THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Scottie Scheffler into the interview room here at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Scottie, thanks for joining us. Fresh off of your victory at the PGA Championship, your third major. If we could get some comments on last week, reflect on that, but also being here at Colonial this week.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I mean, last week was a great week. I was fortunate to be leaving on Sunday with the trophy. Yeah, it's good to be back here in Texas playing at home. This is a golf course that I really love and I always enjoy coming back to. So I'm looking forward to the challenge that this golf course presents.
It's a little bit of a different golf course than last week. Yeah, try and get prepared.
THE MODERATOR: Your sixth start here at this event. You come in with three straight top-3 finishes here, including two runner-ups. What is it about this course that you love so much and fits your game?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think you have to hit it so well around this place. I feel like it's a unique challenge that we see on the PGA TOUR. We don't play Bermuda very often, and we don't play golf courses like this very often. I like the challenge of more of an old-school design. I think it's just a place that hasn't changed much over the years, and it continues to test us, and I'm looking forward to trying to battle this place again this year.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll open it up to questions.
Q. I saw you walk a few holes with Charlotte and her brother. Just curious, do those moments have a bigger impact on you now that you're a father yourself?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think I definitely have a better understanding of what it's like to be a parent. I think being a parent has given me a greater appreciation for my own parents, but at the same time when you get to meet people like that and girls like Charlotte, I mean, she's such a bright spirit. She was a lot of fun to walk around with for a couple of holes.
She said she's a jazz dancer. I was trying to get her to teach me a couple of moves out there. She wouldn't quite budge, though. Maybe tomorrow when I see her, she'll be a little more willing to teach me.
No, it was a ton of fun. It was good to be able to treat them to a few holes out there, and I love being able to walk around and keep things loose with the kiddos.
Q. After your two previous major wins, you were off the week after the '22 Masters, and you won the week after '24. I was just wondering what it was like to play the week after winning a major? Is there any feeling, like any sense that you are playing with house money?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, every tournament I try to treat differently. Coming off a major win, obviously there's a lot of emotion and stuff that comes with winning that golf tournament, but at the end of the day I didn't just show up here to Fort Worth to just walk around and celebrate last week.
I'm here for a reason, and that's not to just play a couple of ceremonious rounds and then ride off in the sunset. I'm here for a reason. That's to compete.
My prep work for this tournament will obviously be a bit different than it normally is for an event. I didn't really do much yesterday or the day before. Yesterday I went to the gym and kind of got back doing that stuff a little bit, but this is my first time on the course.
Today I'm just playing nine holes and getting out of here. I'm not doing my normal practice routine just because I need to focus more on rest than I do getting prepared for the course. Fortunately this is a golf course that I've been around numerous times. Today I've got a good feel for the speed of the green, hit a couple of bunker shots, hit some chips out of the rough.
Outside of that I need to give my brain and body a rest to prepare for another event.
Q. You talk about the golf course last year when you guys came here. It had just reopened after the renovations. It was still fresh. This year it's got a little time to mature. What did you notice that has changed over the course of the year, and what has changed? You struggled the first couple of times out here, the first two times you played in this event. You kind of figured something out maybe that third year. What are the changes in the golf course that you have seen over your time here?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I mean, last year showing up there was some pretty drastic changes. A lot of the greens that were elevated were kind of flattened out, and some of the run-off areas were taken away and replaced by rough.
The biggest difference from this year to last year is I think the rough has matured a little bit, and the greens have also matured. The greens are still quite firm, so I think it should be a pretty good test.
It looks like we're not going to get much rain this week, so the golf course should only continue to firm up. It should be a pretty good test.
Q. Did you see that Defender out there? It looks like something Jim Nance could buy off you in about 15 years.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I did see the Defender. It looks nice. It looks nice.
Q. We know how important the Byron Nelson is to you, but it seems like maybe you picked this over perhaps the Signature Truist event just to avoid, I don't know, six or so weeks in a row of playing. First of all, is that the case? Secondly, the same kind of question, how important is Colonial to you just based on it being in your home market and things like that?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think any time I can sleep in my own bed and play a golf tournament, it's a nice thing. It's nice to be able to be here at home. We always get great support here in the metroplex, and it's always fun coming back here to play Colonial.
Like you said, I love the golf course here. I think it's a great test. That's also one of the big reasons I try to come to this event each year is just for the golf course.
Overall it's great to be back in the metroplex. Like I said, we get great support. So it's a lot of fun to play in front of a home crowd.
Q. Have you wondered at all personally in the last two years because you've been on a heck of a run here, if you would still have the same achievements had everybody from the other tour been in all the tournaments that you've been playing in? Have you ever thought, I wonder if I would still finish -- would I still be No. 1 or 2 or any of those things had Bryson, Brooks, and those guys been with you consistently throughout this entire duration?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Do I think that some of the results would have changed?
Q. Yeah.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Who knows? I only get to compete against those guys four times a year. That was their choice; not mine.
At the end of the day I'm here competing and doing the best I can, and that kind of stuff, what's the point of me thinking about, you know? There's really absolutely no point to that.
We get four chances to compete against them. Last week went well. I get another chance here in a few weeks.
Q. On behalf of golf fans everywhere, do you have any idea where the tours are in terms of potentially merging so you guys might get a chance to play together more often?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, I don't really know. That's for the higher-ups to decide. I have said it a few times this year. If you want to figure out what's going to happen in the game of golf, go to the other tour and ask those guys.
I'm still here playing the PGA TOUR. We had a tour where we all played together, and the guys that left, it's their responsibility I think to bring the tours back together. Go see where they're playing this week and ask them.
Q. You certainly have a lot to choose from now with two Masters tournaments and PGA and a lot of other stuff. What's the coolest golf memorabilia you've gotten from some of your wins or some of the stuff that you've got?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I guess the coolest piece of memorabilia I've got to give back when you don't win the tournament is probably the green jacket. That's always tough having to give that one back.
Q. You got it when you are there, though.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Only when you're there, yeah. You get to wear it on property, which is a pretty cool feeling. It's very cool to be able to show up to the Champions Dinner each year.
I think it's hard to find a cooler piece of golf memorabilia than a green jacket. Sadly, it's not in my possession currently.
Q. Jordan told me when he was at Texas, that he got to play a college event at Cypress Point. What's the coolest place you've played in in competition, do you think?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: In college?
Q. Or anywhere. Just in competition. Not just with buddies, whatever.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I hate to go with the same answer as the last question, but I think Augusta National. Growing up here in the States, I think that golf tournament was always just different for us. Having it hosted on the same golf course each year in such a special place, I think any time you're able to step foot on that golf course and play it, I think it's one of the best tests of golf that we see all year.
I really always look forward to that event. We have great memories there, and it's a really special place.
Q. I think one of the biggest reactions around here to your winning the PGA was when you did the football spike. Was there any football player you had in mind, or was that a football spike? What was that exactly?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: When I played football, I didn't score very many touchdowns, so I wasn't too experienced in that.
I don't really have much to say on that. I think I just kind of let my emotions out a little bit, and I guess that's where my brain decided it wanted to go at the time. I really have absolutely no explanation for it at all.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports