Scottie Scheffler Wednesday Press Conference 2024 BMW Championship
Published: Aug 24, 2024
Duration: 00:15:29
Category: Sports
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all right would' like to welcome FedEx Cup leader and world number one Scotty Sheffer to the interview room here at the 2024 BMW Championship Scotty you've had a chance to look at the golf course I know you played in Colorado before and the corn Fury T event but what's your first impression of Castle Pines yeah first impressions are good um golf course in great shape greens are starting to firm out a little bit um I think they could get it really firm if they wanted to it just depends on what happens with those um you know kind of evening thunderstorms you have a tendency to get here but um yeah golf course is in good shape I think it'll be a good test to some of the fairways are pretty generous off the tea but then there's some also there's also some other ones where uh they're pretty tight and the rough is is healthy so I think it'll be a be a good test this week okay we'll jump right into questions we'll start with Cam Morford go ahead K hey Scotty uh you played for some pretty big trophies between the majors and the players championship and the Ryder Cup and the President's Cup now the FedEx Cup how would you characterize or sort of categorize the FedEx Cup in all of that you know I felt like a question I got asked a lot at the Olympics is where does this rank in terms of wins and stuff like that and I have I have a difficulty you know kind of choosing I I want to win each tournament that I you know teed up in um being able to win out here is is really special anytime you can accomplish that it's it's very difficult to win out here on tour and um you know I think the FedEx Cup is also really challenging to win just because you got to play really solid golf all year and then you got to play amazing golf you know these last three weeks you can't can't limp your way in to winning the FedEx Cup and so um you know I think really it's just uh I think a lot of good competition throughout the year and it's hard to rate which ones would be you know better than others and so I just love coming out here and competing and you know it's one of the great great joys of my life and it's something that that is a lot of fun for me and you know I'm looking forward to doing that another couple weeks and then uh you know defending our our presence Cup trophy in about a month okay we'll go to Ryan and then across the Dan Scotty for us regular folk who don't have access to trackman and other devices can you can you explain what your process is for determining exactly how far your shots are going when you're at altitude do you want me to do it without like the trackman thing or just like a rough percent like you kind of you kind of put me in a box there but like do you so do you hit every single Club X number of times write it down are you trying different shots different heights like how are you actually going through the process yeah so each week I'm out I'm out on tour I'm typically will we check my numbers just to make sure I I I don't ever change the settings on my track man no matter where we are Teddy has a way of um that I'm not going to divulge because I think we we do a really good job of making sure we're pin High a lot kind of no matter what the conditions are and um that's something that I rely on him pretty heavily for and so this week know he's doing a lot of the math and we we have our numbers and how far the ball goes here and we still have our numbers at home and so we have two ways that we're trying to do it um depending on the shot just to where I know that I can get comfortable with the shot that we're trying to hit and so some of that is I have a stock number for what the club goes here and so if my Adar goes 165 at home let's say it'll go like low 180s here or something like that and um we can do it that way or Teddy can just do the percentage just based on the time of day and it also changes depending on how how long the ball's in the air I mean uphill shots are not going to the ball's not doesn't have as time to as much time to fly in the air just based on it being uphill and so it'll be a smaller percentage and then downhill it'll be a bigger percentage but um it there is a lot of work that goes into it's it's a pretty big adjustment for us go to Dan and then back to cam you said that winning out here is was really tough but you you've managed to do it a few times this year is it getting a little bit easier I I don't I wouldn't use the term easier um I just think you know I I was thinking about this the other day this this tournament last year I had a really good final round I had like a a couple shot lead on the back nine and I think I played the last you know five or six holes in in even par on a very very difficult golf course and got chased down by Victor um this year at the players for example I there was a couple guys at the end that had a chance to catch me and they didn't you know sometimes the breaks fall your way and sometimes they don't and this year I feel like at times the breaks have definitely Fallen my way I look at a tourament like the players where I had to come from behind to look at the Olympics where I had to come from behind and I don't get me wrong I played great golf on Sunday and put a lot of pressure on those guys but you know sometimes players will rise to the occasion and sometimes they'll struggle a little bit and that's just part of the game I think a lot of is just putting yourself in position as much as I can and I love competing on Sundays with a tournament on the line it's so much fun you know I think about I have so many great memories from this year being able to finish off tournaments and and and being able to celebrate and enjoy those