Q. Xander, 4-under par, windy conditions, firm greens. I thought there was a well played round of golf. What's your opinion?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'm happy with it. It looks like we're one off the lead right now. I'm not really sure what the wind's supposed to be doing this afternoon. But this is probably the firmest and fastest I've ever seen this golf course so you have to play smart.
Q. Take me through some of the holes. How about the 15th hole, your eagle?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's a hard, almost impossible -- you don't aim at that bunker. If you're kind of going at the pin and your iron shot drifts, you catch that bunker, it's an unbelievable shot to be in. You just can't really aim at it.
I was fortunate to hit it in the bunker there and I knew I was going to have good look at 3 or an easy 4, at the worst, so fortunate to get away with a 3.
Q. You missed three greens. 15 of 18 greens. You got up-and-down 3 of 3 greenside bunkers.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I've been a pretty decent bunker player statistically. I think I missed more than maybe three. I missed the first green and that wasn't in the bunker.
So when I'm scrambling well, it's always a good thing.
Q. Different caddie for you. Austin's sick.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. Austin tested positive for COVID, so I'm on the protocol here, testing every morning.
Got off to a good start for this tournament, so I got to test tomorrow morning and hope that I don't end up like Jon Rahm at the Memorial. So hopefully I'm fine.
Q. Take me through the 6th hole, a lie over there among the cacti and it looked like you got a few needles in your hand. You okay?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I figured at the time smart to sort of move a loose impediment. It was an old cholla or whatever out here. So I grabbed it not really looking at the other side and I kind of tossed and I had six or seven little thorns sticking in my hand, my finger. So kind of a rookie for not native to this area and not native to grabbing cacti, so I'll have to fix that mistake.
Q. Who is caddieing for you?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: My buddy Tech (Kevin Techakanokboon). I went to Long Beach State my freshman year in college, so I've know him for a long time.
Q. He's caddied for you once?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He caddied for me at the Dunlop in Japan.
Q. He flew in yesterday?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I called him. Austin was with me at the house and he was downstairs. He called me about 6 a.m. and he said he wasn't feeling good so he stayed in our room.
We both tested. I was negative. He was positive. So kind of just him and his wife packed everything up and kind of just left the house right away.
We literally had every fan and window open in the place. I don't know what else to really do.
But, yeah, he came over, I called him and he was laying in bed at like 7 a.m., so he jumped on a plane and came over here.
Q. (No Microphone.)
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it is. Fortunately Tech (Kevin Techakanokboon), we've played a ton of golf together. He's caddied for me once.
This is a small things, that Austin knows what to do, Tech (Kevin Techakanokboon) has no idea what to do. But he plays and it's very helpful for me, like I can trust his reads and sort of his feels as well.
Q. (No microphone.)
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Kevin. His last name, he's Thai. His last name is like 15 letters, so we call him Tech (Kevin Techakanokboon).
Q. What time did he parachute in yesterday?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He got in about 100. Wife picked him up, dropped him off here. The Thunderbirds were getting him a credential. Everyone was really accommodating.
Q. What why do you call him Tech?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Look at his last name, you'll know why. It's 15 or 13 letters.
Q. Austin was staying downstairs?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Downstairs. We were upstairs.
Q. Separated by one floor?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: One floor, yeah.
Q. Like, a two-floor --
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Two. Yeah, two-story. It's our friend's house. So it was just, we literally, we're FaceTimeing each other and he tested positive right away and I was kind of sitting there, really didn't know what to do, so I called the TOUR, and they kind of advised me.
And he got out of dodge and I literally -- like we all had our masks on. We stayed upstairs and kind of like waved at him goodbye and that was it.
Q. You and your wife tested?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Everyone in the house tested. So we all tested negative.
Q. So you had a test just sitting around?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I had an extra test, yeah. The legit one. I have the same exact one the TOUR gave me, the same one from the Olympics.
Q. Were the fans giving you a hard time on 6?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It was just funny. I grabbed it, and had a bunch of thorns sticking in my hand. Someone yelled, oh, this kid's from San Diego. And I was like, yes, that was a rookie move. So next time I'll grab a towel or use my glove hand.
Q. Do you feel fortunate it wasn't worse?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. It's fine. I wasn't grabbing it with my whole hand. I kind of just pinched it. It was worth it. I would have done it over again.
Q. Were you aware, is it prickly pear or are you not familiar?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I am not familiar with the succulents and cacti and all the other things that are planted out on this prompt, but they are thorny.
Q. Where does Austin live?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He lives in San Diego.
Q. He drove back?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He drove back. I talked to him last night. He was running like a 103 fever, headache, body aches.
Q. He's vaccinated and everything?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He's not, no.
Q. So he's got it?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He's got it. Yeah.
Q. Symptomatic?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He dodged the whole thing for as long as this has been going on, so he was bound to get it.
And I just told him -- he was pretty bummed out. It's one of his favorite courses of the year. I just told him it's better here than the Masters.
Q. What does it feel like playing here now after going through 2020 and the pandemic without any galleries, does it feel different to come back into a place that's this bopping?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's nice. It's refreshing. I can't even imagine a tournament like this where everyone's wearing masks and walking around and doing the whole thing. But you get a fresh reminder, just like my boy got popped there with COVID and so it's still here and you got to be cautious and do the right thing, especially when you're trying to compete. And if you're reckless then you'll get popped.
He was as careful as possible, we were all on a commercial airplane coming back, so I don't even know, I must have been exposed at some point, so however he got it as well, but fortunately I'm fine. For now.
Q. How unusual is this to deal with that sort of thing on various stops on the TOUR? Are there a lot of places where you have cactus?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, not really. There's bushes and stuff like that you don't want to go in. So, no, this is desert golf.
Q. Nice playing out there today. Up-and-down at times, but I guess the biggest question, how's your finger doing after dealing with that cactus?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I was stepping on this piece and it felt loose, so I went to go have a look with my right hand, and some people in the crowd are like, He's from San Diego. So they're right we don't really have cholla or whatever you call it, so I grabbed a piece out and there was like six or seven little thorns sticking in my hand, but it's all good, it was worth it.
Q. Your caddie Austin tested positive for COVID, he's not doing well. You got another buddy coming in?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He's one of my good friends. Talked to Austin this morning, last night, he's kind of struggling with a fever and hopefully gets better before next weeks. I'm kind of in the weird boat here, I'm testing every morning and got off to a good start here, so hopefully can keep playing.
Q. Speaking of good starts the hole-out eagle at 15, it was kind of up-and-down, had chances early on, what was the key to that shot?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Just stayed patient all around, missed a few short ones early and then got lucky to hit it in that bunker, ball looked like it was going to go in the water for a second and kind of hung in there.
So once I was in the bunker I knew it would be an easy 4 and luckily got away with a 3.
Q. Obviously with the Winter Olympics going on, six months ago you win the gold medal. Do you pay attention to the Winter Olympics after being a gold medalist?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: A little bit. I've enjoyed watching certain -- I mean it's, some of the, some of those things that are going on are very extreme, so I do enjoy watching most of the Olympics. But, yeah, for the most part I've been pretty low key, obviously got a little problem with Austin and things like so that that's been taking up most of my time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports