FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 2025

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Southwind

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined here with World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler. Making your first start since winning your 17th PGA TOUR victory at The Open. What have you been up to since then?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Went home not shortly after, and then got some rest. I took a little bit of extra time resting. I think just because playing major championships takes a lot out of you, so it was nice to get home and get a little bit of extra rest.

Q. You made your debut on the green carpet with Happy Gilmore 2. What's your feedback been like as an actor?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: As an actor, it's been good. I thought being able to film that movie was a lot of fun. Adam Sandler and his team does such a great job of making us comfortable there, and it's one of the things I told them after we got done filming the movie was like, you're doing a great job, I think the movie is going to turn out great, but most importantly, everybody on the movie set was tremendous. Everybody was relaxed. They worked hard but they had fun while they were doing it.

It was just a really cool environment for us to be a part of, and it was very fun to be able to see how they make movies. Those guys are the real deal. They do a good job and have a lot of fun doing it.

Q. Since last year they made some changes to the course. You just got done with your pro-am. How is the course looking entering the week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: The course is looking good. It's in really good shape. The greens, it amazing that they shut this place down in January and they're able to have it looking the way it does right now. It's in amazing shape.

The greens are really starting to firm up. Scores should be a little higher this week. The rough is healthy. There's going to be a big premium on getting the ball in play, and should be a really good test this week.

Q. Scottie, it's been almost two years since you started working with Phil on your putting. Just wondering what are some big breakthroughs or things that when you look back on your time that you've really learned about your putting and you're proud of having improved?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think where I'm at now, we're not really second-guessing a lot of the stuff that we're doing. I think when I was trying to do everything on my own, maybe there was a bit more second-guessing. One week we'd try one thing, the next week we'd try something different. It was a little bit more of a search than anything.

I grew up being a really good putter. I grew up a small kid playing the back tees with kids that were older than me, and I had to chip and putt if I wanted to compete, and I was a great putter.

So it was frustrating for me not being able to hole the putts when I needed to. You look at a year like '23 for me where I hit it really great, and if I had putted a little bit better, I maybe could have had a few more wins.

Looking back on a year like that and then comparing that to '24, if -- I'm not going to putt great every single week. Putting out here is very difficult. And I think having the understanding that we're working towards something more than anything and -- a good example is going from the Scottish Open to the Open this year, if it was maybe 2023, I would have questioned some things that we were working on or questioned the technique we were going after that week and questioned my start line or something like that.

We showed up Monday for the Open Championship, and Phil asked me how I felt like I did the week before, and I was like, I felt like I did pretty good; I just want to make sure that I'm lined up where I think I'm lined up and that I'm starting the ball on line. That's what we checked on the putting green on Monday and it was kind of -- just went through our normal routine from there. I go from having a tough week on the greens to a great week.

I think with putting you've kind of got to ride the ebbs and flows of making a lot of putts and maybe not making a ton of putts, and it kind of goes like that. I think year in, year out the guys that are playing the best on TOUR are typically the ones that strike the ball the best. I think it's a more consistent skill.

I think when you look at putting, the closer you get to the hole, that's when it becomes a more consistent skill, but sometimes guys just get hot and hole a bunch of putts from 20 feet, and there's a little bit of luck involved with that.

For me, the area that we focused on mostly this year was trying to improve that inside 10- to 15-foot range and I feel like I've been hitting my start line a lot and had some good results on the greens because of that.

Q. Sort of related to this, you've said a few times that when you're at a tournament, it's not the time to be searching for your swing. You've got to play with what you have that week. You're also like a super hard worker at tournament sites on your putting, you do drills on the range. I know there's probably a difference in your mind, but from an outsider's perspective, what is the difference between you doing a drill with a shaft sticking out of the ground -- are you searching there or is that more like a checkpoint thing?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think a lot of it's more checkpoints. I have a routine that I go through at tournaments in order to get ready to go out and play, and a lot of that is getting used to the grass, knowing how far the ball is going, getting used to the speed of the greens, getting used to the amount of sand in the bunkers, and I have a routine that we go through in order to get tournament ready.

I do work very hard at tournaments, but I would say my days are longer at home for sure. The amount of work we put in at home to get here to a tournament site to be ready to play is pretty extensive. Each week when I step on the first tee, I'm focused on my preparation and being ready to play, and that's what I fall back on each week is I step on the first tee, I tell myself I'm prepared, I've done everything I could to play good this week and it's time to go out and compete and do our best.

Q. Curious if you have any fun stories to share about the Claret Jug, if you've taken it around at all or let guys hold it, drink out of it, whatever?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I did. We had a party two weeks ago at home with some of our friends, and everybody got to drink out of it. It was a lot of fun.

I brought it up to Royal Oaks a couple times, my home course, and one afternoon I think Meredith was getting a haircut or something, and I was resting and so I had Bennett, and I took him to Royal Oaks. He whacked some golf balls around, and we hung out for a bit. I took him to the 19th hole with me, and I got some pretty funny pictures with Bennett sitting in the 19th hole at the men's only grill where you've got to be -- I think you've got to be 19 to get in there, but I figured if we bring in a couple major championship trophies with us, they'll let the rules slide on that one.

Yeah, a lot of people got to drink out of it. It was a lot of fun.

