THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the winner of the 2024 Travelers Championship, Scottie Scheffler, to the interview room.
Congratulations, Scottie. What an exciting finish. Six wins this season. First time since Tiger Woods in 2009 for a player to do that. Just some thoughts coming down the stretch there. That was an amazing finish.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was a great finish. This golf course produces a lot of those, you know, the exciting stuff coming down the stretch. So it was nice to be out there competing. It's great competing against one of my good buddies in Tom Kim, but it's also very difficult at the same time. I want what's best for him, and so sometimes it can be hard, I think, for both of us, you know, battling against each other out there. But it was a lot of fun and I'm proud to be sitting here with the trophy.
THE MODERATOR: We'll jump right into questions.
Q. You've said a lot of times that winning doesn't define you, but as you keep wracking up some of these and get some records that haven't been broken in awhile, do you take any moment to just enjoy what you're doing and the history that you're making?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I mean, a little bit. But as far as going week-to-week in the season, there's not really much time to kind of sit around and reflect. I was able to win the Memorial, but couldn't really celebrate for too long because we had the U.S. Open the next week. So in terms of playing through the season, I try not to look too far into the past or look too far into the future. I've been very fortunate to come away with some wins this year and it's been fun. It was a lot of hard work paying off, and so very grateful to have some trophies to kind of show for it.
Q. Watching Tom kind of stick the approach in regulation and then nail the putt, what was kind of going through your head as he kind of went through that? You guys looked like you laughed and shared a handshake at the end of that.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. Yeah, we had fun out there today. Like I said, it's fun competing against your friends, but at the same time, it's difficult, because part of me wants him to miss the putt and part of me wants him to make the putt, and then when I see him make bogey in the playoff hole, it hurts because that's my friend and that's not a great feeling.
But he should remember that putt he made on 18 because it was pretty special and he's a great player and a great champion. He's got a habit of making those putts when it really matters. I think of a guy that young already winning three times out here and being the way that he is in the Presidents Cup. He's got the right attitude to play out here for a long time and he's only 22, which is just nuts.
Q. When we think of taxing conditions, we tend to default to what you guys saw last week at Pinehurst. But how difficult is it to play when seemingly a lot of guys are going low and there doesn't seem to be much room to kind of make a mistake?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I feel like sometimes in these tournaments, you really have to be on for all four days. You have an off day, all of a sudden it's much harder to catch up. I feel like sometimes at the harder golf courses, you can kind of fake it around a little bit for a day or two and kind of hang around and hang, but sometimes these golf courses when they're a little bit softer and not, you know, as demanding, there's always a lot of birdies, just because the fields out here are so deep, and once you get behind, it can be harder to catch up.
Q. Can you talk about what was going through your mind when the disturbance was going on on 18 and also what you did to sort of get yourself back in the moment and try and make that putt.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was definitely a bit weird. I saw one person out of the corner of my eye, and then I saw about five police officers sprinting around. From my point of view, they got it taken care of pretty dang fast, and so we were very grateful for that. It seemed to go by really quickly to us.
But when something like that happens, you don't really know what's happening, so it can kind of rattle you a little bit, just because there's people running around the green and there's police officers running around the green and you don't know if they're peaceful, you don't know what they're doing, you have no idea what's going on, so it can be a bit stressful.
But fortunately, I was out there, and you could kind of see me and Akshay talking to each other for a minute, me and Tom talking to each other for a minute, basically just trying to calm down. That can be a stressful situation and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that, and so I felt like Tom and I both tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18.
Q. Can you talk about how it's either the same or maybe a little bit different winning a tournament like did you two weeks ago at Memorial where it was -- 8-under par is the win. Does it feel different, from a gratification standpoint, to win when it's a really big shoot-out like this one?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I feel like I haven't always been able to get it across the line at the tournaments where they're more of a shoot-out. I feel like most of my wins have been on some more difficult tracks. So it's nice to be able to come here where putting is so important and holing the right putts when you need to is so important, and definitely a little bit of extra satisfaction kind of being able to win on a different style of golf than some of my previous wins have been.
Q. Did you hit 3-wood on 18 all four days or what was the decision there? We saw a lot of guys try to just push that up as far as possible.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It depends on the wind for me. Basically 18's a fairway that is extremely important to hit. If I hit driver with it being downwind and I miss it left of the fairway, it goes directly into the lip of that bunker and I have no shot at going to the green. If I miss it on right side, you're on that side slope and you can't really get it on the green either. So for me, it didn't really seem like it was worth a risk hitting driver up there and risking having no shot missing left and no shot missing right.
If I hit 3-wood, it gives me a better chance to hit it in the fairway and get an iron up there close to the pin. I'm not sure how many days I did it. I know when we finished late -- probably the two days we finished late, when there wasn't much wind, I didn't hit driver, but I think the first day -- or I did hit driver and then the first day, I hit 3-wood when it was pretty aggressive downwind.
Q. Just as you approach --
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just keep it rolling.
Q. Let's just keep going. As you approach what you've already accomplished this year and you look forward to an Open Championship, does the second major feel like a validation to put on a really historic season?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really. I've talked to a good amount about I don't really define myself by my wins or by my losses, and so I do my best to compete and have the right attitude. Going into The Open Championship, I don't need to feel any sort of validation or anything like that. It's been a tremendous year and I'm grateful to have some wins, and I'm looking forward to going out and competing and playing in the Open Championship, playing in the Olympics, and then playing the playoffs as well.
Q. This is the last Signature Event of the year. What does your schedule look like the rest of the year? The FedExCup is probably a foregone conclusion. Are you 100 percent committed to the Olympics?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I'm playing The Open, the Olympics, and then the last three playoff events, and then I think I should be on the Presidents Cup team, and after that, I'll take a break.
THE MODERATOR: I would pick you.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thanks, Mark. Will you call Jim and tell him? (Smiling.)
Q. Given the amount of success that you've had so far this season do you find yourself or do you and your team get together to reassess the goals that you've got going on or do you maintain that no matter what the outcome happens to be?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't set long-term goals, I never have. I've always been best just when I stay in the present. I have what I would call dreams and aspirations and those will probably never change, but as far as goals for the year, nothing really changes for me. I show up, and it's most important for me to have the right attitude and try and compete. I feel like the team around me this year has done a great job of getting on me a little bit when my attitude is not where it needs to be. I feel like on the golf course Teddy and I have been as tough this year as we've been in a long time and it's been a lot of fun.
Q. You mentioned sort of Teddy -- just really fast, sorry -- he's had success coming into this, you mentioned before the tournament started that he used to mention to you that he had a lot of success on this golf course. Did you rely on him at any specific point or was there any instance during the course of this week where his knowledge of this venue came into play for you?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, well, mostly I would say it was his game plan on kind of how he liked to attack the golf course. Bubba obviously had a lot of success here, and so Teddy watched him win numerous times and also have chances to win here numerous times, so he knew what we needed to do in order to get in position to have a chance to win the tournament. So we stuck to our game plan and the way that we wanted to play the golf course, and like I said, he was a huge part of that game plan.
Q. I want to actually follow-up, the commitment to the Olympics -- and you've won plenty this year, but now you get to win as a member of the Olympic team. I know they're not related, but just what does it mean for you to be a part of that Olympic team?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's very special. Any time you're able to represent your country is -- wearing the flag is something that very few people get to experience and I'm very proud to be going across and representing our representing the USA at the Olympics. And I'm very grateful, that's something that I've been looking forward to for a long time and was hoping to be able to be a part of that team, so it will be very special going over there and competing with the other three guys and hopefully we'll be able to bring home some medals for the USA.
THE MODERATOR: All right. Once again, congratulations, Scottie, great victory, have a good break before the next event.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thanks, y'all, appreciate it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports