U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2025

June 10, 2025

Scottie Scheffler

Oakmont Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to the interview area. Please join me in welcoming World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Just a few quick thoughts on the golf course.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, golf course is good. Rough is healthy. Golf course is in great shape, so it should shape up for a really good week.

It doesn't look like we're getting rain today or tomorrow so it should be pretty firm come Wednesday, which should make it play nice.

Q. Scottie, just wondering what memories you have of being here almost a decade ago, sister on the bag, playing well. Just what you remember.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I remember coming here and thinking it was really fun, really cool to be able to play in the U.S. Open. It was my first major and maybe my third start on the pro Tour at the time. I think I had played in the Byron Nelson once and St. Jude once, FedEx St. Jude, so it was a very cool experience.

I played a practice round with Dustin and Brooks, felt like I learned a lot from those guys at the time. It definitely made me excited to get out here for real because it was a pretty fun week. Obviously I had a pretty good first round, didn't play as good in the second. That was a tough pill to swallow, missing the cut by one.

But what I really remembered was coming back the next year and I think I made like a putt on 18 to get into a playoff in qualifying, ended up getting through the playoff and qualifying and coming in finishing low am. That was something I kind of marked on my calendar, something I wanted to get back and try to do because I was pretty disappointed the way it ended for me here nine years ago. So it was nice to come back and have a better week the next year.

Q. I wanted to ask you about an interaction you had on hole 8 today in your practice round. Obviously both you and Sam hit driver, but it looked like Noah Kent hit a 3-iron and Sam said something like this is making us feel bad about ourselves. Can you talk us through that hole and what y'all were chatting about?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, Noah has got this 3-iron that he carries like 270 in his bag. It's something I think he had built this week. Could be a bit of a fairway finder for him. We were kind of messing around because Sam and I both grabbed driver and Noah grabbed his 3-iron, and then he asked his caddie if that got to the green, and I was like absolutely not, no way that got to the green. Even though it did, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

Q. Just generally what are your thoughts on that hole and how are you going to approach it this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm going to try to hit the green, whether it's a 3-wood or driver from that back tee. Depends on wind direction but basically just going to try to get the ball on the green and two-putt.

Q. Question about the rough and curious if -- we know the length is a factor and is a weapon, but how important is just pure strength in dealing with this golf course?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'd say there's definitely a strength factor coming out of the rough. This golf course, there's not many trees out there, but there's so many bunkers, I don't really know if this is a golf course you can necessarily just overpower with kind of a bomb and gouge type strategy, especially with the way the rough is. You have to play the angles. Some of the greens are elevated, other ones are pitched extremely away from you.

There's certain holes where you'll get -- like 3 and 4 you've got the church pews on the left, and then you get to some of the holes on the back, like 14's a short hole but the bunkering is just one after another of walled bunkers. There's not really many areas where you step on the tee box and you're like, hey, I can miss it right here, hey, I can shade towards the left side of the fairway because right is really bad.

Actually, if you hit it in the right rough, you're probably not going to get it to the green; if you hit it in the left rough, you're probably not going to get it to the green. So might as well try and split the difference there and hit it in the middle.

Q. What kind of experiences have you had in the rough this week in terms of what kind of various shots have you played? What kind of lies have you given yourself?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's kind of interesting, it's one of those weeks where you're not even really sure if it's going to be a 7-wood week. Because for us, when we go play Torrey Pines at the beginning of the year, that's a pretty obvious 7-wood week. The rough is about four inches, and you get a lot of those shots from 180 to 200, if you're in the rough, where you can try to run it up.

Around this golf course, it's almost more of a decision whether or not you're going to use the 7-wood or the 3-iron because most of the lies you either can get like a 7-iron on it because it sits up or you're just going to hit a lob wedge 50 yards down the fairway.

Really a lot of times you hit it in the rough, you can get fortunate sometimes with the lie, but for the most part I think you'll be wedging it out pretty much.

Q. I also wanted to ask you a little bit about your confidence level from this perspective of just how you feel about your game, how much it's changed from the start of your season through and what makes it spike. Is it simply winning that makes you feel good about your game, or are there various checkpoints that you can feel it increasing?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it's more of a feel thing for me. There was points in the year I really felt like I was trending most of the year. I felt like each week I was out I was starting to play better. I was starting to feel more comfortable with my swing and my body, and everything was kind of getting back to normal, and I felt like I was trending most of the year.

