MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2026

Scottie Scheffler

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler to the interview room. Scottie, welcome back to Augusta National.

Please describe the state of your game as we head into this week's Masters tournament.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Game feels like it's in a good spot. I got some rest the last few weeks at home. So I feel rested and ready to go this week.

Q. With a few years and a couple of green jackets under your belt, what do you value most about Augusta National? What makes this place special to you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I feel like, I think growing up as an American golfer, I think Augusta is the place you always want to get to. Whether or not it's to play in the tournament or just to get to see the golf course.

For me, I truly feel that once you drive down Magnolia Lane, everything else melts away, and you get to be here and be focused. There's not a lot of distractions this week. This is one of the best-run tournaments we have. This tournament and our tournament, THE PLAYERS Championship, are two of the best-run tournaments that we have.

Augusta keeps going above and beyond to make things special and easy for us as players. Especially the practice rounds. The practice rounds are very peaceful. There's no phones. There's no people asking for selfies in the middle of the round. It's very calm out there, and people follow the rules here.

For us as players, it's really an enjoyable experience, just how things are organized. You've got the kids autograph area by the range. There's no adults sneaking in there. Everybody's afraid to break the rules. Augusta's put some rules in place that make this not only a special experience for us, but a special experience for the patrons as well.

Q. Congratulations on the birth of your son. I just wondered if you and Meredith have devised a plan to ensure that you can sleep this week or how you're going to enjoy getting up every few hours?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'm getting plenty of sleep. My wife's a trooper. Yeah, having a newborn is always an interesting thing, but Remy is so young right now, they sleep a lot of the day. I think he's used to being in the womb at this point. Yeah, I've been able to get a decent amount of sleep.

Q. The last time you were at a podium in a major championship week, you gave a long answer at The Open about finding fulfillment on a personal and professional level and the difference between process-based fulfillment and outcome-based sort of goals. I'm wondering right now where in your life, whether it's personal or professional, where you find the most fulfillment through processes?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: One of the things I love most about the game of golf is just the ability to practice and always feel like you're trying to improve on something. Talking about a golf tournament like this, you look at this place, and it's one of the best practice facilities we have for the whole, entire year. You've got a great putting green, great short game area, great range. There's endless things you could continue to practice out there.

This place is almost a challenge in a sense that you need to be able to get your stuff done and go home because I could camp out on that range for days and days and continue to practice. It's a pretty nice place to be.

Q. These last few years, you've discussed a lot how the golf doesn't define you. I'm curious if there was a time, whether junior golf, college, if it did define you in your eyes and what was the turning point there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I feel like growing up, I think it's always a struggle. I think that's still a struggle to this day. When you finish a round of golf, you post a score up there. I think you put so much time and effort into the game that you expect a lot out of it. Sometimes you do get some things out of it. Most of the time in golf, you're probably going to be a little bit disappointed at the end of the week just because there's only one winner and there's a lot more losers than that.

I would say it's always been a battle for me trying to strike a balance between continuing to work hard, staying competitive, and also not having my -- either my good golf or my bad golf define me because that could go one of two ways. If I let my bad golf define me, I'd be a pretty miserable person. If I let my good golf define me, whether or not it's a green jacket or an Open Championship, then I'd walk around pretty arrogant all the time and I wouldn't be very nice to people because I think I'm hot stuff because I won a few golf tournaments.

Q. Is it any different or maybe easier to come back as a past champion as opposed to a defending champion with all the stuff that like Rory faces this week or what you went through in '23 and '25?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Are you saying it's easier as a past champion versus a defending champion?

Q. Yeah, coming back as the active defending champion.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think defending can always be difficult, but I think that's mostly just the odds of winning a tournament in back-to-back years. I think that's just extremely challenging, especially when you look at these major championships.

There is some obligations, and like at this tournament there's some stuff that's completely new. I guess, well, this year the parking situation and everything is a little bit different with the new building. I think everything's new when you're a first-time defending here. You host the dinner tonight, that's a big deal. There's certain things that go on that maybe would make it a touch more difficult, but I wouldn't say it's anything too substantial.

I think, once you get tonight out of the way, I think you can relax a little bit.

Q. When you came off the Korn Ferry Tour about seven years ago, could you envision the kind of career you've already had before your 30th birthday, or have you surprised even yourself with what you've been able to accomplish?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, that's a good question. I think it's a hard one to answer. I always had faith and belief in myself, but I didn't -- I never told myself I want to win these tournaments. I always just had what I feel like were dreams and aspirations, and I feel like I had the talent to be able to accomplish certain things.

I never really kind of thought this far ahead. I dreamed of having a chance to win the Masters tournament, and I'm fortunate to have been able to have done that twice. Did I imagine that? I imagined myself winning, and I was hopeful I could accomplish that, but I didn't set out, when I came off the Korn Ferry Tour, you know what, I'm going to get to No. 1 in the world. I'm going to win this many majors. I'm going to win this many tournaments.

It was more taking it a step at a time. My manager was a big part of that as I turned pro. When I turned pro, I kind of went through all the steps. I tried some Monday qualifiers for the Korn Ferry Tour. I played some mini tour events to stay sharp. I went through Q-School, went through Korn Ferry Tour, and then I got out on the PGA TOUR. Everything for me was step by step.

The year I played on the Korn Ferry Tour, I had some opportunities to come out here and play on the PGA TOUR, but my manager and I kind of spoke about just being -- you can only be on the Tour where you're at, and our goal that year was to continue to play good golf, focus on the Korn Ferry Tour, develop, get better, and then get ready for the PGA TOUR.

We just kind of took everything step by step, so I never really looked that far ahead, to be honest with you.

Q. Curious about the conditions you're finding out there now, and the forecast looks dry, low humidity, could be very firm and fast. Is that to your liking? Is that ultimately what you'd like to see, or does it really matter?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, you kind of answered my question there. The forecast looks great. It's going to get firm and fast. I would imagine they would like the greens to get fast. I think that increases the challenge of the golf course.

Yeah, I'm excited to see how it plays this week. We might get a little bit of wind too. The golf course is shaping up nicely. This is the best forecast I've seen for this tournament in a while. Definitely excited to get the week going on the greens. The greens are fairly firm. When I showed up on Sunday, we actually got a tiny bit of rain during that round. So I'm excited to see how it will play.

Q. How would you evaluate the state of your game relative to how you felt coming to this tournament the last four or five years?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a tough one. I don't know. I try not to look too far in the past, I try not to look too far in the future. For me to think about that, that would take a little bit of work, which I don't want to do right now.

Q. I think five days elapsed -- when Bennett was born, five days elapsed before your Instagram post. In Remy's case, nine days elapsed, and you saw Doug here. What do you think that says about your desire to live a normal life off the course? Then also what it might say about the tightness of your inner circle?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Sometimes I think it feels like we live almost two separate lives, where I have this life where I come out here and play and compete, and sometimes my friends are brought into that arena that I kind of live in out here. There's a few tournaments my friends get to come to each year. This being one of them. I had a couple buddies come to watch the tournament this week, and they rode down Magnolia Lane with me yesterday and today.

It's fun for them to be able to experience it with me, but when we go home, I don't feel any different than my other friends. I still feel like I go to work each day. It doesn't feel like I'm sitting at a desk obviously. I love my job, but I don't feel any different than I did when I was a kid.

So I don't see why I would need to live any different or do anything like that. Yeah, I don't really know how to use Instagram (laughter). So any posts or anything like that, I feel like those things can be a great tool to be able to share certain things about my life, but when it comes to my kids, I want them to have as simple of a life as they can and be able to grow and develop like normal kids the same way I did.

There's no reason that my kids need to be on TV or on my Instagram or whatever it is. I feel like my kids need to have a normal upbringing or as normal as I can, and we'll go from there.

Bennett is still 2, so the hard parenting hasn't really started yet. It's more bargaining at this point.

Q. We all have associations with Amen Corner and the emotions that those three holes evoke. In your own words, how would you describe Amen Corner and its role here at Augusta National?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it starts with 11. I think 11 -- it's funny, we were playing a practice round here on Sunday. I was playing with Adam Scott, and I kind of went to the middle of the tee box just because that's where we've been playing all day, and I hit my ball. It was playing into the wind that day, and we were walking off the tee. I look at the marker, and from the front of the tee box, it's 520 yards. As short as it will ever play, it's 520, especially to have shorter green side. 11 is a really challenging hole.

If you look at 12, it's a big swing hole as well. If you hit a really good shot in there, you're going to get a good look at birdie, but the penalty is also pretty severe. So that's an extremely important shot.

Same thing when you look at the approach into 13, if you hit a good drive, you can hit the green and two-putt and have a fairly simple birdie, but you start getting off line, you can make a number there as well.

I look at the holes on that golf course as big swing holes, if that makes a sense. Those are holes that can pretty much define a round if you're playing well or if you're playing poorly.

Q. This golf course can be pretty difficult around the greens. If your opinion, what's the most difficult shot you've ever faced, and how did you play it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, man, you're making me think again. What's the most difficult? Gosh, I don't know. I don't know what the most difficult would be, but there's certain spots out here that there are spots you definitely need to avoid, and a lot of it depends on pin location too.

I don't know what the most difficult one would be, but, I mean, a lot of them. When you get out of position around this golf course, I think that's one of the greatest challenges, is getting the ball back in position and trying to make your par. Shoot, I couldn't tell you the hardest one I've had.

Q. I don't know if this is too private or not, but was there a special meaning behind the name Remy?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, not really. Mer liked kind of the i, e, or y at the end of the name. We had Bennett first, and we can call him Bennie if we like the i-e. Remy was a name we liked. No real significance to it. We looked on the Internet and found some stuff, but it's quite metaphorical and a stretch for what the name means. I'm not going to share that. I'll probably butcher it if I try, so I'll get back to you on that. It was something that we liked, and that's pretty much it.

