MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 12, 2025

Scottie Scheffler

Quick Quotes

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Q. How would you characterize the round today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Honestly, I don't know. At times I felt good, at times I felt bad. I just couldn't really get anything going. I think I ended up with even, which felt like I had to scramble a lot today, actually.

I got off to a good start today, but after that I didn't really feel like I gave myself enough opportunities, and the opportunities that I did have, I didn't really quite take advantage of.

Q. Do you feel like things might have been a little different had one of those putts on the first three holes fell?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think there's probably a few putts and shots throughout the day that would have -- if they went differently, I think the day may have turned a little bit.

I made what I felt like was a huge momentum putt on 10; but then hit a good putt on 11; poor iron shot on 12. Hit a good putt there.

Two good shots on 13. Good putt there. Ball doesn't fall.

14, get the wind wrong, get a bad kick.

15, I was able to make birdie.

16 I hit two great shots, didn't make birdie.

The golf course is challenging. You've got to play really well to shoot a low score, which I feel like I'm very capable of, I just wasn't able to do it today.

Q. What's your overwhelming feeling? Is it frustration, confusion?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I just made a nice par on 18. That was good.

But once again, it's like you can only shoot so low if you're going to have to wedge it from 100 yards to make par. Just going to go to the range, hit a few balls, see if I can get a good feel for tomorrow.

Today and yesterday were days where I could have shot myself out of the tournament. I battled really hard both days. Today I made some great up-and-downs. I think I only had two bogeys for the day, which some of the spots I put myself in I felt like was a decent job of only making two bogeys.

Going into tomorrow, have a good front nine and start moving my way up the leaderboard and you never know what can happen on the back nine. Just going out tomorrow, just try to get off to a good start, and maybe start like today, just hole a few more putts.

Q. Are you watching leaderboards out there? And if so, when you see Rory put up all those red numbers early, what goes through your mind?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think you always notice what's on the leaderboard, but for instance, Rory got off to a great start, but I just told myself we're 39, 40 holes into this golf tournament. It's not nearly over.

I can't control what anybody else is doing out there. I'll pay attention, but it's not going to change how I play the golf course ultimately.

Q. Do you think any differently when it's a Rory McIlroy as opposed to maybe somebody else at the top?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't think so. I think what's most important for me out there is I'm trying to battle the golf course. I'm playing against myself and the golf course out there. I can't control what other people are doing.

It doesn't matter to me who's on top of the leaderboard. I try to shoot the lowest score that I can shoot on a given day, and today apparently that was only even par.

Q. If you're down by say six, seven strokes going into tomorrow, do you approach it differently? Do you gamble a little bit more and go for more things?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: You know, there is a school of thought when it comes to that, but when I think about last year, I had some pretty -- I had two big comebacks, one at THE PLAYERS and one at the Olympics. Did I press or force things? Did I play more aggressive? Not really. I just gave myself the most amount of opportunities and I hit a lot of good shots and was able to hole some putts.

Going into tomorrow, like I said, I'm going to go hit a few balls tonight, see if I can get a good feel going into tomorrow, and then you never know.