TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

April 29, 2025

Chris Berman

Andy Bessette

Nathan Grube

Scottie Scheffler

TPC River Highlands

Press Conference

COURTNEY NOGAS: Good morning, everyone. My name is Courtney Nogas. I lead the media relations team at Travelers. It's a pleasure to be with all of you again. I feel like we were just here. Amazing how fast time flies.

Thank you for joining us, and welcome to TPC River Highlands, home of the 2025 Travelers Championship.

We have a great day in store for you at media day, and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate. It's fantastic out there today. So no excuses to the golfers.

In a few minutes, we'll be joined by Andy Bessette and Nathan Grube to discuss the Travelers Championship from the perspective of the title sponsor and the tournament staff. Then we'll have our reigning champion, Scottie Scheffler, join us and discuss last year's exciting win.

We're looking forward to these conversations, and I know many of you are looking forward to get out there on the amazing golf course. So let's get started.

Would you please welcome Andy Bessette, the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Travelers, Nathan Grube, the Travelers Championship Tournament Director, and Chris Berman, the longtime voice of ESPN and our longtime friend at the Travelers Championship.

As they make their way up, we're excited to play a video we recorded last month. It features our upcoming special guest Scottie Scheffler as well as Oz, the mentalist. So I predict you'll enjoy this.

(Video played. )

CHRIS BERMAN: That guy is ridiculous. He really is.

ANDY BESSETTE: I've got to tell you the story. I was there for the filming. That guy Oz, he is unbelievable. He is spectacular. He did it to me. I walk up, he goes, Andy, want to have some fun? I go sure.

He goes take out your phone. I took out my phone. He says go to your contacts. How many do you have? I have 3,200 contacts. Whoa, that's a lot of contacts. He said spin, spin, spin stop. Look at the top name of the page you're on. Okay, so I picked it. He goes, okay, is it a short name or a long name? I said short.

He goes, hmm, Tim. He writes on a pad just like that, Tim. I'm like are you kidding me? How does he know that I picked Tim? You wouldn't believe this. Then he goes, okay, last name. Are you kidding? Is there a W in the middle of the name? Yeah, actually.

Then he goes, okay, he writes it down, Tim Rowlins. How did he know? He read my mind, I'm sure.

CHRIS BERMAN: 100 percent he did.

ANDY BESSETTE: And I saw Viktor Hovland. He's in one of these sequences too. I saw him in the hotel the next three nights. That guy read your mind, he read my mind, this is scary. That's unbelievable. If you haven't seen Oz Perlman, you've got to go look for it. He is exactly as -- what you saw is true. It was not fixed at all.

He read Scottie's mind, and he picked his ATM PIN code. I just had to validate that that's true. That video you saw is so true and unfixed. It's phenomenal. It's unbelievable.

CHRIS BERMAN: He's the Wizard of Oz, right?

ANDY BESSETTE: That's right, Chris, the Wizard of Oz.

CHRIS BERMAN: He knows what you're having two years from now for media day.

Welcome, everybody. Good to see you boys. I didn't mean to make you nervous. I was going to be here at 9:01, don't you worry.

We're so excited because, A, it finally seems like summer, hopefully not like last year's week. Can you pay the air conditioning bill this year? This event just keeps getting better and better and better and better. Some people have been here for all these years. Some are just coming in today.

Welcome. We're thrilled. Andy and Nathan work 52 weeks a year at this, and this is kind of double speed now. You're in the passing lane. Okay?

We've talked about it many times, it's one of those years where there's nothing else in New England, no other PGA event even nearby, no -- well, the Ryder Cup, that's on Long Island and the traffic, and that's the end of September, and we're the end of June.

You guys, signature event, Travelers, you've extended, Andy. Why so ecstatic, and what makes this to you guys so important to do all this at Travelers?

ANDY BESSETTE: Chris, Nathan and I have been working together, as you said. This is our 19th year. We're the longest title sponsor ever to be part of this tournament.

CHRIS BERMAN: You can give them applause. It's okay.

(Applause.)

They're coachable.

ANDY BESSETTE: And Alan Schnitzer -- Jay Fishman before him and Alan Schnitzer have been phenomenal supporters of this. That's the reason this happens.

Nathan and I have been working together though for like 21 years, 20 years, because we had to go figure this out when we first took over. It was very interesting, when we first took it over, we had debt, we inherited debt, I guess you'd call it, and we inherited -- it was kind of -- well, it was off the schedule. The PGA TOUR had killed the tournament, and we brought it back to life.

So we had a lot of work to do for those first three or four years to get it back to the point where the players would believe us that we're going to do what we said. But from day one, we've always said we want to be world class. We want to be the best on the PGA TOUR, and we want to have a tournament that everybody will have to go to to watch the best golfers in the world.

This is the 19th, the tournament this coming year. It will be a lot of fun. It will be great. But why do we do it? It's really simple. We do it because it's great for charity. It's really important to us. Last year we gave over 3.2 million to charity, over 100 charities, and we do it because of the community. The pride -- to this day, people will come up and say thank you so much for saving the tournament. That's getting kind of old because that was like 20 years ago. But it never gets old to see the pride that people have in this tournament.

So between charity, pride, and it's good for our brand too. It's great for the red umbrella to be a part of all this.

CHRIS BERMAN: And you have red umbrellas. Is that true?

ANDY BESSETTE: We have thousands of them. Do you want one?

CHRIS BERMAN: No, I have a couple. Nathan, a lot of folks have been here many, many, many years. Every year we've got -- maybe there's some changes to the course. Maybe there's changes to how we're presenting it. What's going to be new this year? We might see it today. We might see it in June. What have we not seen yet?

NATHAN GRUBE: Before I say what's new, I think we have to ask the question like why is it new? What I want to say to that, there's an author, Michael LeBoeuf, he writes on business plans for companies. He has this quote -- I'm going to paraphrase, but he says basically, follow your customer, and that's the best business plan you can have. Build your business plan from chasing your customer.

There has been something in the DNA since Travelers took over that everybody is our customer. You're our customer in the room. The players are our customer. Our sponsors are our customer. And how do we give them what they want?

The evolution of what has happened to the tournament has been us chasing our customer. The players have validated that. We're the only tournament to get voted as the players' favorite event two years in a row.

Last year we were voted as the most fan first event on the PGA TOUR. The PGA TOUR travels around the country and they look at all the events and say Travelers did it best for the fans. They listened to the fans. They gave them what they wanted, and they did it the best on the PGA TOUR.

That's us. That's media, sponsors, fans, everybody giving them what they want. So there is new stuff, but the why is we're asking people what they want. What do you want to see when you come out here? What is the experience you want to have? What is your expectation?

The player field is top of the list. We want to see the best players in the world. Travelers invests to make that happen. On property, they're spending the day out here with their families. Kids 15 and under are free. Your general admission ticket gets you into four free venues.

New this year, we're partnering, since we're the only event in New England, we're partnering with Treehouse Brewery out of Massachusetts. They're coming in, we're building a treehouse. Safe, I swear. We're covered by our title sponsor from a liability standpoint.

But it's another free fan venue that puts us up to four. Right here on the back deck, we have three new restaurants coming in. We're going to be having Mexican food, a lobster shack, a few other things. We have a fan activation right here.

Then that goes with the existing free fan venues we have on property. Our partners Hartford Healthcare, they have a venue down on 15th tee. It's a full experience for the fans.

So lots of new stuff to expect. Again, Travelers started this when they came on with an expectation of what's new and what's next. We know that the fans have that when they come out. We'd better deliver on it. We'd better deliver on, oh, look at that. Oh, look at that, because that's the DNA of the event.

ANDY BESSETTE: From day one, we adopted the saying never accept the status quo because the minute you accept the status quo, you go the opposite direction, and you lose. Athletes know that worldwide that you just never, ever stop trying to get better. That's what's driven us, and that's why, when Nathan came up with the scheme of this Treehouse Brewery thing, I think everybody -- has anybody ever heard of Treehouse Brewery? Yeah, a lot of you.

CHRIS BERMAN: Drinkers.

ANDY BESSETTE: Charlton, Mass, is not so far away. They have a huge campus. If you don't drink beer, that's okay. They do make sparkling water, which is really good. I buy a lot of that. It's really good.

So I think the things like that, the creativity to bring a treehouse here is phenomenal.

CHRIS BERMAN: A treehouse and a lobster shack, is that inbounds or out of bounds?

NATHAN GRUBE: All inbounds. Players, I'm sure, will be stopping by a lot.

CHRIS BERMAN: That's pretty interesting. For years, and I can say this because I've watched it, Andy and Nathan for almost 20 years, go to many other events, maybe not every TOUR event, get to the range on Tuesday, see some players. I don't want to say beg them, but remind them how different we are -- and we always have been -- how much fun this event is.

But it was long before there was a signature or an elevated or whatever you want to call it. And talk to players, yeah, I can't make it there, I'm going to come next year. The personal relationship with something, very, very important. I can't understate how many years I saw it myself with these guys.

You'd go to odd events on TOUR, hello, we're here from the Travelers.

Now that we're a Signature Event, you'd expect most everybody, but yet you still make the same trips. Why?

ANDY BESSETTE: Well, that's easy because Nathan and I, when they first came out with the qualifications for a Signature Event, nobody had to play. They qualified, but nobody has to come. So we had worked hard for the first 16 years of the tournament building relationships with the players.

I remember when Poppy was born to Rory and his wife, and I remember when Bennett was born to the Schefflers, and we sent stools, puzzle stools to both of them. Puzzle stool, right? It's a -- little kids have them. What they are is like P-o-p-p-y. If you flip it over, all the letters fall out, and they have to spell their name.

Somebody said to me the other day -- I won't name the player, but, oh, my child actually still uses it. He must be like 10. No, he's actually 12, and he still stands on it. That's the kind of stuff we do. This is like personal.

Last year after Scottie won and Tom Kim in the playoff, it was phenomenal. We love Tom. Tom is just a really nice, young guy. They were having a pizza party together on Wednesday or Thursday night at their house close by.

That's what this is all about. It's kind of like the Signature Events, Chris, and you know this, it's one of the only sports you can come to to see the top 10, 20, 30, 40 players in the world compete. Right? Super Bowl, you see two great teams and a few other superstars. Same for every other team sport. But here you come to watch the absolute best -- whatever it is, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 -- in the world, and we'll have the top 72 here this year with us.

That's why it's so important to have a Signature Event and to have a no cut so they're here for four days, so that fans can come out and really enjoy it for all four days and not say, geez, I have to be there Thursday or Friday because so and so may not make the cut.

So I think a lot of the same reasons, but again you go back, we can raise more money for charity. We can have more pride in the community. And that's super, super important to what we want to accomplish with the tournament.

CHRIS BERMAN: Did you think back then in '07 when we sat on the green in April and, hey, there's a spot on the TOUR. Here's Tim Finchem wandering around the streets of Hartford. Okay, did you think it would be two decades plus? Honestly, Andy. When you guys invested, you invested because you're local. It was the right thing to do. Did you see this? Not Signature so much.

ANDY BESSETTE: I didn't see Signature, Chris, but I always knew the athlete in me said I want to be the best, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to be the best. That's really important, right? If you say to yourself, I'm going to do whatever it takes to be the best and you're working at it, and every time, again, in the earlier days when Jay Fishman and I would talk about it, he'd say, let's keep going, let's keep going. Jay passed in 2016, but played a critical part in this tournament.

Alan Schnitzer, our chairman and CEO, has been equally as supportive and tremendous. Andy, just keep going, just keep going. So when you get support from your coaches, the athlete keeps going, right? We go until you shut us off, whatever that means.

We've never stopped, Nathan, right? We've continued. From your perspective, I'm not sure what that all means, but we drive for perfection. We drive to be the best. We drive to be good partners -- we drive to be great partners with each other, with our teams, but with the PGA TOUR, and with all of you at the media because, if nobody tells our story, we can't possibly do what we do.

We'd be a bunch of people playing golf, well, it would be like the pandemic year. Nathan and I are standing on 18, watching with about 20 people saying --

NATHAN GRUBE: 23.

ANDY BESSETTE: Oh, very cool. That's how depressing that is. Without the media, that's what you get. But with the media telling our story -- whether it be from Worcester, from Boston, from New York, from New Jersey, this is worth the drive, right? This is worth the 2 1/2, 3-hour drive to come up and be a part of this, and that's why it's so special to us.

We have the best players in the world competing against each other, and we're doing it for charity, we're doing it for pride in our community. We're also just, we're doing it for the fans and for everybody to come out and have a great time with their family.

NATHAN GRUBE: To pile on what he was saying, Chris, on that, back in '06/'07, I think it's a testament to a relentless pursuit of something. I remember the list that you had asked for. Oh, you guys are never going to be successful the week after The Open. Why? You would ask that question, and you would get answers, well, because of this, this, this, and this.

I remember you looking at things and going, well, we can solve almost all of those. Okay well, let's talk to the media, why? This, this, this and this. Whenever you ask people why something can't be done and they're willing to put it on paper, back when we used to put things on paper, but when they're willing to put it on paper, you have something you attack. I think that's what we had, the benefit of asking questions, the benefit of really honest feedback, and then just start chipping away.

We were talking about this earlier. I celebrated my 30th birthday, my 40th birthday, and my 50th birthday with Andy.

ANDY BESSETTE: That's very scary. I'm not telling you my age.

NATHAN GRUBE: But the fact we've been doing this 20 years literally and metaphorically chipping away at a list has been an awesome journey to be a part of. Then to sit here and be like oh, my gosh, in 47 days, we're going to have the best players in the world here again, and it's going to be a blast.

ANDY BESSETTE: You make a good point because the other angle to this is I could never have done this without Nathan, and I'm sure he'll say the converse too. But I could never do this without Nathan. Nathan is tremendous. He's the best tournament director on the PGA TOUR, bar none. Sorry, the rest of you guys. You're all good, but not as good as Nathan.

To have Tara and Kevin and the rest of their team here, we are so, so lucky. I keep meeting people from Nathan's past -- I'm not going to tell any stories. Poor Nathan, Nathan, everybody I meet, you go, you've just got to give them a hard time all the time, don't you? And they're like, yeah, yeah.

All in jest. I could not have a better partner than Nathan for 20 years. As a matter of fact, we know each other so well, my wife's birthday is the same birthday as his brother. Really? What are the odds of that happening? That's strange.

CHRIS BERMAN: Ask Oz.

NATHAN GRUBE: We'll ask Oz.

ANDY BESSETTE: Ask Oz. Okay, that's it.

CHRIS BERMAN: He'll probably tell you. I don't mean to be patronizing, but I can also say for years I've watched these guys and Jay and Alan write down the list with your little notepads.

When do you guys get together and compare notes? Like two days later? Because it's this won't happen again, I've heard that out of your mouth one time. This won't happen again, and it didn't.

NATHAN GRUBE: This won't happen again tomorrow.

ANDY BESSETTE: Nathan, let's drive around and take a look at the fields.

NATHAN GRUBE: Those are my favorite drives.

ANDY BESSETTE: Let's take a ride out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Because the way we look at tournament week is different than all of you look at it, right, Nathan? We look at it as an opportunity to look at everything for the next year because we don't have -- if we wait until the week after, we have no stadium, so we have no fans, nothing. So we have to do it Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of the tournament.

So if you see us driving around, we're not sitting around having like a milkshake. We're actually out there working.

NATHAN GRUBE: Pistachio lattes.

CHRIS BERMAN: We'll bring out our champ in a minute, but real quick, what I started to say was patronizing -- was really pretty cool. The reason I bring that up, you take over, especially 20 years in, you could say, eh, we don't need to do that anymore. The charity was always, as Bob Murphy wrote the winner's check, you speak about the charities year in and year out. Expand on where this has gone.

NATHAN GRUBE: We have about 160 charities. We got to kickoff our fund-raising time, and we had stories of what they do, who they serve. That was, by far, one of the most -- just gives you chills.

We're going to raise huge amounts of money for them, and to hear what they do and to hear the lives that are impacted by this, the people that we're serving have no idea what the Travelers Championship is, but their lives are being monumentally shifted and changed and impacted and affected by what we're doing.

If that doesn't motivate you to do better, like for me and for Andy, nothing will. When you're sitting out here and hearing these stories, it just gives you a reason. That is powerful to see the end result of what you do.

CHRIS BERMAN: Thank you. From someone who lives in Connecticut, thank you guys.

ANDY BESSETTE: I've asked him for so many years to be a bigger part of the tournament, and he always says, I'm good. Your humility, I think, is phenomenal, and your support has been world class all the way around. Thank you.

We appreciate it. We love you. You're a big part of what we do here.

CHRIS BERMAN: Thank you. This is front and center of our calendar every year. We know when it is. Happy Fathers Day, and then it's us.

Thank you very much.

(Applause.)

CHRIS BERMAN: Now by the power of Zoom -- and who knew this would exist a few years ago. Looks like home, Scottie Scheffler. By the way, this is one of your new homes as defending champ.

First of all, great to see you. Thanks for the time. You look comfortable.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I feel comfortable, yeah. Always comfortable at home.

CHRIS BERMAN: This is one of -- listen, when Xander won, he demanded that I give him a nickname. I had to chew on it. I went Xander Killing Me Schauffele With His Song, which I think is not bad.

Now, you -- I only thought of this five minutes ago, so I'll be better in June, but off the year you had last year, there's no other way to describe it but Top Scheffler. That's okay, right? Is that all right for now? Is that like a ball mark on the green? Is that okay?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's great. If it's good with you, it's good with me. That's more your forte than mine.

CHRIS BERMAN: The golf is more yours.

Listen, I don't want to run the laundry list. You're defending champ again? I've got to do another Zoom, another interview this week?

Just to remind folks who might have forgotten in no particular order, of course a year ago, and by the way, Scottie is ranked number one now 100 straight weeks. Only Tiger has ever done that. You can applaud.

(Applause.)

The Masters, The PLAYERS, the FedExCup, four Signature Events -- obviously ours, Hilton Head, the Memorial, Arnold Palmer, someone we've heard of, Presidents Cup. Oh, by the way, the gold medal in the Olympics in France. But to top it all, Bennett was born, your baby boy.

That would be, as I look at it, a pretty darn good year. Did you look in the mirror, let's say early December, Scottie, and go, A, did I really do this? And B, how the hell did I do it? Really, that's a good look in the mirror because I know you don't shave much.

(Laughter).

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I get a little lazy sometimes when I'm at home.

At the end of the year, I was very grateful for the year. I was very thankful. I had some pretty significant life experiences last year between Bennett being born and then all the golf tournaments as well. It was a lot of fun. Hoping to continue that trend on the golf course.

Life's been good here at home. Bennett's doing great. He's healthy. He's been doing well, and he's been a lot of fun for Mary and me.

Q. You're reminded every other week because it's another defending champ interview, and there will be others coming, obviously a win at a Masters, Scottie, is different than here, but now doing this and thinking, okay, in six weeks we're back there, what sticks out most? A couple of things most to you about this week, that win was certainly interesting on 18 for a variety of reasons, and then here's the playoff against a guy you had a pizza party with a few days before. What sticks out to you both golf-wise and otherwise about Travelers a year ago?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: When I think about the Travelers tournament in general, I think of how fun it is, how fun the week is for me and for my family. It's a week in which the players and our families and our caddies get treated as good as we do all year. If you ask any caddie on TOUR what's his favorite event, it's probably going to be the Travelers Championship.

I just think the tournament as a whole does such a good job of making the week so easy and fun for us and the whole family. We always get a great crowd, and it's always a fun event to play. The city and the town of Cromwell really kind of rallies around the tournament, and it's really fun for us to get to play in front of such great crowds.

When I think about last year's tournament, I had a really great week playing. I hit the shots when I needed to. I think on Saturday last year I was starting to kind of fall out of the tournament. I wasn't having a great Saturday. I think I birdied the last three or four holes to kind of get myself into the last group. That was important to me at the time.

Then I was able to play really good on Sunday and get myself into that playoff with Tom. Like you said, he's one of my good buddies. We share a birthday. It was fun getting to compete with him down the stretch and it was definitely even more fun to get the win and not have him have that over my head.

