Q. Obviously nice turnaround after the first two days where you barely made the cut. What was your attitude after coming into the weekend when you are on the cut line and it's unlikely that you're going to contend, but here you are?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I just tried to bring a good attitude coming in. The first two days here were really frustrating. It's tough. It's the fourth week in a row. I'm pretty tired. I was in contention at Byron, PGA, and Colonial, and I'm pretty worn out at the moment. So I was just proud of how I showed up this weekend and fought.
I hit it so good and I gave myself a chance. Made a few more putts go in, it's a little different story, but I'm not going to go too far away.
Q. But I'm sure you would like to play a little more.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I wouldn't mind playing more golf.
Q. I watched you work throughout the week. It looked like you were working with two different putters, spent a lot of time after the round on the greens. Do you feel like you're making progress?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I feel like I'm making progress. Like I said at the PGA, I can start feeling the ball coming off the blade again, which is good. I felt like at the Masters and was it Hilton Head? It didn't feel as good. This week I hit -- like even today, I just go through my round and I'm like how did some of these putts not go in and I'm thinking like -- I mean, starting on 5, really good putt, just stayed high. 6, ball's on the edge. 7, ball's on the edge. 8, I made one from off the green, so that probably doesn't count towards whatever stats you're looking at.
Jack's nodding, I guess that's true.
Good putt on 9. Really the only putt I would like to have back is the putt I misread on 10, but I started it on line, and I get to 13 and hit a really good putt, burns the edge. 14, same thing.
It's just one of those deals. Sometimes those putts go in and sometimes they don't. Jon and I, we're playing together and we were kind of joking after the round, I think, on Friday how bad we were both putting. But we both were thinking the same thing, that some of those putts look like they're going in and about 2 feet away you're ready to go pick it up out of the hole and then it just doesn't fall. It's confusing. It's frustrating. I'm pretty frustrated with it right now. But I fought hard, I never gave up, and I put up a good fight.
Q. How what the differences in the two putters you seem to have been working with this week? Is there any difference at all?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No. I used a putter with a different lie angle in the first round, and then I guess it was after Friday I had two putters out there, because I went back to my original putter on Friday. You may have seen me testing more, but I was putting with a lob wedge as well just for practice. Maybe that's what you thought the putter was because did I that after Friday and Saturday. It's something that I've been working on. It helps me release it and I do that from time to time, yeah.
Q. It's good practice if you ever break a putter too, right?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. I've done that once. Try not to do it again. I've been tempted many times.
Q. Knowing how tough the final stretch is and knowing the boys are still in the middle of the front nine, did you find yourself playing a little more aggressively at all or did you just stick to the same brand of golf?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Same brand of golf. I stayed committed to all my shots. It's going to sound silly, but the only shot I really felt I hit off line on the back nine was my shot into 16, which is funny because it was -- went in there to about a foot and then I got a good break, and then get to the next hole and get paid back for that good break with a pretty bad one with a big gust and then ball hits the dang grass up above the bunker again and it's happened to me so many times this week and it's so frustrating because it goes all the way back down to the other side of the bunker and you're on down slope looking up at the green and it's just how it goes sometimes.
Q. What was the club at 16?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: 8.
Q. The tee to green game is really strong in every area. It's just been a continuation of what you've been doing or even better?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's definitely pretty good right now. Yeah, it's pretty good. I think a little bit of my struggles with the putting have probably helped me sort of elevate my ball striking just because if I'm trying to compete out here have I to -- I mean, with the putts not going in, I got to hit it really good and I've been able to do that.
That's one of those deals where I think maybe people are asking me about my putting so much more because I'm hitting it so good, but it's not easy -- when you're hitting a bunch of greens it's not easy to make every putt. I mean, if I was putting the best this week, I would have won by a crazy amount of shots.
That's actually something I talked to Jon about too on Friday, was he was getting the same questions -- I think it was last year or two years ago because I remember playing with him at the Byron and his putting stats were bad, but he's like, dude, I'm just hitting so many greens that you don't really get to choose the kind of putts you want. If you miss more greens, you can kind of sit in there and find the uphill putts and you get to see your read maybe when you're ball's rolling by the cup.
