other times, you barely miss that bunker and get a clean lie out of the rough and hit on the middle of green. Those breaks always happen. They happen in regular tournaments, as well. This is a style of golf wish we could play more often, but it's not an easy style of golf to replicate. It's unique to here and the coastal links courses, and it's fun to play it a couple of years weeks out of the here.
Q. You just said you're not a big reflector or a great reflector --
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: But how do I reflect?
Q. You just turned 30 and that is a massive time for reflection for lot of people, an age that freaks them out or is a reflective time. So in the last month or so, a few weeks, has Scottie the person thought about being 30, the dawn of a new decade for you and maybe what your 20s were like for you?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really.
Q. That's okay.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I still feel young. Then I look in the mirror, and I'm like, man, I'm getting old.
Turning 30, no, we are in the midst of the season, so I haven't had much time to sit around. Like we go back to Travelers on Monday, and we left on Sunday. So it was pretty quick, in and out. Yeah, not really.
Yeah, sometimes I feel old sometimes. I feel young. My hair has been receding for years, so 30 is not going to have any effect on that.
Yeah, I don't have a good answer. Wish I had something better. Blame it on the jet-lag.
Q. You've made the commitment, obviously, to come over to Scotland the last few years and play this event. As part of the PGA TOUR changes, we're going to see elevated international events in the fall. Is that something that interests you, and if so, is there anywhere in the world you would like to play?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It definitely interests me. I'd like to see how it shapes out the next couple of years. There's a lot of places I think I'd like to play.
There's always just, you know, the time and the place for me. I'm at a time in my life where I have a young family at home and young kids. Those are times -- the fall is a special time for our family. It's where we can really check out and be together, and I get to spend a lot of time with my kids. So I hold those moments pretty sacred.
But at the same time I love golf and I would love to be able to play more internationally. Like Australia; New Zealand is a place we would love to be able to go to. My wife as always wanted to go to New Zealand.
But like I said, I love this style of golf, and I feel like it's pretty unique to here. But going to play the Sandbelt in Australia would be pretty special as well. Hopefully I can find the time. It's definitely an intriguing part of the schedule and yeah, it definitely interests me, as well.
Q. Just talking about adjusting to links golf, a couple years ago, you told us here one of the challenges that you find was the speed of the grass off the greens and putting from off the green. Is there a specific shot that you and Teddy need to master this week, both for this week and looking ahead to next week?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not necessarily a specific shot. I'd say one of the things that takes a little bit more time to get used to would be the speed of the greens. It's unique for us because the greens are quite firm, but they are also a little bit slower than what we are used to at home.
So getting used to how the ball runs on the green, especially when you are hitting pitches. Like I said, they are a bit slower, so just really ingraining that into your head, the speed of the greens. That's why it's really nice to get over and play some competitive golf the week before as well because everything always feels a little bit different when you get out there in competition.
So yeah, I wouldn't say it's necessarily one shot. It's more just getting used to the conditions more so than anything. I actually like over here that when you're putting from off the green, it's a bit easier in the States because there's not a huge difference in the speed.
You know, it's obviously still a little bit slower on the fairway but it's not anything drastic. A lot of times in the States, you can get fairways that are longer and greens that are lightness fast. If you're putting up a slope, it's very slow going up the slope, and when it gets on the green, it takes off.
Here, you can tell why you play so many different types of shots just because the ball slows down on the greens pretty quickly. But when you are playing the ball in the air, it's bouncing. So typically, it's easier to get the ball closer to the hole when you are hitting it on the ground.
Q. We haven't seen the nuts and bolts of the PGA TOUR schedule, does this event need to change at all? It's co-sanctioned. Where it sits on the schedule and dictates players coming, does it need to change at all, this event?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Gosh, I don't know. I wouldn't say it needs to change, no. I think it needs to work within the new schedule that they are setting up.
This is a tournament I think, like you see, the field is great. I think it's an important one that we keep in the Championship Series just because you get so many guys that come over here and play the week before.
Personally, I believe it's a great way to get ready for The Open Championship. It's a great golf course, and the people here are great and they do a really good job of taking care of us at this tournament. I'm hoping that it can fit in the right way.
But does it, like, need to change?
Q. Should be part of the DP World Tour schedule, as well? Should it stay on that schedule, as well?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's hard to tell. One of the things that's important in our new schedule is getting the same, golf is so difficult to rank players when they are not playing together all the time. That was something we ran into a lot during junior golf and amateur golf is it's very tough to rank who played better when you are not playing against each other each week.
Having similar guys playing against each other on great golf courses week-in and week-out I think is the best way to set up our schedule. To have this tournament fit into that mold would be really nice.
And like I said, this is a tournament that I really enjoy coming over to play. Love the people and the fans, and I'm hoping that I can come here for a long time to play.
BRIONY CARLYON: Best of luck this week, Scottie.
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