wins and I've been in a great place mentally but no I wouldn't say it's easier to win I would never describe it like that I think it's extremely challenging to win out here and you know I've been fortunate to to win a few times this year and then you made some comments last week about how the FedEx Cup maybe doesn't you know properly reward the season long race um have you thought about what what you would your ideal this kind of three-week window this these playoffs what it might look like or or how they might change I think it's something that we've the the format has changed pretty significantly since it first came about I mean you look at some of those early years I think there was a year padrick Haron won two majors and he didn't even qualify for this event um um just because I think the the format was it was like 4,000 points for a playoff win and so now I think it's 2,000 points um I think there's a balance between identifying the best player over the course of the season and having a good TV product because there'd be some years um where if you kept the points the same for the entire year and had a true season long race just based on fex Cup points this would be a year where it would not be too exciting of a finish unless you know Xander was able to win the last three playoff events or something like that and so you have to find the balance between having a good TV product and also identifying the best player for the season and right now my comments last week it's not technically a season long race basically the way I would describe is you have to play solid golf most of the season and then you have to have a really good playoffs you know it's the FedEx Cup playoffs the winner of the FedEx Cup played the best for these three weeks in the playoffs and some years that would be the best player for the whole year and some years it won't but overall to me it is what it is and I'm looking forward to the challenge of um being up there on the leaderboard again next week at East Lake I'll I'll either be I think I don't think I can fall more than to second place and so it'll be a good challenge I'm looking forward to it and you know I feel like I did my job for the first you know 95% of the year to be in a good position going into East Lake and you know we'll see what happens from there let's go to Doug and then over the cam and two things do you look at this tournament as anything but a a trophy you'd like to win because you're playing this week or do you look at it in the scheme of this postseason well I think in terms of this season um you know I've had a good amount of wins and so seven you know huh seven seven seven wins yeah well apparently the Olympics is not an official event so technically only six eight with the hero huh eight with her that's funny um no so what was your question again like uh no I mean you look do you look at this as a tournament you'd like to win because it's got history and tradition and you'd like the trophy or do you see it in the scheme of the postseason in the Row's like if you will if if I was to truly say I want to play my best golf at East Lake this may have been a week where I would have taken off just because there's so much emphasis on East Lake and I've never I think I kind of figured out this this year I don't love playing the week before a major championship and so with East Lake having so much important in the you the season long race if I was to truly look at like my goal at the beginning of the year is to win East Lake this would be a week where I would consider maybe taking off especially with the points lead that I have but at the end of the day you know I talk about you know not one trophy being much more important than another yeah I would love to win the FedEx Cup but I would also love to win this tournament you know I've never won a playoff event before and so that'd be something that would be really cool to do I've had you know good chances to win them and haven't been able to do it um also should have a good chance to win next week starting with the lead but overall I love competing and I set my schedule at the beginning of the year to play certain events that I love to play in and you this year was another one of those years and so going into this week I'm excited to play I love competing you know we got the guys that have played the best golf on the PJ tour this year here this week and um it should be some good competition secondly can you see if not yourself can you see someone in the in the in the top of the points list skipping an event if it doesn't mean anything in other words you're not playing Memphis last week Rory not playing Memphis just because you probably won't fall very far and you're trying to pace yourself to the end yeah I mean there's there's potential for that you know to be to be honest with you I I hadn't really thought about it much just because in my head it was like Hey we got the three playoff events you know the best players will be there and those are the events that I want to be in and I want to play um you know you earn your way into these events through great play throughout the year and you know like I said we this week we're playing against the guys that had the the 50 best guys on the PJ tour this year and so it's going to be great competition it's going to be a lot of fun and you know that's what I love about this game I don't play it for money or anything like that I play it because I love to compete and you know that's what I'm for this week is to compete and do my best get time for two or three more we'll go Cam and then over this hey Scotty um Xander was saying that he got to know you a little bit more at the Olympics the fact that you guys were on the same team and kind of commuting back and forth to the course and so forth wondering what what whether you felt like