THE 154TH OPEN

July 18, 2026

Xander Schauffele

Mixed Zone

Q. You've shot 62 twice in a major; what was it like watching somebody else do it? You obviously played a beautiful round as well. How did it compare to your 62s?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, you'd take a 62 anywhere. If it's in a major it's a cherry on top. But on a Saturday it's even better. He came out hot. He was hitting it close, making the putts he should make. Hit an incredible shot there on 18 out of that bunker. Took on risk when he had to, tried to stay aggressive.

The wind was down when we were playing and it was kind of overcast, so I thought it was a little bit softer than before, and he played amazing, and I was just trying to hop on whatever wave he was on to the best of my ability.

Q. It looked like you had such a good rapport out there. How much do you put into that, that you had a good round and that there's a group vibe there --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, for sure. Foxy is a great guy. Deano, his caddie, awesome guy, too. We were kind of having a chat, and he just moved to Florida, and he kind of splits time there, so we were just talking as we played golf.

Obviously trying to play the best we can, but when you're even par starting eight back, you're just trying to go and shoot a good number, and he did just that. I played well, too.

Q. At the start of the day, did you look at the hole locations and think this was going to be a day to score?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, the wind was down for us, like I said. You definitely saw that they did not want another 62, looking at the pin sheet. I don't know where they're going to put the pins tomorrow after Foxy's 62, but they were on some slope for sure. His 62 is impressive for sure.

Q. What do you think about tomorrow for you?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, just more of the same. I started to hit the driver pretty nice. Got myself into some scoring positions. Didn't hit amazing shots all day, but for the most part, if you can avoid some of those bunkers and be aggressive with driver, you can make really, really difficult holes a little bit more scorable, and that's what I tried to do today, and I'll be chasing tomorrow pretty well back off the lead, so I'll be doing the same thing tomorrow.

Q. The plugged lie on 15, how did that plug? What did you hit?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I hit a 6-iron. I was trying to hit something high, land it on the front. The number would have been perfect if you just kind of drag it over like a video game, but it wasn't meant to be. I was expecting to sort of hit the wall and have it bounce up. That's kind of what I envisioned. I didn't think I was going to clear the wall and go to no man's land where everyone was trying to avoid. But I did pretty well to make a bogey there.

Q. I was wondering what you made of Bryson's penalty. It seems to have split opinion a little bit. I was wondering whether you felt it was a fair ruling.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: You know, I don't know the -- I don't have social media, so I was wondering why our tee times weren't coming out at about 10:50 p.m. last night. I'm assuming that had something to do with it.

It's a tough one. Who knows. I have no idea, to be honest. I'm assuming you talk to Bryson -- I haven't spoken to him or heard what he said, but he's just stepping in how you'd normally step in to hit a golf shot. I think the R&A said something along the lines of whether it's intentional or not, it's still a penalty.

It's a tough spot to be, obviously, when you're in high brush, kind of having to dance around to get to your golf ball is a tricky thing. It's not something we're used to doing that often. You imagine you give him the benefit of the doubt; he said he didn't do it intentionally, and it's unfortunate that he got penalized because he was playing incredibly well and obviously he's still playing incredibly well, so he's obviously going to have something to prove these next two days.