ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2026

Xander Schauffele

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. What did you think about the course? Without horrific wind, what was its biggest defense?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: The greens. Greens are still tricky. I think it was fair. If you were striping it, I mean you could play the course. Feel like I was in the rough and got lucky a couple times. Either a good lie or I hit a couple really good sort of mid to long range bunker shots today that kind of got me out of some sticky situations. Yeah, if you're not hitting it great and not seeing the greens great, it's still tough. There's just enough wind to make it difficult.

Q. Were you surprised to see a 9-under up there?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah.

Q. Surprised he recovered from whatever kept him out of the pro-am?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: He didn't play the pro-am?

Q. I don't think he did.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Lucky him. I mean, I had a great time with Doug at 7 p.m. last night, so that was awesome.

Q. How good is a 63?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Really good. I don't know what the next best score is, but assuming a lot. Four back? That makes sense. 63 out here is, you're doing, he must have hit 16 greens and birdied all the par-5s and did some extra curricular with the putter.

Q. This is a big event this week, of course, but big events coming up. How would you assess your game at this stage of the season with a major only about five weeks away?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, working, you know. I'm working. Definitely have a little bit of, sort of was searching a little bit last night, I guess, in that pro-am to try and find something to go with today. Luckily the last three or four holes there found something and kind of stuck with it today, and it was okay. Yeah, definitely need a little bit more practice before going into some of those events.

Q. Do you plan on playing the week before Augusta or not?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'm not sure. I played four on the West Coast. I got three in a row coming up. So seven of eight weeks for an old guy like me is starting to add up.

Q. When you see what happened to Shane on Sunday, how difficult is that? How much do you sympathize?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, yeah. I saw some of those sort of highlights coming in. Yeah, you don't really want to see it, to be honest. I think all of us have, if you've been playing the game long enough -- Shane told me it was his 18th season. If you've been playing the game long enough you've kind of done it all. So he's probably finished up really clutch before and unfortunately he didn't do that at the Honda. That's part of that course there. It's pretty scary, and it's really rewarding if you're able to get it done. But you need some things to go your way, and you need to hit some really good shots. So I'm sure he'll bounce back from it. He loves this East Coast swing or this Florida swing.

Q. He got a lot of praise for having spoke after it happened. As a professional, how difficult is that moment?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, not great. I've been there. It's not great. Not surprised at all that he went to go speak, no matter how hot he was in that moment.

Q. Have you ever stayed in a cabin at Augusta?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I have not.

Q. Do you want to, or have you thought about doing that as part of a journey there to, you know, to maybe experience the course when it's not so close to the Masters?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's very -- I mean, I've been there once in my I think eight years.

Q. Only once prior?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Only once prior. My rookie year I went out, and it was like 45 degrees and hailing and raining, and Austin and I were out there, and luckily this caddie was able to stick it out with us. We were trying to write notes down on a piece of paper that was soaking wet. But that was my first time ever playing Augusta. The fairways were long, and the greens were slower, and it was dumping. So I've never gone back. My dad said he'll play with me when I'm a member.

Q. When you're a member?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: So I got to do that before he passes.

Q. Have you not seen the value in going early? You've had pretty good success there without doing that.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it's a mixed bag. It's such a -- I think you know what you need to do when you go there. I've heard the likes of like Tiger talking about how he'll try to start to elevate some shots going into that week, knowing you're always having to hit cuts off of hook lies, hooks off of cut lies, hitting it high off a down slope. It's the beauty about the property there. You kind of know what you need to do. Obviously hitting it there would help maybe your confidence. But I think if you've been there enough you definitely know what needs to be done. It's hard. I think the most important prep is on the greens, and if the greens aren't 13 or 14 three weeks prior, then it's kind of tricky to get your lines. So you try to do it during the tournament week.

Q. Did you have any kind of routine that you've established pretournament in terms of whether it play the week before?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I have not. I played -- I mean, shoot, you just go off of sort of what you've done in the past. The only two I've won I played the week prior. Valero is a tricky one. I played Quail before. And then I played the Scottish before. Valero's tricky. They try to set the course up fast. Last year it was blowing 40, and it was like 50 degrees or 48 degrees in the morning. So, is that good prep? I don't know. You got to sack up when you're in those conditions too. I'm still trying to figure that out what's sort of the right thing to do before Augusta.

Q. So you don't know what you're doing this year?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know. Right now I have two weeks off scheduled, but that might change. I might feel like I want to play something so I'm not just sitting at home kind of practicing.