THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2026

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess the round?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, I did some good things, changing weather out there, but overall I felt like I gave away some shots. Hoping to clean it up a little bit the next few days.

Q. Dealing with maybe a little bit of a right miss at least on the front nine. What did you see off the tee?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah. Yeah, just kept going right. Hit some better ones on the back, but overall, yeah, just got to be a little sharper.

Q. How would you feel about your finish here going into Friday now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, birdieing the last is nice. It doesn't taste as good when you bogey the 16th and 17th holes.

But yeah, I felt like I struck my irons better today again, so that's nice. I've got a different driver in the bag than I did last week. Kind of trying to clean things up.

Q. Is it important sometimes to finish strong after a tough round?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's always nice. It's nice finishing that way versus the other way.

Q. I know it didn't rain as much as it could have, but did you notice any changes in the golf course from how it maybe was playing the last couple days or before the rain?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, before the rain, yeah. The wind direction changed significantly. The greens got a lot softer. You look at the second shot I hit into 4 today, spun back a good 30 feet, which definitely wasn't happening earlier in the round. Greens got a little slower.

Q. Were you frustrated on the greens?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would argue that the only thing I did all that great today was putt. So no, I think sometimes it's just the -- that's always the last bit when you make bogey. There's always hope until the putt misses for par.

Q. Is it fair to say it's not coming easy at the moment? It looks a task for you at the moment.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, it's easier hitting it from the fairway than it is from the rough. I played from the rough a lot today. Like I said, I hit some good iron shots, which was really nice. Had that nice wedge in on 9, really sharp iron shot into 6, and I did a pretty good job of managing my way around the course.

I gave up some shots late that I shouldn't have. I felt like I got a bad lie in the rough on 8. Missed on the correct side, but 7 I made a mental error; 2 was messy after getting it in the fairway.

So just little stuff. Just got to be a little sharper.

Q. What's different in this driver?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It's my old driver.

Q. What's your relationship to Pete Dye's design of this course when maybe you don't have the striking as ideally as you would like?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: What's my relationship to the course? I don't know how to answer that. I said at the beginning of the week, I really like the golf course. It forces you to shape it both ways.

It can get very challenging when you get some high winds like we had this morning. It can get even more challenging when you're playing from the rough which I felt like I was doing a bit too much of today.

I hit some important tee shots well. You think of the tee shot I hit on 18; 1 is an important tee shot; 2.

Hit a lot move fairways and struck it better on the back nine. Just like I said, made a few mental errors and just need to be a little bit sharper the next few days.

Q. Why did you go back to the old driver?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I've seen some improvements in the new driver; like my spin is much more consistent. It's actually a touch faster than my driver. But the way I play, I always hit so many different types of shots and the one last week felt like it was going a little left on me, and when I want to hit my peeler a lot of times I would hit it out of the middle of the face it would start drawing on me.

So I think that's a little bit today why the ball started going right way.

You look at a hole like 14, 7, 16, you can't really miss left. I don't think I had enough trust in what the driver head was doing compared to where I was last week. I think it can be tough sometimes to kind of block that stuff out.

But I have seen some improvements in the new driver, it's just I haven't been able to trust it in all the different shots that I hit, especially off the tee.

Q. Are you sticking with it this week, the old one?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's done pretty good the last few years. I don't know what you think my results have been with the ball-striking, but it's a driver I've used since 2024 and 2025.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's a pretty good driver.