JACK RYAN: We'd like to welcome world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler into the interview room here at the genesis Scottish Open.
Scottie, your third start here in this event if we can just get an opening comment from you on being back in Scotland.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, good to be back in Scotland. Third start here, I like coming here and playing this event. It's a fun tournament for me to play. It's good prep for next week. I like coming over, getting used to the temperature, time change, food, all different kind of stuff, golf. So good to be back.
JACK RYAN: Obviously you're on a great run of form right now. How do you keep that momentum going the rest of the season and as we look ahead to the FedExCup Playoffs?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I played solid golf this year. I'm very proud of that. As far as going into the rest of the season, I treat every tournament the same so I have a good attitude and ready to play.
I did take a good bit of time off after the Travelers. I was pretty tired when we got back home. My prep for this week may not be as strong as it usually would be but the rest for me definitely was an important factor coming into this week and next week.
Q. What was your first experience with links golf? Did you like it from the beginning? Did you have to get used to it?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think that I liked it from the beginning. It's fun to play. I like the ability to have to hit all different kind of shots. I like the way that around the greens I can use any type of club. I think it's more the way golf was designed to be played and coming over here, and getting to do it for a few weeks a year is definitely great fun. So yeah, I love it.
Q. Do you remember your first time?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was here. Here, two years ago, it was the first time.
Q. You played yesterday on your own. What was the hope --
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Trying to stay awake. Yeah, I really was. Monday, we got in kind of early morning, or sorry, mid-morning and my body didn't really feel a hundred per cent obviously, flying overnight. We were just trying to get a feel for the place, stay awake, get adjusted to the time change and get used to the jet-lag. Yeah, just go out and play a little bit.
Q. You had a rare missed the cut last year. Was that just a blip? When you look back on that week, what did you learn?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a good question. I had an off-week here last year on a golf course that I like, so that was a bit strange. But there's always something to kind of take away from.
I feel like every time I've missed a cut on tour, I've done something wrong mentally. I've made a couple mental errors and I definitely made a few of those last year, so I'm always trying to refine my approach and approach everything with a good attitude and just be very committed to what I'm doing out there.
Q. What are you pleased with about this year and what are you not satisfied with?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Golf-wise? I would say golf-wise I'm very proud of how I've been so consistent. It's definitely one of the most consistent golf that I've played, and I think I've played the most consistent golf this year which I'm definitely proud of. I would obviously like to win more.
But if I win eight times, I want to win nine. If I win nine, I want to win ten. Golf is one of those games that you're never really satisfied and it's kind of like life, too, you're never really satisfied with the results of things and you always want more.
But I'm definitely very proud of how I've played so far this year.
Q. It's a remarkable streak. Are you saying you're not satisfied because you haven't won every tournament? I'm not following.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say that, yeah, I want to win every time I tee it up, and I think that's kind of how hard it is. You win once and you want to win twice. It's funny, as a kid, if you think you win once on the PGA TOUR, you'll be satisfied. And you win once and it's pretty fun and you want to win again, and the cycle continues.
Q. Secondly, how would you describe your interest level in yesterday's Senate hearing, and as a player on the PGA TOUR, is there anything you are concerned or should be concerned about going forward?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I just think that yesterday, we didn't really learn a whole lot, again. As a player on TOUR, we still don't really have a lot of clarity as to what's going on and that's a bit worrisome. They keep saying it's a player-run organisation, and we don't really have the information that we need. I watched part of yesterday and didn't learn anything. So I really don't know what to say.
Q. What was your takeaway from yesterday?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't know. Again, it really is kind of that cycle where it's just a framework agreement right now so I don't -- I don't know what that entails. We are not involved in any of the discussions. None of the players were involved in the original framework greet, and so we just don't really.
Q. Should you be been?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Should I have been? Probably not. But I'm sure that a few of our players members should probably have been involved.
Q. Following on from that, how disconcerting is the overall uncertainty around the game at the moment for you?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: For me I just try to keep my head down and play golf. I don't get too involved in a lot of that stuff. I love playing golf on the PGA TOUR and that's the spot for me. I'll hoping that's going to exist for a long time. I felt like we were doing a good job before and then the agreement happened and now we have to navigate the whole deal.
I think the TOUR is working hard to try to get us more information but like I said, it's tough when you're in negotiations to make everything public. It's hard to negotiate the public side. I understand the privacy of it but I just wish that definitely our player reps need to be more involved in the process.
Q. Are you surprised that we've got this far into a press conference and nobody has asked you with your putting yet?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, my press conferences, it always surprises me. Sometimes I feel like we get asked a lot of LIV Golf questions and they never come, but this time these questions came a little earlier.
Q. How would you describe your playing at the moment? Are you happy with it? Are you still working hard at it? What's the state at the moment?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say that every aspect of my game is the same thing when it comes to coming out here and playing. I'm never satisfied with the results. If you win the Masters by three, I want to win by four; I want to win by five. I'm never really satisfied with the results of the game, and I'm always trying to get better.
It's a tough balance between, I would say, overworking and focusing too much on results versus just putting the work in and showing up with a good attitude and just trying to do your best. So that's the balance that I'm always trying to find.
Q. Jon Rahm got pretty frustrated with us when we kept asking about his putting awhile back. Are you at that stage yet?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Funny enough I talked to Jon about that. We played together at Memorial this year and we both putted pretty bad that week, so we were obviously both out there practising after the round and I got to talk to him a little about that.