Q. Scottie, Sunday you're on the 10th tee and you're in contention or you're in the lead, do you sneak a peek at leaderboards? Do you listen for roars? Does Ted keep you up to date, or you don't care about any of that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think when you're in the heat of the moment, I think it's important to kind of know where you're at. I've been a leaderboard watcher pretty much my whole life. I think it's always nice to know, but very rarely will it ever change the way that I would play.

I think it's just nice to know. I think, if I didn't know, I would be too curious. I would be wondering where everybody was at, and it would almost be more of a distraction. For me it's good to know what's happening, and then I can go back to doing my thing. It kind of takes the curiosity out of it.

Q. Would you feel -- do you think you'd feel different if you put the green jacket back on in front of the kids compared to your other two?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Oh, in front of my kids. Like this week we got here on Sunday, and I always hand out an award for the Drive, Chip and Putt, so I go upstairs and put my green jacket on and come back down to give out the award. My wife had driven us in and parked somewhere else, so I was helping them get into the property.

I had my jacket on, and Mer got this great picture of me and Bennett walking into the clubhouse with me with my green jacket and holding his hand. But, I mean, he has no idea what it means. I'm sure it will come with age.

This place means a lot to me as a professional and as a golfer. This place signifies so much for me in my golf journey, and that's something I'd love to be able to share with my kids. We'll see how that goes as they age. Right now I just -- if I'm wearing it near him, I'm just hoping he doesn't ruin it or anything like that.

(Laughter.)

Throw up on it. Who knows?

Q. This is your seventh time here, you're a two-time champion. How does your preparation for this particular course that you come back to every year change and get more refined as you spend more time and you build your notes over the years and your greens book keeps adding things to it?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That's a good question. This course you're always trying to get a feel around the greens for how things are going. Augusta always kind of makes a few changes here and there, and they don't really tell us what they're doing, they just kind of do it.

So there's always little stuff you're trying to figure out. A lot of that's green speeds. Depending on firmness as well, a lot of the strategy can change as the greens start to change.

So when you look at a year that's very soft and wet, the strategy going into a lot of greens changes. You're going to have a lot longer clubs in. And when it gets firm and fast, you're going to have some shorter clubs in, but it's going to be firmer, so you've got to kind of manage your way around.

Each one has its own challenges, and so I think a lot of that is just getting prepared for how you think the golf course is going to play because, even when you go out there on Wednesday, it's going to be different when we show up on Thursday.

Q. There was just yesterday Justin Rose was talking about the idea of, especially in major championships, you have to put yourself out there. You put yourself out there to get close to winning. Rory talked about it a little bit last year. Do you identify with that sort of concept, and if so, what does it mean in the context of a round, like putting yourself out there to give yourself a chance to win?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: There's certainly an aspect to that. I think, when you look at golf, you look at kind of being in the arena, being in the moment, having chances to win. I'm not really sure if that's for everybody.

I think a lot of the way I look at golf tournaments is I love being in that environment, I love trying to succeed and get the most out of myself when things are tough, and it's challenging playing, I think, late in tournaments. It's really difficult to win, and so being able to have a chance to do that is something that's special already.

There's certainly an aspect of putting yourself out there because, if you put yourself in the arena enough times, you're going to fail and you're going to succeed. That's just part of it. There has to be some acceptance there that you're going to have maybe some great wins and you're also going to have some tough losses, but ultimately we just keep going.

Q. You mentioned bargaining earlier. What is the toughest negotiation to win with Bennett right now?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I said bargaining because last night we were leaving a Nike party and he somehow ended up with two sugar cookies and he hadn't eaten his dinner yet. It was like, all right, buddy, if you eat these sausages, I will give you this cookie. He's like, cookie. I'm like, if you eat this. My buddies are sitting there watching, yep, I've seen this movie before. It's bargaining.

Q. You're outnumbered now, I think you know that. Now that you have two kids, they actually outnumber you. I've seen the video where you're by the 10th green when Bubba hit the shot out of the trees in 2012. What inspiration did a teenage Scottie Scheffler take from that, if anything, and when did you and Ted first talk about that like, hey, we have something in common. This is it.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I don't know when I first brought that up, but I did tell him I was here that day. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought the guy carrying Bubba's bag at the time would be one of my best friends and my caddie for a long time as well.

Yeah, I think I definitely drew inspiration. This tournament is a great experience to come to as a patron, and being able to be up close and see someone accomplish something that I dreamed of accomplishing at the time, I think is very inspirational. I took a lot from that day and that experience.

I grew up on the range at Royal Oaks watching professionals practice. I was fortunate to watch these guys practice, watch how they prepared. I was very fortunate they let me hang around from a young age, so I just watched, I tried to learn. I tried to emulate them, and I always watched, and I felt like I could do the things that they did.

From a young age, I just continued to try and do it. It's weird, like I believed that I could make it out here, but I never expected it, if that makes sense.