BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2022

Xander Schauffele

Wilmington Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You put yourself in the position you needed to be to win this and get yourself in prime location next week. One more round to go.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's all just everyone is needling. As important as it is to win events, it's really putting yourself in position to give yourself a really good chance next week. I'd be the first one to tell you if you're not in prime position, you're just not going to win next week. I've kind of been around that. Yeah, one day at a time.

Q. What did you say to Patrick after he holed out that eagle?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I said, "nice shot," and then it landed one past.

Q. When you guys are playing practice rounds together as you try to do every tournament, are you guys playing games against each other? Is it stroke play? Is it match play? How does it work?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Typically match play, nine holes of some sort, just a heads up, winner-take-all, straight up.

Q. Strokes?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No strokes. Stroke play gets a little sticky with pace of play, and we just want to -- if we're out, we're out, and get your practice in.

Q. Who won this week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, this is a special week. It's a new course for us, so we just decided that we'll just learn the course. So it was a very quiet week in competition for us and our practice.

Q. What's the difference playing -- I know you're competing in a proper tournament with a scorecard, but mood, this and a practice round?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's just a comfortable pairing. We've played so much together, with each other and against each other, that I can club off him. I know how he hits the ball, he knows how I hit the ball. If I flush one or he flushes one, it sort of is extra information that we can use. I like to use that as an advantage, and we're good friends, so it's a very sort of easygoing pairing even though we're trying to beat each other.

Q. When you guys are playing practice rounds and he's got about 130 to the hole, does he ever walk up to the green?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, not in a practice round. I don't think there's enough on the line for him to walk up to the green. I've seen him do it before when we've been playing together. Obviously it's hard to knock on it just because he holed out after doing it. He just gets a really good look at the layout and he's a very feel player, so it helps him imagine his shot.

Q. How do you think he's a better player, Patrick, than this time last year?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know. That's a really -- I don't even know if you can answer that question. I think he's just competing at a high level, so it's just impressive that he's doing it again at the right time.

Q. If you could put your fan hat on for a second, how do you explain back-to-back weeks in which the best players on TOUR are playing, and in one week you had a pretty nondescript leaderboard and then another week you get all the big boys, most of the big boys?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Style of course. I think it's just the style of course in general. There's obviously a distance bias here to hit it really far and putt well, but Memphis is sort of do-or-die, gun-to-the-head if you're not in the fairway, a lot of guessing out of the rough, which makes it kind of tricky. There's a little bit of guessing out here, as well, and there's a ton of water everywhere. So it's a hard course, don't get me wrong, and great players win on that course, obviously, with Will winning, but like you said, if you take all the top players, I'd say it's like a characteristic for everyone in the top to hit it really far. If you go down that top 20 in the world, everyone for the most part hits it pretty far, so maybe that's what it is. I have no idea.

Q. Any more Napa trips in a couple of weeks planned?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I think we're going to sneak one in there.

Q. The same place or somewhere new?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, new places. We'll definitely shut it down and sneak something in there.