PGA Tour: Scottie Scheffler Reflects on Third Place Finish at The American Express

PGA Tour professional Scottie Scheffler recaps just falling short of a victory at the 2020 American Express as well as his hot start to the 2020 season including four top 10 finishes to this point.

PGA Tour: Scottie Scheffler speaks with media after third place finish at The American Express

Q. Great finish. What’s going through your mind? How would you describe today?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I’m a little disappointed. I didn’t have my best stuff today. Swing felt pretty loose again and got the best of me early and just put myself too far behind. I still had a chance there at the end and I hit a really good shot on 17 that I thought was going to go a lot closer and just didn’t.

Q. The shot at 16 was pretty close. That was pretty special to pull within one?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: That was good. It was about time. I felt like I started to play some good golf, just couldn’t really get anything going, hit a few lips, had some good looks and I thought the chip on 15 was going to go in too, that one looked good. I was close all day. I wasn’t too far off, so it definitely gives me some confidence going into next week.

Q. You have four top-10s at the start of this ’19-‘ 20 season. That’s pretty impressive.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Thank you. I appreciate it. Top-10s are great. I feel like I’ve been playing pretty consistent. Hoping to get a win soon, though. But you got to stay patient with that It’s not easy to win out here and there’s a reason that the winning percentage isn’t very high, but I’m off to a good start.

Q. You come up a little short today. You fought hard, you had a great attitude out there, and then all of a sudden at the end you actually gave yourself a chance to win. How happy are you with your golf this week?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I feel like I played solid most of the week. My swing felt a little loose, for the most part, but I played great up until today. When the swing feels loose like that it’s tough to play under the heat of competition. Timing has to be so good. Things speed up there towards the end and just wasn’t sharp enough today. And happy for Andrew, he played great and looking forward to next week.

Q. Swing didn’t look real loose on that 5-iron on 16 that went sky high in there close and ended up making an eagle. Talk us through that one.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, it was pretty good. I had a good number there. It was about 220 pin and just had to carry it onto the front edge. And shot looked good, it was about time, I needed to pull something off if I wanted to have a chance and that was a fun shot.

Q. You had great success on the Korn Ferry last year, you’re off it to a great start you’re rookie year out here, this has to be encouraging for you.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Very encouraging. I’ll take a lot of confidence from this week, just because I feel like I wasn’t swinging my best, but to get around here in 23-under is awesome. I was just coming in this week hoping to shake off some rust and was lucky to play some good golf. So I feel good going into the next few weeks and the rest of the year.

Q. How would you assess how the final round played out today?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I struggled for the most part today, my swing felt pretty bad. But I was able to kind of right the ship and start hitting some good shots and still had a chance to win there towards the end. So overall I’m happy with how this week went, a little disappointed in today, but I’m encouraged going forward.

Q. As you’re watching Andrew make bogeys on 13, 14 and 15, at what point were you like, I’m still in this tournament?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Well I never really felt like I was that far out of it. On a course like this you can make a lot of birdies and there’s some tough holes coming in. So I was just really just waiting for a spark. And I really hit some good shots, nearly made a long putt on 14 I thought was going in, I thought I chipped in on 15, and then eagled 16, and the shot on 17 was actually I thought I stuffed it, I don’t know how it came up that far short but it happens.

Q. So what do you take away from this week? You’ve done so well on the Korn Ferry TOUR, you come out in the fall and you play well, third place finish this week. How much confidence is that building for you?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Definitely a confidence boost. I was just coming in this week hoping to shake off some rust and was fortunate to play so well and give myself a chance to win. It’s a lot of fun being in contention, so I look forward to hopefully doing it again next week.

January 19, 2020

La Quinta, California

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