I think that it's all just perception. I'm not going to let what you guys think about my golf game affect how I think of my golf game. I believe that I'm a very good putter, and everything returns to the average.
If you're hitting the ball as good as I have been in the past year, it's very, very difficult to make all the putts. I don't really get to choose what kind of putts I have. I typically play later in the day. I've been on top of leaderboards for a long time. So as far as my golf game goes, I feel like the things I've been working on to improve have been working significantly. As my putting struggles have continued in y'alls' minds, I've gotten back to No. 1 in the world and I've had a bunch of top five finishes. Granted, if I can make a few more putts, those would have been more wins.
But at the end of the day I'm proud of tournaments this year and playing solid golf, and that's what I'm working on.
Q. I understand that you're a professional golfer and that's what you're focusing on. We're actually focusing on other things as well. Is there a point where the frustration that you're feeling over what's going on with the negotiations would get to a point where you might want to do something other than just be frustrated?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think that right now what we are focused on is improving our tour, and I think the players have all really stuck together and that's what's important to me. And what goes on behind the scenes, I don't share out here. It's not for y'alls' knowledge. It's for the players. I believe that the players are working together right now, which is exciting for me.
Q. Is there any part of that you thinks that that meeting at Delaware was a waste of time?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't think so at all. I think when the merger announcement, it may have felt like a waste of time but at the end of the day, I think it because good to get everybody together.
I think that we are banded together as players and I think you saw the article that came out on Patrick a few weeks ago, and a lot of guys were posting on their social media and stuff like that because it was a ridiculous article.
That's what I appreciate as a player is having my voice heard and being able to come to a consensus with all the players and kind of go from there and that's what we are working towards right now is try to get a consensus. We are a player-run organisation, so we are doing our best as players to make it feel that way.
Q. With one eye on next week, what do you look for from a weather perspective to get you ready for next week?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You probably know a little bit more about the weather over here than I did but it seems to change pretty rapidly. So far this week, we have had a decent bit of wind. We had a little bit of rain so far as prep, and who knows what will happen as the week goes on. I did see Sunday we are supposed to get some pretty heavy wind. But a good bit of everything would be good for next week.
Q. Sergio García told us a few weeks ago that the merger, this announcement, made some good relationships between the players, speaking about Rory; that he gained friend back. Do you feel this?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: When all those guys left, I didn't have any hard feelings for anybody. If they wanted to go take the money and go over there and play, it's their decision. It's not my business to get into their business if that makes sense. As people, I didn't think of them any differently. They just play golf on a different tour. It doesn't mean that they are different people than they were a year ago.
As far as my thoughts go, no relationships were harmed. I'm still friends with the guys I was friends with before. Some are on LIV and some are on the PGA TOUR. It is weird that I don't get to see them throughout the year besides a handful of tournaments but none of my relationships were really fractured by them going to the LIV Tour.
Q. You mentioned the communication. Does that mean that after the board meeting at the Rocket Mortgage, the player reps reached out to the players to inform them, and did they ask for your opinion or feedback in any way?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think that's becoming more of a habit with the TOUR officials, as well as the player directors. That's important as being a member of the PGA TOUR is that our voice is heard, but I feel like our voice, it's just kind of how the system. We have the Player Advisory Counsel and the player directors.
As long as the player directors' voices are being heard, we are the ones that put them in that position to be there and we want their voices to be heard, and that was really the only frustration with the original announcement is that none of those four or five guys were involved at all.
But as far as how things are going now, there's open lines of communication. We have had numerous discussions with the TOUR officials and players as weeks have gone on with stuff, and I feel like we're going in the right direction.
Q. Who is your favourite senator in the hearing?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm not going to answer that. (Laughter).
Q. Thinking back to you as a kid at Royal Oaks and all the chipping contests and stuff you had fun with creativity-wise, how did that manifest itself when you first got to Royal St George's and links golf in terms of creating and how your mind worked?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think that's always been the fun part of golf. I always learned a lot by watching guys. I grew up watching the professionals play and practise, and I learned how to hit all different kind of shots. I'd watch Justin Leonard practise, and he would do it a certain way. Then I would watch Colt Knost, and then I would watch Harrison Fraser and then I watched Chris Potts (ph). There were so many people that I was able to learn from because they were kind enough to let me sit there and watch them. I'm sure it was pretty annoying at eight years old or whatever it was, but they were kind of enough to let me in.
So when I do come over here and play links golf, there is a lot of opportunity to try new things and hit all different kinds of shots, especially when you get around the greens. You can hit huge flops and long bump-and-runs with a 7-iron. It really does sometimes feel like you're playing golf like you're a kid again because just -- I mean, Teddy can give you a number but doesn't really matter. I've got to hit the shot. At home if we have 150 and a 10-mile-an-hour wind, the ball reacts a certain way.
But here, there's a lot more factors that you have to dive into and I'm not really a huge numbers guy. I go by feel, so when you get 150 and you're into the wind and the lie is sitting down and you're on this new type of grass where the ball sits a little bit more and the wind is heavier here and makes the ball go shorter. Everything changes so much that you really have to rely on your own feel.
Q. One last thing. There are the players on board and then there's the non-player, and obviously Randall Stephenson was on the board and left. Does it bother you, his statements, his concern about this deal?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I did not actually see the statements. It was a little bit concerning that someone like him wouldn't be on board. We have players reps and we have other people that are on that advisory board, and any time we lose one of those members is definitely a bit concerning. Those guys are put in position for a reason, and for anyone to leave is tough for us. We'll see what happens.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports