THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 23, 2026

Scottie Scheffler

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. You mentioned off to a little bit of a slower start, but 64 today. How are you feeling heading into Stadium tomorrow?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Feeling good. I feel like my game's in a good spot, excited to get out there tomorrow and hopefully put together another solid round.

Q. Scoring's always low here. It seems like these first two days it's been really low. Is there anything that's different this year than you've seen? The courses that immaculate or is it just the way it works?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, the courses are in good shape, you got good weather conditions, I think that's a recipe for some low scores when you got guys with the amount of talent that we have out here on TOUR. I think when you get those two things together you're going to see some low scores.

Q. We could have two 59s today, one here and one at La Quinta, Andrew Putnam. Would that surprise you, given what the American Express is?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Would it surprise me? I think any time anybody's able to shoot a 59 I think it's an impressive round of golf.

Q. One of them is 18 years old. Is that surprising?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I mean, these kids coming out they know they got to come out and make some birdies. I think when you're coming out young you don't have as much scar tissue as the guys that are a little bit more seasoned, and you just come out, and if you want to make a name for yourself you got to put up some good scores. It sounds like an 18 year old shooting 59 is a pretty good start to his career there.

Q. Did you get nervous playing the 18th in Boston?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. Yeah.

Q. Did you think you were going to choke or did you --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I was hoping for the best. (Laughing).

Q. Do you know Blades Brown? Do you know his story?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No. No, I had heard something, I think -- did he play on the Korn Ferry Tour this last week?

Q. Yeah. Wednesday and flew here.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: So he's in form. (Smiling).

Q. A little bit odd, but I think it was 15 or 16 you just missed the fairway to the left and got the ball about thigh high or kneecap high and hit a nice shot. Do you remember that hole?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yes.

Q. Curious, do you ever, it was a good shot, but do you ever practice shots like that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, yeah, just by playing golf I think, yeah, yeah. Very rarely would you see me on the side of the range doing stuff like that. Yeah, just through playing. I've definitely hit something like that before.

Q. Is there anything you do in practice that's weird in terms of in case you ever run across a lie or --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I always, typically play the ball out for the most part. Very rarely will you see me like pick up on a hole, essentially. So if I'm at home, I'm going to finish the hole in whatever position my ball's in. I've never been a guy that's hit a second ball and decided to play that one if it's in a better spot.

Q. So I'm curious, could you recall the last time you faced a shot or lie that you never faced before and had to figure it out?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Pretty rarely, yeah.

Q. Another solid round of golf. Compare the two days. 9-under at La Quinta, 8-under on the Nicklaus Tournament course today. What was different as far as your game is concerned?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, felt like today I started hitting it better as the round went on. I didn't get off to the start I would have hoped to get off to today. Outside of that, I did a really good job on the back nine of staying patient and didn't really try to force things out there. I made a good birdie on my 9th hole today, which was 18, and made some nice birdies on that back nine.

Q. When you make five pars in a row do you think, Oh, man I got to make some birdies here?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, yeah. I mean, especially on -- so I think Nicklaus and the Nicklaus Course and La Quinta are typically the courses that plays a lot easier than Stadium. So if you're going to want to get up by the lead, it's a little bit easier to do it on those two courses versus on Stadium.

Q. This tournament's been around since 1960. I think Bob Hope passed away, you might have been seven. I'm sure you know the history here, your dad probably talked about it. Where does this tournament -- I mean, you've had Arnie and Jack and a lot of big names win here. What would it mean to you to win this event?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, we're halfway done, but I put myself in good position after two days with two solid rounds, and just looking forward to hopefully putting up another solid round tomorrow and then we'll see where we're at going into Sunday. It's a little bit of a different format where you got guys spread across different golf courses, and I got the challenging course tomorrow and looking forward to getting out there.