THE 153RD OPEN

July 18, 2025

Scottie Scheffler

Mixed Zone

Q. Eight birdies today, incredible. What went well or what went different than yesterday, I guess?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I felt like I hit a few more fairways than I did yesterday, hit some really nice iron shots, and was able to hole some putts.

Q. It was a really long wait in scoring there. Were you brought in to share your perspective on it? What did you see in there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Ultimately in golf it's up to the player, and I felt like Shane was put in a pretty tough situation there when they were zooming in on his golf ball. In the rough it's hard to tell. From what I looked at very briefly on the video, it looked like it was very difficult to see if the ball was moving -- sorry. If the ball moved. The camera was kind of zooming in as stuff was happening.

One of the great things about the game of golf is that you call your penalties on yourself. This situation, I think it was just -- it was a very tough spot for Shane to be put in. He handled it really well. It's obviously very frustrating. It's frustrating for me as a competitor of his and a player to watch him after kind of deal with that because the last thing you want to be known in the game of golf is somebody who cheats.

I'm not going to state a strong opinion here in the media on whether or not I thought he deserved the penalty, but all I'm going to say is it was a very tough situation for him to be put in, and I thought he handled it really well.

Q. You're second in strokes gained putting this week. How has the club helped you technically and when did you change to that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: At the end of last year, I always kind of assess things and see if there's ways we can improve. That was something we tested out in the Bahamas last year and felt comfortable from the start. I use it as we get closer to the hole, lag putting. Outside of 15 to 20 feet, I'm still putting conventional.

It was something we felt could help us improve, and so far it has.

Q. Did you feel like that kind of score was out there today when you started off?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I had no idea. It all depends on conditions. When we were teeing off, depending on what weather forecast you looked at, it was going to tell you something different. It was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I'm out there in short sleeves, it's warm out. Then we get to the 1st hole, it's still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it's super dark and it starts pouring rain. You're like, boy, I wonder how long this is going to last.

Fortunately, it didn't pour the whole time. We only had maybe four or five holes where it was really coming down, and I was able to take advantage of the holes where we had some good weather.

Q. Did you watch any coverage at all before you teed off?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No.