I think I talked about it a decent amount in Houston. Houston I finished second, and that was right before the Masters. That was when I really felt like I was starting to do some good things, and my ball-striking wasn't where it needed to be but I was making a good amount of putts. I felt like if I could sharpen up my swing a little bit more, a little bit more, I felt like I was going to get into the right -- the place where I wanted to be.

And then showing up at the Byron, I had a really good week there, and that was some pretty good confidence moving forward.

Q. Last year after the U.S. Open you mentioned that you didn't feel as prepared as you could have been, especially for the native areas around Pinehurst. How would you describe your preparation process going into now this year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I think it's a big difference having the week off. Memorial is always such a difficult test. I think last year I won at maybe 8- or 9-under, and this year was at 10 and I won by a few shots.

It's just one of those golf courses where that's a place that wears you down and you have to be so focused for 72 holes that coming from that test to this one was pretty challenging, back-to-back weeks.

So having the week off was really important for me to get home, get some rest, recover, and I showed up here on Sunday and was able to play maybe 11 holes and really get used to the conditions. It feels much more like my normal major prep versus last year where you're coming in from basically a major championship test, coming into another one is pretty challenging.

Q. We hear so much about Oakmont being so difficult, but what are the green-light places around here, if there are any?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Green-light places, there's some opportunity when you're in the fairway. But a lot of it depends on the pin position on certain holes. A lot of it depends on where the USGA sets it up. There's certain holes where you know when you step on the tee box 4 is going to be a really good score, or par is going to be a really good score.

There's certain holes where there's some opportunity. You look at 2, you look at 4, 5. When you're in the fairway, there's opportunity, but what's so special about this place is pretty much every time you're off the fairway it's going to be very difficult for you to get the ball to the green.

There's an element of luck when you hit the ball in the rough, but that's why I say this golf course is so well bunkered, especially for a golf course without trees, I think this is a place that can get away with it really well because there's so many bunkers everywhere and they're deep and it's a real penalty when you hit the ball in the bunkers here.

Q. For those who care about such things, sports books have said you're an overwhelming favorite this week. Do you notice those kind of things? Do you pay attention to it? When you're out there, do you ever hear from fans that have a financial investment in your outcome?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think everybody hears from fans whether they have a financial benefit or anything in their outcome. That's why I had to get rid of my Venmo because I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn't win. It wasn't a good feeling.

But no, I don't pay attention to the favorite stuff or anything like that. Starting Thursday morning we're at even par and it's up to me to go out there and play against the golf course and see what I can do.

Q. I was talking to a player today who felt like the 1st hole was maybe the only hole that you could miss the fairway and still hit the green with your shot, the way it's kind of able to roll balls up. Are there any other holes where you feel like if you miss the fairway, you can still hit the green?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, the right rough on 1 is maybe the only spot. A lot of it is just completely lie dependent. There's some areas like the rough is so thick and healthy that sometimes it stays on top and you can actually get a club on it.

I played with Sam today, got to No. 3 in two after he hit it in the rough. But you get holes like 7 and 9 where you're so far back that it maybe could be pretty challenging. A lot of it totally depends on the lie. Sometimes you get a good one, and probably more often than not you're going to get a bad lie every time you hit it in the rough.

Q. I don't know how much work you got in last week, but the week off you had before the majors, how is your practice session? Is it any different than it was going into Augusta, going into Quail Hollow, coming into here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was maybe slightly different last week just based on needing to get a bit more rest after Memorial. I think it can be a bit different coming off of a tournament which you win or you're at least close to winning, like when -- Memorial is one of the biggest tournaments that we play outside of I'd say the majors and THE PLAYERS. It might be the biggest.

With Mr. Nicklaus being there on-site and it being his golf course, I think that's a tournament that we're all very motivated to play well in, and it's such a difficult test. I think a lot of that factors into the mental fatigue.

