THE 153RD OPEN MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 22, 2025

Xander Schauffele

Press Conference

STUART MOFFATT: Good evening, everyone. First of all, hope you enjoyed playing the course today and it's whetted your appetite for what lies ahead in July. Looks like we've escaped the bad weather for most of the day at least, so that's always a bonus and hope you enjoyed that.

Delighted to see that we're joined from the United States by Xander Schauffele, the 2024 Champion Golfer of the Year as we look forward to his title defense when the Open gets underway here in less than a few months' time. We'll open the floor to questions shortly, and for Xander's benefit, we'd be grateful if you could state your name and your organisation when you're asking him the question.

We're also placing an embargo on the teleconference until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow just so the stories from earlier today can breathe, and we'd appreciate everyone's support in adhering to that.

With that in mind, we'll get started and get this underway. First of all, Xander, thanks for joining us today.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Thanks for having me.

Q. Looking back at that week at Royal Troon nearly a year on, can you describe your kind of abiding memories of your win and what it meant to you to lift the Claret Jug back in July of last year?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. All happy thoughts thinking back to being on property there for The Open at Royal Troon. The week sort of -- it was an interesting week. I know Open Championships, the waves are a big conversation, but I remember being in what was the better wave, but whoever sort of weathered that storm going into the weekend, it sort of -- they got a really calm morning Saturday, and then whoever played late on Saturday, who was in a good spot, had a really tough go. It was kind of a tale of two tournaments almost, just like good Opens are.

I remember being sort of in that good wave, and then the real sort of Open battle started for me on Saturday. That's kind of what I think back to when it comes to winning this tournament, is if I didn't play the way I did on Saturday, I would have never had a chance to raise the Claret Jug at the end.

All good feels and good thoughts thinking back.

Q. Just thinking ahead to this year at Royal Portrush, how much are you looking forward to defending your title and also playing these wonderful links? You obviously played here in 2019. How much are you looking forward to coming back here?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I think every Open is unique. Every venue is unique. It presents their own challenges.

I've never defended successfully any tournament that I've won in the past, so I'm very much looking forward -- if I could do it at a major, especially The Open, it would be really incredible.

Q. Obviously the defending champion coming into a major has a spotlight on them, and that will be the case with you, but you're going to come here in July and Rory is going to be here, the local hero, and Shane Lowry having won here the last time. Do you think that can work in your favour this July?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, that's a really good point. I was just told we have record attendance, for obvious reasons. One of their own just won the Grand Slam, so everyone wants to get a piece of him. That's no different for the media.

If I can use it to my advantage to sort of cruise along and fly under the radar, that's exactly what I'll do.

Q. We always ask the defending champion what they've been up to with the Claret Jug. Am I right in saying your dad has had the Claret Jug the whole time?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I don't drink too much. My dad definitely consumes a lot more wine than I do. He's got some good friends to enjoy it with, as well. It is in the care of -- it's in good hands, but it's in the care of my parents as of right now.

Q. Have you drunk anything out of it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I have, yeah. I've had -- I hate to say it, but I've had wine, of course, and then I've had tequila out of it, as well.

Q. When you played here last time, do you have any kind of memories from that? From what we've been told today, the course is not going to change very much. I've just wondered about your memories; do you have any kind of standout holes, any holes that you're looking forward to playing again, any bits that you're not perhaps looking forward to playing?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, I think a lot of it will come back to me once I'm on-site. I remember, just like most links courses, depending on which way the wind -- I remember there was a par-4 that was kind of a downhill dogleg right. I can't remember which hole it was exactly, but I remember one of the days, it was either in practice, we were able to hit driver or even 3-wood pretty much on the green or through the green. The ocean was kind of behind. I'm not recalling exactly which hole it is.

And I remember another time - I think you know what hole I'm talking about - it was into the wind, and that hole kind of just stuck out because it's a little bit of an elevated tee box, I think, and that's not, like, super traditional links-wise, I guess, but I remember it being a really cool look, and also when the wind switches, my goodness, it was like a super easy birdie hole, even like an eagle look opportunity, to like a driver, mid-long iron trying to place it around it.

That hole stuck out to me, and then a couple finishing holes are really tough, as well, depending on which way the wind is going.

Q. Could you just describe to us what good preparation feels like for The Open Championship and for a guy like you coming over from America?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Good preparation coming from the United States would be getting on the correct time zone. I think playing in the Scottish Open is a must for someone like me. Just getting enough good nights of sleep, getting on the time zone, learning what it's like to actually play in wind again. When we play in like 12 to 15 miles an hour out here, we're kind of like, oh, my gosh, it's so windy, and then you hit a 9-iron 85 yards when you're overseas, and you're like, all right, this is some real wind.

Just getting the feel of bringing the ball down and learning sort of how the ball is going to fly again, into the wind and downwind, is such an important thing. You don't get that playing in the States. You have to come overseas and learn it.

Q. Just thinking back to Troon last year and the golf you played coming down the stretch, can you remember how good the shots were and how many shots you hit that were at the absolute peak, as good as they could have been?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: A lot. I mean, I remember a lot of the shots. I was playing really well, and that front nine into the right-to-left wind coming off the ocean there, you're just kind of holding on and you're surviving. Once you turn, once you get to 13, the wind is still left to right, but it kind of turns to help you, and you can kind of take advantage of some of those holes, maybe 14.

I remember hitting -- 10 I played really well. 11 is terrifying. You always have like a 15-minute wait on that tee with the train coming by, people sitting there staring at you. It's kind of raining. You're just looking at gorse everywhere.