Q. It's a different mindset -- it's always the week after the U.S. Open, and this year it will be at Oakmont, which may be the toughest of all of them. I leave that to you, but those of us on media days in past U.S. Opens, after about the 8th hole, we're in pocket. It's a different mindset golf-wise, isn't it? It's a left hand turn, but it must be a fun left hand turn. Just golf-wise, okay, how am I going to win the Travelers? Got to make a few birdies, et cetera. How quickly do you have to change on a dime, and did you last year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, you do have to change pretty quickly. For instance, last year's tournament, we went from the Memorial tournament to the U.S. Open to the Travelers Championship. Memorial is one of the toughest tests of the year as well. It's almost like a mini U.S. Open. I think I maybe -- that tournament finished at 8 or 9-under last year, and top 10 was probably 3 or 4-under. It's a really, really hard tournament.

We're coming off two challenging weeks between Memorial and the U.S. Open. You're a bit tired and a bit worn down by those two tests. That's why I was talking about Travelers being such a fun event for us because you get excited to go play. You get excited to spend some time with the family up there.

You're always staying close to the course. You're able to rent a house. The food's great. You get to go eat pizza. It's a fun, relaxing week for us as players. That's why I think we get excited to go play and go make some birdies and have some fun.

Q. I know this year, of course, anything compared to last year. By the way, it's still April on the calendar. Let's not jump to any conclusions. Did you put pressure on yourself more so -- I know you got hurt and you missed a couple weeks at the beginning, but how -- hey, how do I improve on last year? I mean, I don't know that you can win-wise. Do you think that's weighed on you a little? You're obviously -- your last few very, very close to the winning circle. Where is your game at? Do you think you put pressure on yourself in January and February that you never did before?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Pressure that I never did before, I would say no. I think I put a healthy amount of pressure on myself.

When you prepare and work as hard as we do as players to go out and compete, any time you step up into the box, I think you have high expectations of what you should be able to do out there.

That's why I try to focus as much as I can on my preparation. When I show up to a tournament, I want to be as prepared as possible to go out and do the best that I can. I always lean on my preparation.

The beginning of this year was strange in the sense that I couldn't necessarily lean as much on the preparation because I had taken essentially a month off of golf due to kind of a silly injury.

So did I put more pressure on myself? Not really. I think my expectations at times were even lower because I hadn't been able to practice the way I normally would.

Like you said, I've had some good starts recently. I've had some top finishes, and I've been close to the lead in some events. So I feel like I'm definitely trending in the right direction.

Q. Golf-wise, what do you think is the little, the incremental changes that will get you back in the winners circle one, two, three times? What golf-wise do you go, oh, I'm almost there, but I need to do X?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think my ball striking hasn't been as sharp as it was last year and the year before that. So kind of continue to work on my swing and get back to the basics of what I do well and continue to work on those good habits. I think that will get me where I need to go.

Q. Does what Rory's done the last two, three months put a little -- I don't know what the proper term is -- hitch in your giddy up? You're friends. All you guys are great. There's so many great players out there. But does that make you, that was me, me for longer than that? Does that kind of power you a little bit more, Scottie?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a good question. I think, with the amount of talent that we have on TOUR right now, I think at any point you can see guys start ripping off events like they are right now. Xander winning multiple majors last year. Rory making his run now. I had a good run last year.

I think at all times you've got to be really careful and not get too comfortable. You've always got to be working really hard. You can't ever really let off the gas. I certainly haven't let off the gas at all. I don't plan on letting off the gas as long as I continue playing.

When you see somebody else have that success, I think you always want to be there. The tournaments that Rory's won, I've been a little bit on the outside looking in. At the Masters, I was decently close, but at the end of the day, I ended up three or four shots back of those guys.

I've got to continue to work on the things I'm working on, and I think my golf game is good enough to get to where I want to go.

Q. Your caddie Ted Scott was on Bubba's bag three times when he won here. He's on your bag. Some of us are either members here get to play, and a lot of us are going to play here today. What did Ted -- you played here before he was on your bag, but give us a couple of secrets so that we can play better that Ted told you. We may not be able to hit it 330, maybe the driver, 7-wood combined will go 330. But what did Ted put in your head, and what can you give to us a little bit from Ted to make us better here? We're having fun now.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Ted, one of the things he did really well was every time we stepped up on a tee box for about three years, he would just describe the hole as what Bubba did. Well, when Bubba won here, this is what he did. After a few holes, that can get pretty annoying listening to Teddy talk about when Bubba won.

