THE CJ CUP BYRON NELSON

May 20, 2026

Scottie Scheffler

TPC Craig Ranch

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined here, we have World No. 1 and our defending champion at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson, Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie, welcome back. We'll start with opening comments of what you remember about your eight-shot victory wire to wire from last year.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, definitely good memories from last year. I had a really nice week, just played a lot of really solid golf. I was fortunate to be the winner at the end of the week.

In terms of just getting ready for this week, it was nice to have a home week, especially coming off a major championship. Got some rest Monday, did some practice at Royal Oaks yesterday, Pro-Am today, and go home and get some rest and get ready for an early one tomorrow.

Q. Literally moments after the trophy ceremony last year, they started renovations. Just got done playing nine on the course. What have you seen with the changes last year?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I actually came up and played the course a few weeks ago. I think tee-to-green it is definitely better than what it was before. I think it's a more interesting test. The greens have added a significant amount of slope to them, and some are a bit aggressive, but overall I think he did a really good job of creating some nice pin locations, and you definitely have to think your way around this place a lot more than you did before.

I think the test has definitely improved around this golf course. We'll see how they -- how the TOUR wants to set up this week, but overall, so far I really like most of the changes.

Q. I have two questions for you. First, you will be competing for the title in the same group with your close friend Si Woo Kim. How does it feel to go head-to-head with him? Second, you mentioned after your last victory that Korean food gave you a huge energy boost. How much are you looking forward to the Korean food lineup this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I'll start with the Korean food question. I'm really looking forward to getting into dining again this week. I haven't been up the last couple days, and it was an American breakfast, so I'm looking forward to getting some Korean food for lunch. Food has been tremendous. In terms of player dining, it's one of my favorite weeks of the year with the food.

Getting to play with Si Woo is always a real treat too. Si Woo is a great competitor. He's one of the most talented players we have out here on TOUR, and he's a lot of fun to be around as well. We play a lot of golf in the Dallas area here in our off weeks and love to compete with each other. I feel like we have a lot of fun. So it will be great getting out with him in competition again.

Q. Scottie, you're kind of settling into things -- parenthood, being the No. 1 player in the world, kind of load management, things like that. How have you noticed the toll that PGA TOUR life takes on you, not just your body, but your mentality? I know we've had open talks with you about this before, about how this can be kind of a grind and be difficult. But it feels like you've shed a lot of that. You've adjusted and gotten comfortable. Is that true, or is that not what we see behind the scenes?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think so far this year, when you add a second child to the mix, I think that's a whole different ballgame in terms of home life. Then like you said, yeah, there's a lot more activity for me at golf tournaments than there was early in my career. I think you just adjust.

I can't spend as much time at the golf course as I did when I was younger, early in my career, and that's for a variety of reasons. It's more important for me to get home in a timely manner now. A lot of it is just schedule adjustments. You just adjust your day and prioritize the things I need to prioritize. Yeah, just doing the best I can is really all I can describe it as.

Some days you feel better than others, but overall, I think when you're tired at the end of the day, I think it's a good thing. It's good. Being tired, I think, means you had a nice full day. Rest is important too, and most days, especially when I'm competing out here on TOUR, I should be tired because I'll have a full day of competing out here, and when I get home, it's game on with two little ones. So full days.

Q. Even if you weren't defending champion, you would be playing here, I assume. As you look into this tournament's future with the changes that Lanny made to the course, do you have a concern level about this tournament's future as to whether it's going to be a tier 1 or tier 2 event? Do you think about things like that?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: A lot of that stuff's out of my control. I obviously have -- I have a lot of strong feelings towards this tournament. This tournament means a lot to me. Mr. Nelson means a lot to a lot of us from the Dallas area, but especially myself. He's a guy that I've looked up to, the way he approached the game for a long time, and he's a family man.

I think his legacy is something that's important to me as well, and being able to play here and compete in this tournament is the tournament I grew up dreaming of having a chance to play in. So I have a lot of strong feelings for this tournament, and I hope nothing but the best for it.

But like you said, we've gone through some changes with this tournament over the years, going from Las Colinas down to Trinity, and now up here at Craig Ranch. The tournament has always been able to have success. The Salesmanship Club here does a great job of running the tournament, making things easy on us and supporting us in whatever we need. So it's a tournament I always love coming to play in.

But like I said, a lot of those decisions aren't in my hands. If the TOUR wants my opinion, I have nothing but great things to say about this event.

Q. And then on the course itself, is there a stretch of holes that are strikingly different to you?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, overall I'd say it's fairly similar tee-to-green. I think Lanny did a really good job of adding some bunkering to really shape things, like I think the shapes off the tee are a lot better than what they were. I think before it was a little bland in terms of the look tee-to-green.

On the greens now, they're definitely much more interesting. Like I said, with some of the slopes on a couple of the greens being pretty aggressive. We'll see if they're too aggressive.

But overall, I think the greens are the same size, but he put in a lot of small areas where they can put pins, and I think there's a real challenge to that. There's a bit more thought that you need when it comes to playing this golf course, whereas before I felt like a lot of the decisions were already made for you. Now you've got to think about where you want to put your ball.