12, again, straight into the teeth, into very, very awkwardly in, super narrow area, gorse bushes right, left; you're just trying to survive.

Once you kind of turn around that hole, you get the dogleg with the wind, you get the short par-3, and I hit a lot of really, really good shots along those holes.

My biggest trouble was probably 17 and I think 15. If you can miss those bunkers on 15, you go from an automatic 5 if you hit it into one of those bunkers to maybe having a birdie look. And then 17, as well; if you can somehow hit the green and two-putt, you can kind of take a little bit of stress.

A lot of really good shots, and luckily Troon is a nice place to go to 18 where you can hit an iron off the tee. You can favour that right side, take a little bit of stress off you.

Q. How are you after the intracostal injury, which I think anybody who's had any rib injury knows how extremely painful that is and hard to get rid of the niggly last effects of it? Are you completely cleared of it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, thank you. It's been good. I haven't actually thought a lot about it in the last couple weeks. Coming back there was some tenderness and soreness to it, but knowing everything was clean, I just kind of kept going, kept practising, kept recovering.

As of my last couple starts at Augusta, I was on-site and not once did I think about, oh, my gosh, I was hurt before. It was sort of like, how am I going to get ready to win this tournament.

Q. You really released something in 2024. Not only did you win two majors, you were top 10 in the other two. You were tied eighth in the Masters just a week or so ago. What's unlocked that has made you a player who can apply what you've had in terms of your excellence on the PGA Tour into now into majors and be a majors machine for the last five majors certainly?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I think I just fine tuned a few things, I'd say. I think in the past, even thinking back to Valhalla, I got a new coach. That's definitely helped me a lot, Chris Como. I got a new strength coach, David Sundberg. He's helped me a ton, as well. I'm hitting the ball a little bit further than I used to, and I'm able to hit a few other shots under pressure that I feel more comfortable hitting now than I did before.

Then you tag that in with some experience of failing at major championships, it felt like a pretty good recipe to succeed.

Q. Obviously we are very excited about Rory's win in the Masters. I'm wondering in the commonality of the relationships that professionals have, especially lead professionals like yourself and you're in the territory of Rory, of course, how you've received that and what it's done for the game of golf.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Well, it's incredible for the game of golf. It is really good for the game of golf. There's no other way to put it, to be honest. Him winning -- just anytime he's on-site, or at least having the Tiger Woods -- no one is going to be like Tiger, but I'd call Rory and the likes of Scottie a close second. If you just look at how many people following them, how many people talk about them, anything to get eyeballs on our game is a good thing, and him winning the Masters, a generational talent to do what he did is obviously an incredible achievement.

Again, scary for guys like us. If that was something that was holding him back and now he feels free, that could be a pretty scary thing.

Q. I was going to follow up on whether it does unlock something. There's this school of thought that that was what was holding him back, and now that he's unblocked that, do you see him - obviously it didn't go so well for him here at Portrush the last time - being a real threat here in the U.S. Open and U.S. PGA coming up? Do you think he's going to be able to become a serial major winner again?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I don't see why he wouldn't be. He has all the tools. I think when I look at his game and what he can do -- I look back at my game, and he was one of the examples at that time. I used him, Brooks, Bryson; those guys were all a lot stronger than me; they hit it further than me; they did certain things way better than I did. That was one of the areas I like to where I tried to pick up some of that slack.

Yeah, if he's firing on all cylinders -- I've played against him when he's done it, and it's not fun for me. It's fun for everyone else to watch, but it's definitely a thing that's hard to beat.

Would I be surprised if he started rattling some off? No. Am I going to be there to try and stop him? Absolutely.

Q. Xander, you're halfway to a Career Grand Slam yourself. You have become a bit of a major machine. Is that something that could be a target for you going forward?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's definitely been -- it's something that's been written down a long time ago and something I think every golfer should try and achieve. There's a reason there's only been six of them to ever do it, but until last year, it felt like it was impossible almost.

After a year like last year, it definitely lets a young pro like myself dream a little bit more again.

It's something I definitely look forward to challenging myself to accomplish in my career. It'll be a lot of fun to try and do.

Q. Obviously at Troon last year, the conditions were quite tough over the weekend. Would you relish another tough test here in July?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I think it's something -- I'm from San Diego where it blows a blistering 3 miles an hour. When I think of playing overseas, when I think of Open Championship golf, I don't think of it being sunny, and I think of people wearing beanies hunkering down, trying everything they can with their caddie to overcome that war that you're at with the golf course.

I think it's such a validating and rewarding feeling to do it. I've got no problem if it's bad weather.

Q. Xander, continuing the Rory theme, if you go back to Quail Hollow, you obviously were second best to him there, but that kind of kick-started your round. Was that kind of a pivotal moment for you that Sunday there, and I suppose you obviously went into the PGA with something to prove to yourself?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, absolutely. Quail was an important week for me. Obviously it didn't go the way I'd like. As I referred to catching a Rory in good form, that's an example of someone that can do it all and hit it longer than everyone. I think he birdied -- he was like 6-under in his last however many holes and absolutely trounced me there at the end.

But it was almost -- I got beat so bad, I almost wasn't even upset about that specific moment as if I lost by one shot, that I was already tilting my thoughts towards next week or the following week at Valhalla, and I just told myself that I was hitting really good shots, playing really good golf, hitting it plenty far. I figured if I can keep my head clear, why not go and win next week, which is what I did.

STUART MOFFATT: Xander, thanks very much for your time. It's been great to have you on the call. Look forward to seeing you back here in July.