In all seriousness, what we talk about on that golf course is I think there's a stigma around it that you have to make a ton of birdies, but it's really about getting the most looks. There's certain holes where you have to play really conservative and play to the middle of the green and just get as many looks for birdie as possible.

I wouldn't say we play the golf course really aggressively. We try to maximize the amount of looks we get and limit our mistakes is obviously more important than going out there and making a bunch of birdies.

Q. Did you have to remind him, hey, you're describing what Bubba did, but he's a frickin' lefty?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: He's a lefty, and he likes to slice it off the tee, and if you keep saying when Bubba won here, I'm going to hit you with my club.

(Laughter).

Q. What are your favorite couple holes here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think the finish is pretty cool. I think you have a hole basically starting on -- the back nine as a whole is great.

But really starting on 15, you get the drivable par-4, and it's not a drivable par-4 in the sense of only if you guys can reach it with driver. Everybody can reach it, and sometimes it's a 3-wood. I've even hit 3-iron trying to get to that green, get it pretty far downwind. It's a great risk/reward hole.

Good little par-3 on 16. Then 17, 18 are good birdie holes if you're able to hit the fairway. Then if you miss the fairway, you're going to be struggling to make par.

I think the Travelers is a great golf course in the sense you get very rewarded for good shots. If you start hitting offline, you can be punished pretty severely. The closing stretch enhances that, and that's why you have such great finishes there year after year.

Q. When 15 was built way back when, it was the drivers and the ball, everything was different. There weren't that many -- I mean, the John Dalys, the Normans -- yet you could reach. A lot played early -- this is going to sound crazy to you -- 5-iron, wedge, like way back when. The course, there still aren't many holes like that. They're drivable par-4s on some other courses, but here not really. The odds of hitting the green versus the penalty, you guys probably all talk about a hole like this. Should there be more of these?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it's a great hole, and I think it's a good example of not having to build golf courses really long to make the golf courses interesting. And No. 15 out there is a great example of that.

If you keep the area small where you have to hit the ball, the way the area is shaped, you have basically four pin locations -- front left, front right, back right, back left -- and they're very small areas, and you've got to hit the ball really well to get in position.

If you get over aggressive and you pull to the left, the ball is going to go in the water, but if you hit a good shot where you're looking, you're going to be rewarded for it.

There's plenty of challenges on the green. If you get too conservative and hit it too far off to the right, it's a very tough pitch to get on that green because it's elevated. It's one of the best holes we play on TOUR just because of the risk/reward.

Q. Two more things, and then I'll bring Andy back up and let you get going. We appreciate your time. You touched on it before -- we're pretty proud here in Connecticut. The land of steady habits. We're the nutmeg state although that goes back in the day when -- you know, that goes back a few years. What else about this event? It somehow stayed small time -- small town is what I meant to say. And friendly, yet it's a Signature Event. What else stands out to you? You hit on a few. What else stands out to you about this week as a whole for all of you players?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think playing in front of the crowds that we get out there is really fun for us. The crowd is always really, really good there. Like you said, it's got a little bit of a small town feel.

It's great. You get such a big crowd, and they're always rowdy and they're having fun, and it gets loud in there. You have those finishing holes like 18, the scene around 18 green every year is always so special for us.

I always dreamt of winning that tournament. I remember Jordan hitting that bunker shot when I was in college and trying to become a pro. It's just one of those golf courses where there's really great opportunity for you to have a very special finish.

I think year after year the Travelers seems to provide that. It's a lot of fun for us to come and play.

Q. It's fun for us to see the hill populated on not only 18, but 17. It's almost Jackson Browne -- I'm dating myself -- when you see those lights and hear the crowd, you remember why you came. If you don't remember until you get to 18 and see the crowd, you're probably not making the cut. Here's a swami prediction for you before you come up, and the first few names you see on this thing are Sam Snead. We could go on and on and on. They're the greatest, and you're on it too, so that's cool. Your birthday again, I think it's Saturday. The 21st, it's maybe a Saturday, June 21. Whether it's pizza or we elevate to chocolate layer cake, I'm not sure what we're going to do. So Bennett, his birthday is May, right, Scott?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yes, May 8.