The real challenge, I think, to this golf course is for sure on and around the greens.

Q. Scottie, you mentioned being friends with Si Woo. You're obviously also friends with Tom Kim. A guy like that, since the Olympics, he's kind of dropped in the World Rankings. Right now what do you see in his game? Has there been any word of encouragement from you to him as he's going through this rough patch?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think, when you look at golf, it's such a difficult sport. I believe it's the hardest game in the world. So there's always ebbs and flows to how you feel.

Tom's a young guy still. I think people forget, I think he's 23 years old. When you look at where I was at 23 years old, I definitely wasn't a multiple-time TOUR winner.

Tom is a guy that has a ton of talent, but I think life on the PGA TOUR can be challenging at times, especially when you start thinking about your results and your ranking starts to drop a little bit. It's just challenging. Whenever I see Tom, I try to give him my best. If he ever has a question for me, I always try to give him a good answer.

He's a guy that I care a lot about and wish nothing but the best, but like I said, it's a hard game, and you kind of just go through the ebbs and flows and the ups and downs. I think a lot of times, when you look from the outside, outside looking in, it's easy just to look at his scores, but a lot of people, we're humans, we all have a lot going on.

Tom's a guy that I think is living really well right now, even though his scores might not show it. Every time I see him, he seems to be in good spirits, which is great. That's been his strength from the beginning is his attitude and the way he approaches things. I'm sure he'll be back competing for trophies very soon again.

Q. There's many Korean young golfers who admire you and look up to you as they want to be PGA TOUR players. How or what advice can you give them the mindset they have as a young junior golfer who pursue the PGA TOUR?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would just say from my experience, the way I grew up, I didn't grow up writing down my goals or the tournaments I wanted to win. I always had what I felt like were dreams and aspirations. My dream was to play golf on the PGA TOUR.

I never really looked at the PGA TOUR as something that I had to accomplish, but it was something that I dreamt of. I wanted from a young age to play golf for a living, and I had a skill, and I just continued to work at that. My thing was always just trying to become the best that I could be and just see where that put me.

I think you can learn a lot from the people that are around you, but I think comparisons at times can be a little bit dangerous. I think it's best when we stay in our own lane and we continue to improve the things we can improve on whilst also learning from others. There's questions and things that I still constantly ask of guys that I'm competing with.

At the same time, I also have a ton of friends from competing in the game of golf that I've had since I was a young kid, and those are the things that for me I really feel like have lasted a lifetime. Those are the things that I really enjoy, those friendships.

Q. Back on the course, how do you think the scoring might change at all, if at all?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: A lot of it depends on where they want to put the pins. If they want to get really aggressive, the scoring could be drastically different, just based upon the slopes and the greens. I think, if you have greens with a lot of slope, you can get about as aggressive as you want. It just depends on what kind of test you're looking for. A lot of it is just how the course is set up, like how close do you want to put the pin to the slope essentially is what it is.

Like if they wanted the winning score here to be 5- to 10-under par, I think they could do it if they wanted to, just based on where they put the pins, but would that be the best test? Who knows.

I think a lot of it just comes down to setup. If they set it up where the pins aren't very close to the slopes, you could see similar scoring. Last year I played some pretty good golf. I doubt it gets that low again, but you never know.

Q. And you had a good week last week, a few short putts got you on Sunday. How much do you look at stuff like that? I know you get asked about putting from time to time. How's your game right now? How's your putting? Do you try not to overthink that as you go into a new week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think -- I guess just putting specific, like I said talking about Tom, you kind of just go through ebbs and flows, and putting is something, especially when you're putting in wind and on greens without much slope, there's going to be variants and how things are going.

Overall, I feel like I'm in a good spot. I've actually putted the best that I have in my career so far this year and just kind of get a reset, get on some new greens, work on my reads, make sure I'm checking all my fundamentals.

I actually went through something similar last year after the Scottish Open. I had a tough week on the greens and showed up at The Open Championship. I talked to Phil, my putting coach, and our discussion was basically like, I just want to make sure I'm starting the ball online, and I want to make sure I'm lined up where I think I'm lined up. That's what I did, and I went on to have a great putting week and a great tournament.

I think golf is riding the ebbs and flows and continue to work on the things that I feel like I need to work on and just continue to go do those things.

Q. You had trophy written in Korean with the champions names on it. How do you think you will pursue your second trophy in Korean, and how do you feel about the trophy with the champion's name written in Korean?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I thought the trophy was really cool, and I'll definitely be doing my best to pursue another one. Competing out here on TOUR is always a great joy, and being able to compete in my hometown is always really special. I think this tournament with Mr. Nelson's name on it means a lot to me.

We're very thankful for CJ's support of this event. They stepped in when we needed them to. I really love the vibes of this tournament now. Like I said, we have great food in dining. It's one of my favorite weeks of the year in terms of the food. We get a lot of young Korean players that come and play in this tournament, and I'm looking forward to getting out and competing with those guys again.

Q. I remember you loved the short ribs last year. What kind of food are you looking forward to this week?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Any sort of spicy chicken dish I feel like is in there, I feel like I'm going to have a few platefuls of it. Any spicy chicken, I'm all over that.