Coming off a week in Houston where the scores are a bit lower and you can kind of hit it anywhere off the tee and it's more of a second shot golf course, it's just a different feeling when the week is over when you're in contention there versus -- like, for instance, when you're in contention and you finish second and playing with the lead at Memorial and having to grind it out, it's just a different level of fatigue.

So I took a couple days at the beginning of the week to rest and got back to work on Wednesday.

Q. (Indiscernible) shots that you're going to face?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I kind of equate some of the major tests to -- like the majors in tennis you're playing on a different surface. You've got grass, clay and then the hard court, and it's a different style of game. The U.S. Open compared to the Masters is a completely different type of test.

I think at the Masters you have a lot more shot making when you get around the greens because it's a lot of fairway, there's pine straw, there's not really the rough factor.

Then when you get here, it's a lot of hacking out of the rough. You still have to be extremely precise but it's a bit more -- when you talk about strength and power, I think that becomes more of a factor at these tournaments because when you hit it in the rough you've got to muscle it out of there. It's just a different type of test than you see at the Masters. Both of them are fantastic tests.

This is probably the hardest golf course that we'll play, maybe ever, and that's pretty much all it is. It's just a different type of test.

When you miss the green at the Masters, the ball runs away and it goes into these areas, and you can play a bump, you can play a flop. There's different options. Here when you hit the ball over the green, you just get in some heavy rough, and it's like, let me see how I can pop the ball out of this rough and somehow give myself a look. It's just a different type of test.

I don't know if one of them is better than the other, but they're just different, and here, the winning score I don't think is going to be what the winning score was at the Masters. It's just different.

Q. I wanted to follow up on that Venmo account you closed. What's the most anyone ever sent you as a thank you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't remember the most that somebody would send me. Maybe a couple bucks here or there. That didn't happen nearly as much as the requests did. (Laughing).

Q. The way the U.S. Open is set up, it always ends on Father's Day. What's it mean for you to play on Father's Day on a Sunday at the U.S. Open?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's very special. My dad is here this week, and I'm a father now. It's a very special day. Mother's Day is pretty special, too, and being able to come here and hopefully be playing on Sunday and have a chance would be pretty fun.

Q. What's more reactive, you being a father now or playing for your father?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: What's more reactive?

Q. What brings more out of you, being a father now or playing for your dad?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think having a son gives me much greater appreciation for my dad. I don't think -- when you're young, you don't really understand what it's like to be a parent. I don't think you -- my dad can tell me what it's like, but I don't think you understand it until you experience looking at your own son.

I think being on this side of it, it's given me much greater appreciation for my parents and the work that they did being on this side of it, not the one receiving all the love, the one giving it to your son instead.

Q. You mentioned the mental fatigue and the mental test these tougher golf courses bring. How do you manage that, and just in the same way that maybe you prepare for harder shots, is there something you do to prepare for that mental fatigue that you feel at the end of one of these rounds?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, no, I think it's more just managing it throughout the course of a season. There's certain weeks when you finish where you just feel like -- like after the PGA, I just feel like you got almost hit by a bus because there's so much emotion, there's a lot of stuff that goes into the tournament after you win and you basically don't get any sleep that night because you've still got adrenaline, your stomach hurts. It's just a heightened state of emotion, I think.

So I've learned over the course of my career to focus a little bit more on the rest side of things, especially when I get home. Early in my career I was -- I've always been the guy that I think works the hardest, and if something is not the way that I feel like it should be, I'm going to go out there and figure it out, and that's just kind of how I've always approached things.

Early in my career I was able to come out to courses and spend as much time as I wanted to out here, and that's just because I didn't really have any other obligations. I'd just come out and practice, practice, practice and do whatever I wanted to do, but now things are a little bit different with having a wife and a son and some other obligations at tournaments, as well. The schedule is just a bit different.

Q. I read a story from 2016 that said you rushed through your first round to watch the NBA Finals. Do you recall that, and will this year's Finals affect your schedule this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: This year's Finals is probably not going to affect my schedule as much. I think Golden State was playing Cleveland last time in the Finals, and I really wanted to watch that because you had LeBron playing Steph. Ever since the Mavs traded Luka, I've been a little bummed watching the NBA. Hurts a little bit still. We'll have to regroup and get ready for next season for the Mavs.