MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2026

Xander Schauffele

Quick Quotes

Q. Just for starters, how do you feel your round went?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, a little bit of a mixed bag. Nice to finish with a birdie on 17 and getting away with a par on 18.

Overall, decent start.

Q. You mentioned mixed bag. Saw you end up in someone's merch bag on the 8th hole. Was it sitting on top of it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It just flew straight into the bag. It was a great break. That bounce would've put me in the pine straw and who knows if I would've had a shot to hit up the hill.

So thanks to the lady on 8.

Q. Ever ended up in anything like that?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, yeah. It's been a while, but, yeah, it does happen if you've been doing this long enough.

Q. Seems like the course has the potential to play as tough as ever, maybe as tough as you've seen it. Pretty much every year you played there has been some moisture, some --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I'm not sure.

Q. Not every day, but like we hardly have had any rain here at all. Curious how you think it might play out.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. The course is lush. They're doing what they want with the greens. That's the beauty about this place. I do feel when Rory won last year I feel like they were pretty slick as well.

Then dating two, three years back maybe it's gone the direction where it's got a little bit more of the brown in them, that sort of slickness.

Just got to adjust. I think adjusting is going to be the big thing. Positioning yourself is really important, too.

Q. Is there any examples of places you felt was really difficult to hold the green even with a good shot?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is being on nine right here. Fitzy and Bryson were like just off the green, hit good shots that kind of like roll just off the right side. Hard with that left-to-right wind?

Then they were like I think the angle was Bryson was maybe pin high and Fitzy was like three, four feet past, a little further up the hill, maybe three yards. His chip that rolled all the way down and Bryson hits to two, three feet.

Those kinds of things come into play here at Augusta National with how fast these greens can get and then a little bit of wind, too.

Q. You said The PLAYERS over the weekend it was hard to get putts to drop. What was it like figuring out greens today and getting the momentum there?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I got one to drop on five. That was nice. Nice to bounce back after a three-putt on four. They're just -- again, you would rather be five or six feet below the hole than three, four feet above it at times. Do as you wish in terms of how aggressive you want to be on some of the 20-, 30-footers up the hill.

Q. Three Top 10s here. Is this a great place to finish your comeback?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I mean, no matter the results, depending on what happens in your career you always feel like you're in a certain spot. If we're going to call it a comeback I'm all for it.

Q. Are there certain shots here on this course that you think you got to lock it in a little bit more mentally to be able to hit it, whether it's a difficult tee shot you had in the past or difficulty overall?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, 100%. 16 is 165 yards. You know, you're trying to guess the wind and hit it into three by three or -- yeah, call it a three by three sort of area that's firm.

So if you kind of miss it you have a 50 or 60 foot putt coming up and over. Again, Augusta National presents those challenges that we enjoy taking on.

Q. Speaking about those challenges, if you come back to your first Masters, did you have a welcome-to-the-Masters moment where you say, hey, this is why this course is so tough?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: My welcome-to-the-Masters moment was driving down Magnolia Lane and driving really slow. That was my welcome moment. Yeah, the first tee jitters, all these things. Those still kick in even though I've been here a few more times.

Q. Based on what you learned today how might you attack it any differently tomorrow?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Potentially attack it less to be honest. You know, less attack and a little more conservative. I mean, there is some nice scores up there early from what I can see right here. You just -- I mean, yeah, you got to be driving it really far to have a shorter club in or got to be hitting your spots.

I think I can see a period with two eagles up there, so clearly some magic to get to a 5-under number.

Q. You have fabulous eyes if it you can see that standing there. Okay, I know I need to be a little more conservative in my approach to the round, while also --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Feeling like you need to get up there. Yeah, for sure. The magic would be if you can get the putter to get hot. Very difficult to do. You're very defensive depending on where you are. To some pin locations you'll have to be defensive period.

Kind of just got to hang in there. Anything can happen on this property especially the way it's playing.