THE MODERATOR: Xander Schauffele, 4-under 66. Xander, a 4-under out here at Shinnecock. What are your takeaways of what's working well?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I played great today. Pretty motivated after last night. Winds are laying down, and being in that easier wave and not taking advantage of it was a big bummer. Pretty pumped to come out and shoot something low.
THE MODERATOR: Your scoring average shows that you play U.S. Open golf courses really well. What do you think is the match there, and what do you have to do to get to that next step?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's just a lot of patience and good golf shots, for the most part. I feel like U.S. Opens, the championship itself just wears you out. It's a long way, and you really feel it after.
If you can do some work in between, you can get rewarded for it. So that's sort of what I try and do.
Q. Do you enter U.S. Opens with different mindsets, or it's just one of those things where you kind of embrace that grit that you need for them? How does that work?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I probably embrace it is the right way to put it. It's a brutal week, you know. Everyone watching at home wants to see guys shooting in the 80s and doing crazy things. I get it. You know, it's once a year you get to see some carnage, and it's at a U.S. Open.
Try to embrace it as much as you can. On days like today and even last night, you know, take what the course can give you. But Shinnecock is -- they've made it very fair, the USGA, and it can be as crazy as they want it to be, for sure.
Q. What do you remember about your first U.S. Open and just what you felt like in that first round, few rounds of, whoa, this is a whole different test?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It just felt -- all U.S. Opens feel like they're on massive properties, big championship feel, a lot of people, big bleachers, big grandstands.
I think mine was at Erin Hills. I had a Monday in for it. I felt like a kid. Just happy to be there.
Q. You played well last time the Open was played here. Was this a place you were looking forward to coming back, or was there some anxiety given how hard it was last time?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, luckily, didn't really remember. I remembered, you know, Saturday afternoon when we played and being kind of on the outside looking in for a little bit. It was crazy, you know. I never was in contention, but I remember it just being crazy with conditions.
I didn't remember it too much specifically, but you know, I think when you start to hit a rotation in these events, it just makes you feel old more than anything else (smiling).
Q. There's been an adage for many years that when you wake up Monday and see the winning score of an Open, it's maybe not what you thought it would be, sometimes higher than you thought it would be. Do you agree with that? If you do, how do you react to it or allow it to process through that mighty brain of yours?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, I truly believe if the USGA wanted to have some fun and with the wind coming through and firm up the greens, I mean, over-par will win this golf tournament again, sitting at whatever all these guys under par. I do believe this course can be that way.
Really the cliched you grind on every single shot really matters when you think of it, waking up Monday and the score. When someone tells you even-par is going to win, you are, like, oh, well, that's kind of crazy. It goes without saying. You try to focus as much as you can for the six hours you're out there, five and a half hours you're out there to really hit every shot, whether it's a driver, a 2-foot putt with full attention.
Q. What's the difference between throwing away a shot and hitting a bad shot?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, everyone out here knows, you know, when you lose a little bit of focus and you mis-hit a shot, whether you are tired or you didn't eat or you feel dehydrated or, you know, you heard something in the crowd or a train goes off and you are thinking about the train instead of your shot, there's a lot going on a golf course. There's a lot of variables. We're not playing inside of a stadium or anything like that.
That's why we have to step off and lock in and think about the task at hand.
Q. Did you throw away some shots this week?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, not that I'm -- I mean, maybe yesterday. Just getting a little impatient. Feeling like I'm just not hitting it good enough and trying to force it a little bit and feeling like the wind is down. I see guys going under par, and I'm just kind of struggling to make par.
But I feel like that was more execution versus, you know, losing it.
Q. What was the hardest part about dealing with injuries after you kind of reached the level that you had always kind of wanted to get to?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It was a first for me. It made me appreciate the game, for sure, and sort of what it does for me mentally and how happy it makes me. Obviously it pisses me off often, but at the same time, I really missed being out, being out on Tour. I missed practicing.
I have a kid now, so I have easier distractions and more tasks to do, but at this time it was just myself, my dogs, and my wife. She was sick of me being at home too long. I definitely missed playing golf and appreciated being able to play for such a long time.
Q. How long was it before you felt like, okay, that feels like I'm healthy again, I feel like I'm actually where I once was?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, probably a year. I came back after six or seven weeks, but there were times where I was, like, ah, is it phantom pain? Whatever it is, ribs are a weird spot. Just tried to be as positive as possible and rely on my team to make me healthy.
Q. Xander, what are your early memories of the U.S. Open?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, the one that sticks out is probably Rocco and Tiger, Torrey Pines, '08, crawling up a tree to watch Tiger get up-and-down on 18.
Q. You were there that day?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I was there. I was actually on a tree that is no longer there.
Q. What would this championship mean to you? What would it mean to your dad?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, I'd like to think my dad is pretty happy, but you know, anyone that's able to hold this trophy knows, you know, how hard it is to win. To sort of be the last man standing, you're basically going to war every day. To be the last man standing with your team, I don't know what it feels like, but I can imagine it feels pretty special. I would love to know what that feels like.
Q. When Wyndham was in here, he used the Mount Everest -- climbing Mount Everest, which is something you've used before. Where would you say you are now in that climb to get back up to kind of near No. 1?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I feel like I almost have to create -- if Scottie is at the top of a mountain, I almost have to talk about a different -- you know, Mount Everest is maybe too high of a summit at this current time. Scottie has really pulled himself away from the world.
That's a conversation for a different time. Whatever mountain I decide to be on, I'm trying to climb it, for sure, and just trying to chip away each and every day.
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