But if you're playing from back there in the fairway and you're hitting a ton of greens, it's not easy make a ton of putts. Granted my stats should still be significantly better than what they are now, but I have confidence in the stuff that I'm working on. Like I said, the ball feels good coming off the blade, so I don't really have an explanation for it, but, you know, I'm sure I'll get back towards my average and putts will start falling.
Q. What's this period like now where you have a long wait, you finished early in the afternoon, you're just looking up there and waiting?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I got to pack, so I'm going to get home and pack. Probably watch a little bit of the golf, see what happens. Our house is really close, so I'll probably go home and just pack and get everything together and then check the board, see what happens. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Just wait.
Q. You said that it was kind of tough for you getting up in the morning yesterday. How were you feeling today when you got up before your round?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Just glad I got myself a few extra hours of sleep. Yeah, I think the fourth week for me is going to be pretty much a hard max. I hope I don't have to do this again in the future. It's just one of those deals. It's long, especially when you're in contention and especially when there's a major in there. Golf, especially on these tough courses, puts wear and tear on your body. Playing from awkward lies, hitting out of this heavy rough, it can put some strain on your body. Especially when you're playing well and in a major. So I'm proud of how I fought, but I'm definitely going to go home and get some rest for sure.
Q. Can you picture the U.S. Open being harder than this week and would you like it to be?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would imagine the USGA would definitely like the U.S. Open to be harder than it this week. But it's one of those deals where it all depends on how they want to set up the golf course. And it depends on weather. There's so many factors that go into scoring for a golf course. And I'm sure U.S. Open will be tough, the rough will be high, but the USGA has really, in the past few years, probably since I would say Shinnecock, I think they got a little bit of a bad rep that week, I didn't play, but I remember seeing a bunch of the highlights that it was a bit too extreme. I think they have done a good job in years past of rewarding good golf, but still punishing poor golf. So that's what you look for as a player is some sort of little reward or carrot for hitting a really good shot and being severely punished for hitting a bad one.
Q. Do you have any sense that when it comes to the proposal of a ball rollback or any other issue that the PGA TOUR players' attitude toward the USGA depends on their relationship with them?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: What do you mean?
Q. With whether they got snubbed at a Walker Cup years ago or whether -- you would be considered probably part of the USGA family as a past USGA champion. Do you think relationships matter?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, relationships definitely matter. I wouldn't say that too many guys would have that have a large effect on their perception of what the USGA's doing. Because that's pretty big picture stuff. If the USGA chose to come up and penalize somebody for slow play during the tournament or something like that and they're not doing it to everybody else, then, yeah, you may get a little bit more of an attitude toward the organization. But when you're looking at something as big picture as the golf ball rollback I think that's something that guys just have a strong opinion on in general. I wouldn't say it has too much to do with your relationship with the governing body.
Q. I was talking I guess thinking of if you picked up any kind of perception from the players toward the USGA.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I just think it's such a big topic and I think it's, it has more to do with golf course design than it does rolling back the golf ball. I think with the way that we're building golf courses now with bigger greens, bigger fairways, taller rough, it really encourages you just to hit it as far as you can. I shouldn't say bigger fairways, I think bigger greens has a lot more to do with it. You don't have to curve the ball as much. I mean, you're taking trees off the golf course which can force you to curve it. You look at a golf course like Hilton Head, you look at a golf course like Colonial even, I mean, what won Hilton Head, 12-under? Colonial won at 8.
Q. Riviera.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Riviera. It's the same thing. I think you got to find a balance between tree removal and how tight you actually keep the fairways because I think of some tournaments in the past with the USGA and if the rough gets crazy high and the fairways are super firm and you just can't hit 'em, why would I try and squeeze a 3-iron into the fairway where I know almost the ball's going to go in the rough just as much as my driver, I might as well get it up there and gouge it out somewhere up by the green. So in my opinion it has a lot more to do with the design and the way they're playing golf courses that guys are just choosing to send driver everywhere. And if you put trees in the way and you're in heavy rough, you can't just gouge it out on to the green. But when you take all the trees off a golf course and you can spray it and you get to where the fans are and all of a sudden you're sitting in grass that's matted down, you now have a better chance than if you laid up and just barely went into the rough. So it's one of those funny deals where the big misses are easier to play from than the small ones and it's a lot of strategy.
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