JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 6, 2023

Adam Schenk

TPC Deere Run

Press Conference

Q. Adam, off to a great start. Yesterday I think if there was a take-away I got from talking to you, it was certainly not in a bad way, but your confidence, it seems to be in such a great spot right now, and maybe that translated out there to another good score today.

ADAM SCHENK: Could be. I try not to get too high or too low. I feel like if you get too confident and cocky, I mean, golf is going to kick you right back down.

I just try and do me and hit the shots I know I'm capable of hitting. Today they added up to a nice score.

Q. I know you're getting a lot of attention this week and Big Dig last night, so you have a lot going on. How much fun was last night?

ADAM SCHENK: It was super fun. Had our son and our dog. He loved it. He was a little scared of the machinery, but he did great.

I got to drive -- or drive. I got to use a backhoe and move a pretty good amount of dirt. It was harder than I thought it would be. The two different controls, joy sticks on both sides, but it was really cool. Dug a pretty big hole (laughing).

Q. You grew up on a sod farm. You didn't dig before?

ADAM SCHENK: No, Dad doesn't have any machinery like that, no. My father-in-law has a little backhoe, but I've never used it before.

Q. Did you find yourself having to fight expectations because when you stepped on the tee here, like Doug said, there was a little bit of attention.

ADAM SCHENK: Not really. I've done a good job. Brett and I have done a good job of just worrying about ourselves, and that's what's propelled me to most of my good play lately is just kind of forgetting about everyone else and just playing Adam golf, in a sense.

Q. What was big today?

ADAM SCHENK: I putted great. I don't know what my strokes-gained putting was, but it had to be 3.5 or 4. I made almost everything.

I'm sure a lot of people are going to continue to make putts today, tomorrow morning when the greens are fresh just because the green surfaces here are so great.

Greens are somewhat soft. The fairways are somewhat soft, so balls are staying in the fairway. Some that might normally bound out into the rough. That little softness is allowing scoring to be pretty good.

Q. Birdie at 8. A bit of a bonus.

ADAM SCHENK: Bonus. Big bonus. I don't like that tee shot. I tried to aim down the left and hit a push draw and overdrew it a little bit.

I was happy to see it finish in the bunker because the bunker, especially that one, is pretty firm, so the ball sits up nicely so you can really get to the back of it and get some good contact, which makes it a little easier than if they have the rakes where the ball sits down. Then it's harder to get to the back of the ball, and you'll see a lot of chunks.

Q. What did you have in from there?

ADAM SCHENK: We had 148. A little into the wind. I hit a 9-iron, like a 155 shot.

Q. And the putt just --

ADAM SCHENK: We thought it broke a little more. Like maybe just over a cup left to right. The more Brett and I talked about it, we played less than a cup, and it hung in there, and it was a good read.

Q. Your familiarity with this golf course, it's as good as anywhere; right?

ADAM SCHENK: What's that now?

Q. Your familiarity with the golf course is as good as anywhere on tour?

ADAM SCHENK: This golf course, yeah, yeah. I played most of the golf courses six times now, so I should have it a little bit figured out. Played nice here a couple of times, so just hopefully continue that good play.

Q. Do you hope it gets a little firmer?

ADAM SCHENK: I mean, I don't know the weather forecast. I don't know if it's supposed to rain, but if it rains, it will stay soft. If it doesn't, it will get firmer, so we'll take what we get.

Q. You said you don't worry about others. You mentioned Adam golf. What is Adam golf? What does that look like?

ADAM SCHENK: Adam golf is a touch more conservative at times. Just hitting a lot of greens, playing to the smart side and just allowing my putter to do the work.

It seems like every time I play well, I putt well, so that's kind of the recipe for me. If I hit a bunch of greens and don't putt well, then I'm probably not going to play very good, but I feel like I gave myself a chance to.

Q. You mentioned recently it's been feast or famine out here for you. 6-under, bogey-free. It's pretty feastful. What do you do to make sure you can keep that going for the rest of the weekend?

ADAM SCHENK: Good question. Just a similar game plan for tomorrow. It's going to be a little firmer.

It was actually a little breezy this morning, so it was nice and cool. You had a couple of shots you had to really think about with some wind hertz, but just the same stuff that we did. See how many greens we can hit, and if I can't hit it in the green, leave it in a good spot where I can get up and down.

Q. It seems like guys are picking apart the back nine today so far, especially in the morning wave. Is that an easier setup for the guys with the conditions like that better too?

ADAM SCHENK: Back nine being easier?

Q. Seems like guys are kind of picking it apart.

ADAM SCHENK: I don't know that this is statistically correct, but I think this is probably the easiest this course can play with the wind, this direction.

I love this course with this wind direction, so hopefully it's the same wind direction over the next three days, but the holes that I have some problems with out here were downwind.

Like 9, usually you have to squeeze a driver in between that bunker, but today I could hit 5-wood downwind and only had 9-iron in, so that made it a lot easier. Back nine is more scorable than the front nine, I would assume.

Q. You had your coach on the bag last week.

ADAM SCHENK: I did.

Q. Is that unusual going from caddie to --

ADAM SCHENK: Not really. It's nice to mix it up a little bit. Brett is a full-time guy, and David fills in. David Cook fills in a little bit as well if he is not caddying for Webb and when Brett wants a break.

I mentioned when I did the walk-and-talk last week, I got several people caddying for me, and it kind of works out. Get a little break, and I love all three of the guys that help me out.

Coach, Rob Bradley, was my coach my senior year of school at Purdue, and we have just been great friends ever since.

Q. They all know how to play Adam golf?

ADAM SCHENK: They do, yeah. It's strange. I'm pretty hard-headed so a couple of times last week I would ask Coach which shot he liked, and I played the opposite one. If he would have said the other one, I would have played the opposite one as well. So it's kind of funny how it works out.