Q. Where do you keep it now? Is it sitting right next to the Wanamaker and the Masters stuff?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, yeah. I have a room in our house where I keep a lot of that stuff, and right now I think both trophies are in there next to each other. The Wanamaker, when we went over to Europe, it was sitting up there at Royal Oaks, and I'm sure I'll bring both the trophies back up there for them to be able to celebrate with as well.

Q. Probably pretty nice to see the diversity now in the major trophies, right? Three legs of the Grand Slam, just --

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it's pretty cool. The Masters, you get the green jacket for a year and the Wanamaker is a big old trophy and then the Claret Jug is kind of the perfect size where you can just carry it around and sometimes people don't even really know you have it. It's fun.

Q. I've been asking a couple other guys if they remember their first victory, and what I mean by that is especially with all the wins you've had lately, I wonder if you could go all the way back to the very first tournament you ever won as a kid, not your first TOUR win or amateur win. Could you go all the way back and think of that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: No, I barely remember what I did yesterday versus 20 years ago or whatever it is now.

I have some memories of growing up playing junior golf. I don't remember my first win. Most of my memories from junior golf are just competing with my buddies. Some of my friends to this day are guys I grew up with at Royal Oaks playing golf and sneaking out late at night, stealing the carts so we could ride around on the carts when we were underage and stuff like that. That's the stuff I remember more than the tournaments, and lots of fond memories of that stuff growing up.

Q. Going back to Happy Gilmore 2, what's the feedback been like for you from the people around you since they got a chance to watch it and see your appearance in there? Also, could you see yourself in a Happy Gilmore 3?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, it took them, what, 30 years to make Happy Gilmore 2, so if they go another 30 years for Happy Gilmore 3, I don't think I'll be a part of it.

I mean, being able to film a movie was really fun. They got a great turnout from current players and past players. I think it's just because the first movie was so iconic and Adam Sandler is such an iconic actor and a guy that was a real treat to be able to work with. I had a ton of fun being able to film it.

The reviews for the movie so far have been great. I really enjoyed watching it. I thought they did a great job with the script and the golfers did a great job acting. Will Zalatoris in his role cracked me up. The dinner scene, there were so many good one-liners in it.

They had a lot of fun filming it, and I'm really glad it turned out the way it did on the big screen, and I thought they did a great job.

Q. What do you like most about the renovation? Anything you'd still like to see tweaked going forward? How helpful is having that chipping area now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: They did a good job I think with the runoff areas around the greens here. The new greens right now are really firm.

I think this is a golf course that's typically been pretty popular on TOUR, so I appreciated they didn't come in when they renovated it and just completely change the golf course. I think they had a really good base for a solid golf course where ball-striking is important. You've got to hit it well around this place.

I think they did a really good job. The golf course is healthy. They kept the DNA of what's made this course really good and then enhanced it with some of the pitching areas. Right now with how firm the greens are, you've got to get the ball in the fairway if you want to score.

Q. Going back to the movie, you had a lot of great one-liners. Do you have a personal favorite that you said?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Not really.

Q. For this season, you've had 13 straight top-10 finishes, which is remarkable. How do you maintain that consistency as we get into the Playoffs?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well, I think it all comes down to the preparation and showing up ready to play. Like I said, at this point in the year, that extra practice is maybe only going to be draining for me a little bit, and that's something that I've learned to manage as my career has gone on.

I would say my prep week last week definitely looked a bit different than it would have looked before the Scottish Open and definitely looked a little bit different than it would have looked if you go back to the beginning of the year when I was coming off injury.

So making sure I'm rested, ready to play. My game is in a good spot, and I feel like some extra practice at this point in the year can almost be detrimental in terms of just physical and mental fatigue. Showing up like you're ready to play.

Q. You're already three legs of the way there to that Grand Slam, but with all the wins, I know you say you can't remember that first win, but do you remember the last time you paid for a round of golf?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Last time I paid for a round of golf? It's been a while. I remember the last time I didn't get to pay for a round of golf and one of my buddies in the pro shop had to pay for the round of golf. That was pretty funny. We walked into the pro shop at the local public course, and I knew the pro there, and he was like, hey, Scottie, how you doing, great to have you out. I was like, I'd like to just pay for the round, we're teeing off at 2:00. He's like, you're good. My buddy was like, thanks, man, that's awesome, appreciate it. He's like, actually, you've got to pay.

It was probably five years ago and we still laugh about it to this day because he was so excited to get the free round and the pro was like, actually you're still paying, buddy.

Q. I know you've been asked a million times about Happy Gilmore, but is there one person on TOUR that's likely to win an Oscar, and who is the least likely to win an Oscar?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I have no idea. I've got nothing for you on that one, sadly.

Q. Like you said, you can only talk about Happy Gilmore 2 for so long, but what were the initial reactions of your friends and family when they first watched it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: They liked it. I think they thought the one scene where I was really involved was pretty funny. I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything about the plot, but there's one scene that brings up some of my past stuff, which was pretty fun.

I think it's kind of weird seeing yourself -- we're sitting there at the premier, and anytime I came up on screen, it's just a weird feeling and something that I'm definitely not used to. But like I said, we had a ton of fun filming it. It seems like the reception from the public has been really good.

Like I said, we had a ton of fun and I'm really glad that the movie turned out as good as it did. Adam Sandler and his team did a great job, and the writers were tremendous, and everybody had a ton of fun. It was just good overall.