THE MODERATOR: 11-under par for two rounds Xander, 8-under par 63 today. Heck of a finish. Talk about the last few holes there finishing strong.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I just kind got in a nice flow there at the end. Kind of one of those situations where I wish I could play some more holes. It was nice to sort of make that last putt on 18 before the they blew that horn.
THE MODERATOR: Likes like they're suspending play for the day so they will continue so just talk about how nice to finish and be able to go home now until round 3.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah it was good. The almost two and a half hour delay during the middle of the day here, it is what it is, everyone had to deal with it, some people had a delay yesterday and today so fortunately I've only had one delay and potentially we'll have more throughout the week, so I bogeyed my first hole coming out of the delay, wasn't in a great spot and was able to make a birdie quickly right after to sort of settle the ship. So yeah happy with how I finished.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Details on the finish. That must have been quite a 3-wood, I assume it was a 3-wood unless you've been taking steroids.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I have not been taking steroids I'm tested quite often. On what hole was that?
Q. The five par-5. 14?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, that was a 3-wood into there it pitched right on line with the pin looked really good in the air I was joking with Christiaan and Johan saying I would be pretty happy if I eagle this hole and they were messing with me after I made that long putt.
Q. The clubs on 16 through 18?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: 16, let's see, 16 was a 7-iron playing 190. Tried to hit like a 180 ball. 17 was a sand wedge. Honestly kind of hit it a little bit further than I wanted which was probably a good thing it stayed up top on that shelf. 18 was an 8-iron, slightly pulled it and had to hit a pretty hard 8 from about 180 and caught that slope and kind of rolled down to 13 feet.
Q. Lastly, for me, Sunday contention and pressure is stuff you deal with all the time but given the nature of these games at the Olympics is there a lot just to make sure you're around the mix going into the weekend instead of getting off to such a slow start that you're really climbing uphill the rest of the way.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I don't have the exact stats on all tournaments golf-wise but it does seem that you need to be in touch through the halfway point with the leaders to have any sort of shot at winning. There's a very small handful of group of people that have won coming from too far behind. So if you're trying to win golf tournaments you need to be in the hunt kind of in the midway and even coming into Sunday.
Q. Would you consider the American team for no other reason that you got four players here versus everyone else, the favorites for this week?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know. I don't know the numbers on everything in all honesty. If you just go by ranking, you know, but that's not always the case, is it. I'm not sure. This is different, this is a different sort of style of golf. If you're kind of from Asia you're kind of more used to this grass in the fairway and the kind of the conditions and the heat. So I'm not really sure who would have the edge coming in.
Q. Would there be more pressure going into the weekend because of what's on the line than maybe you would normally fairways or does it feel the same?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: In all honesty it feels the same. Trying to win golf tournaments you're trying to win golf tournaments. This is just another four-day event to me and that's kind of how I've looked at it and prepped for it. So obviously you got to take home something a little bit more special than money, what money can buy. So maybe if you keep thinking about it might become more special, but to me this is just another golf tournament.
Q. In terms of this being unique and that it's once every four years was there anymore emphasis or on your mind at all to stay in touch as you said, not to get too far behind?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: In all honesty, no. I've been pressing pretty hard for quite a little bit of time to win a golf tournament to be completely honest. So I think there's a part, a point in today where I was starting to get a little impatient and I kind of had to remind myself back to the times I did win and the times I've been watching other people win while I've been kind of sitting to the side they seem to be pretty patient and staying in the moment. So it's only Friday and we're thinking way ahead, but I'm just going to try and stay as patient as possible coming through to the finish line.
Q. Has that been an emphasis of yours in recently just settle down, take a step back and not think too much about it?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, when it rains it pours. When you're playing really, really well it kind of comes in bunches and you can kind of hinder that if you sort of start to lean a little bit too much. So I've been trying to just sort of stay very shot to shot with my caddie and I think that's when I play my best.
Q. The other medals, silver and bronze, do guys, do you think they will take pride in them this week or is it just about gold because you're used to just trying to win golf tournaments?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think if you asked Siwoo or Sungjae they would take any medal in all honesty.