Q. That's 13 1/2 months, put my old father's cap on -- it's been a while. Although I've got a couple of little grandsons. 13 1/2 months is about walking time. Is he walking yet? I'm sure he's swinging a club.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, yeah, for sure swinging a club.

Right now he kind of pulls up on stuff. If he was in here right now, he'd be against this chair, and he'd be trying to climb on me somehow even though he can't do t but he'd be trying.

He's still at that age where he tries to eat everything in sight, whether it be -- when we take him to the beach, all he does is eat the sand. If we put him in the backyard, he eats the grass and the leaves. Pretty much just trying to eat whatever he can get his hands on. So we're trying to make sure he doesn't hurt himself but let him experience the world. Yeah, it's been fun.

CHRIS BERMAN: Tell him that doesn't end. My prediction is maybe his first steps will be here. Just going 13 1/2 months, that will be pretty cool. We look forward to that. We look forward to having -- your folks were here, Meredith was here. It was a wonderful scene.

Andy is going to come back up. Andy Bessette has a presentation to virtually make you. We appreciate you spending time. Go kick some derriere before the Travelers also. Thanks, Scottie, from all of us here.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thank you.

ANDY BESSETTE: Hi, Scottie. How are you doing?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: What's up? How are you doing, Andy?

ANDY BESSETTE: Tell Meredith, I'm very sorry, because this gift may be more work for her. Blake, I know, has coordinated, and you've got it in a bag close to you. Our tradition here, Scottie, for our defending champion, we have a gift on Media Day. It's usually something that's personal to you, something you like, and you like to do and that you'll enjoy.

So if you look in the bag, what you're going to find -- did Blake put the bag near you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Don't worry, Blake would never not do his job. He's doing his job. It's right here.

ANDY BESSETTE: Really? I've got to make sure Blake -- never mind. We heard that you've become quite the coffee aficionado. If you didn't know it, Nathan Grube is a coffee aficionado too. He's very picky about his coffee. He doesn't go to -- never mind. I won't go there.

What we did was we bought you your own personal coffee bean roaster, and we got you some really special coffee beans that are in a cloth bag. They should be in a cloth bag somewhere. It's called a Hot Top Roaster.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: This thing is intense, Andy. Can you all see it?

ANDY BESSETTE: That's it. Bigger than the trophy.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It is bigger than the trophy.

ANDY BESSETTE: This is why Meredith is going to not like me. I think, when she sees me in June, she's going to -- I'm not sure what she's going to do.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That doesn't help my obsession with coffee, but that's going to be pretty fun for us.

ANDY BESSETTE: The coffee beans in the cloth bag are from Kona, Hawaii, grown in exclusive two mile wide coffee belt that produces some of the world's most sought after coffee. These are extra fancy, trust me, they are extra fancy, Scottie. If you get me, extra -- anyways, they're really, really cool.

I'm sure you're going to have great beans. Those are them. You put them in the roaster, follow the instructions. Meredith is not going to like me. I can feel it now. Oh, my gosh, maybe Bennett will eat them. No, don't let him eat them.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: He will try to eat them, that's for sure.

ANDY BESSETTE: Don't let him eat them. Congratulations. Enjoy the gift. We're so proud to have you as our champion. We're looking forward to seeing Meredith and Bennett in June. If you need anything, I always tell you the same thing. Just call me, the answer's yes, and we'll figure it out.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thank you guys. I appreciate it. This is a pretty awesome gift. Can't wait to try it out. This is going to be a fun activity for me in one of my off weeks is getting in here and trying to figure it out.

CHRIS BERMAN: Anything you want to add? You run the thing.

NATHAN GRUBE: No, I just want to say I was threatened we have to keep everything on time. I wanted to say thank you to everyone for being here. Hope you enjoy the day. Thanks to Chris and Andy and Scottie for making the time. Enjoy the day here. Thank you very much.