Q. The other 58 guys.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just off the top of my head. You know, I think winning any medal if you represent your country to the best of your ability and you're very proud of your country and I think it's an honor to win a medal, doesn't matter what the color is, obviously we're all shooting for gold and it's just, from watching a little bit of Olympics on TV, when someone has to win a bronze medal match, some people are sort of crying because they were supposed to win the gold and they're not, you can tell they're a little bit disappointed but they still feel okay. So it's kind of a, it's a very strange sort of deal to sort of receive a medal for third and, but it is what it is and I think in my opinion who wins anything in the top 3 would be very happy.
Q. Can you describe the shot on 6, tee shot.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It was another 3-wood. It was just down, right-to-left, 294 yards to the pin and sort of hit it as good and high as I possibly could and it kind of rode it nicely and was nice to capitalize on a good tee shot.
Q. The eagle on 14, do you have any idea how long it was and what was your read like and did it look like it was going to go in as soon as you hit it?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it was kind of up and across a ridge, about 4 three feet is what I paced off, I think. I had Abe's coin sort of somewhere near my line at a halfway point which is always a nice kind of reference point to have. So my caddy and I sort of talked a little bit above -- on those putts you're just trying to get the speed right, I asked my caddie sort of how far by it was going and he said it was going to go a foot and a half, two feet by at most. So it's always nice to make those putts with nice pace.
Q. The patience thing, how is it that at your level you fall in and out of that kind of thing?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's easy. You always golfers are always perfectionists, you always if you're not No. 1 you're always looking at what the best are doing and it's really easy to sort of criticize yourself and self deprecate and you really got to figure out what makes you as an individual play your best. And been a lot of reflecting talking with my team, I even picked up reading which was something everyone that knows me really well will laugh about. But it always brings me back to the similar conclusion which is sort of what was preached to me at a young age which is to stay patient through tough times.
Q. Reading anything?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Sorry?
Q. When you say reading.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I guess you call them self-help books or mental books or anything of that nature.
Q. We're all struggling like maybe you are to answer our questions about the medal thing. At the end of the day if you get a gold or a bronze or a silver, is it -- it's going to mean something to you, but do you see it as it's yours or do you see it as winning it for the country?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's an interesting question. Man I would love to tell you on Sunday but I, in all honesty I, money, medals, to me it's just a result. I just, I'm really trying to be the best I can be and attack a golf course the way I can in the best of my ability. So I really don't -- I think the problem is thinking too far in advance. You guys do a really good job of making us players think too far in advance so I've been practicing to make sure I don't get to in that train of thought. But, yeah, I really am trying to become more present and less result oriented and let the results and everything come to me in the end.
Q. We're very impatient.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: So are we.
Q. Is this like a really bad time to ask about the Ryder Cup?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: You don't shy away from a weird question, fire away.
Q. In a quick summation, what do you think you've done well for two days and what do you need do you think for the weekend game-wise?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: If I do the same stuff I did the first two days we'll be good to go. Really got to keep the ball in the fairway, if you're 200 yards out and you're feeling dangerous you can get a ball to stop on the green so fairway is key I think off the tee. I don't know how many fairways I hit this week, but I do feel like I've been in a good position to sort of attack certain pins, even if they're sort of on weird shelves. So if you're not driving it well you're going to have a tough time scoring really well around this property.
Q. You mentioned the other day this Olympics means a lot to your father too. What did you talk about with him after the first round?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Man, we didn't really talk about much. We kind of had dinner and I think we had some Yakiniku and that was about it. Would he watched some ping pong maybe or some judo. And I think people don't really realize most teams out here the work is done on even before you show up to a tournament. If you're sitting there after a round really trying to think tank it and figure out what you're doing wrong, you're not in a good spot. So what usually if my dad and I are kind of hanging out and having dinner and having a good time laughing that means things are going well so I plan on doing the same thing tonight.
Q. No problems at the hotel last night with power or anything to go out?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, AC was on all night.
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