you got to know him a little bit more and then also do you remember the first time you ever came across Xander shley and what what your impressions were oh God gosh I can barely remember what I did yesterday so I don't remember the first time we met but I will say like playing the team events are are so much fun but when you have 12 guys on a team you don't spend as much time just because you kind of get put into you know groups where you might play and Xander and I have never partnered up in an event before and so with the Olympics being just the four of us and being in Paris not being in the States you know we're kind of in not an uncomfortable place but a place that's new to us and so we're all trying to kind of figure it out together and where they're only being four of us you just get to know guys a lot better you know just because you're spending more time together and um I don't know if I learned like a bunch of new stuff about the guys that I'm willing to share out here just because it's more just private stuff but um yeah I enjoyed getting to know all the guys on the team in Paris you I felt like we had a ton of fun you know playing all the practice rounds together competing you know gamble a little bit and um yeah it was it was a fun week I think for all of us go this Scotty when you you've mentioned how hard winning is a couple times during this press conference when you reflect back on this season the seven victories are you at all surprised by your success uh I don't know if surprised is the word that I would use but I think I'm you know I'm very grateful you know I I I've put in a lot of work to to get to this point and it's really nice to to get some results from that in wins you know you look at a year like the year I had last year where it was almost a little bit um kind of underwhelming but I felt like I could have won a lot more than I did last year and this year I feel like yeah I could have won a little bit more but I've also won you know a good amount of tournaments so um it's been a lot of fun you know having having this success and being able to to win tournaments is is a ton of fun I'm very grateful for it and uh yeah it's been a been a pretty fun year overall FR left here Scotty you look at an 8100 yard course that's a big thing in and of itself but doing that at elevation I mean that's got to be grueling how are you acclimated to that how do you think you'll be ready for the challenge that just walking along horse at this elevation will present yeah so the elevation stuff you I think oddly enough the vacation we went on kind of mid July or beginning of July I remember exactly what it was we we went to toride which is a little bit higher than here and I did the elevation got to me a little bit and so I'm kind of glad I got out of the way then just because I have struggled with it from time to time like like Mark said I played uh tournament on the corn Fair tour here in Colorado and then we also played in bogot which is some pretty extreme elevation there in Columbia um and I remember you know sleeping really bad the first few nights you have really weird dreams and you wake up in the middle of night feeling like you can't breathe and just just weird stuff and so I feel like that experience playing at a little bit higher altitudes has kind of helped me adjust to this week where yeah I mean when I was working out in the gym yesterday and I was definitely getting out of breath a lot faster than I would at home but I feel like I'm doing a good job of getting adjusted and then you know the number stuff is something that we've had a system that has worked decent over the past few years and um you know hoping it continues to work this week two more quick ones to wrap up we'll go van and Adam Scotty you mentioned friendly wages with guys in practice friends could you tell me the go-to uh format that you have been going with and are you as dominant there as this year as you have been on the on the course it's funny you I said I uh it's usually always a best ball match play just because it's a practice round you know you're not like if somebody hits it in the water you're not going to be going back there being like okay well it crossed here and so you got to actually go back to the te just because I might make bogey here you get so it's more just um just match play and you know I played s Sam and I would play a lot of practice rounds together but he he would smoke me the beginning of the week I mean it just just would abuse me and so I started taking him as my partner and we've been a lot better since I took him as my partner and so well usually two on two matches or if it's just Sam me going out we'll play a little one-on-one match and I think it's a good you know loose way to start the week like this week Sam and I played um Justin Max on Monday and um you know it's just fun it's a good time with your buddies the beginning of the weeks are typically more relaxed and get to have a good time and cut up and you know talk a little bit about core strategy and things the guys are working on it's just a lot more of a you know relaxed atmosphere to spend time with your buddies and you know we all love competing and want to beat each other but at the end of the day it's just fun going out to hang out and just screw around for a couple days Adam last one for Scotty before we let him go Scotty Billy horal when he was in here said that he typically that some years he hasn't voted in the player of the year because it's too hard of decision I'm just wondering if if you've ever not voted or felt that way I believe I voted each year um I definitely had the intent to vote every year I'm typically a poor Communicator over the phone so I'm not going to sit here and say that I definitely voted every year because there's definitely some potential that I thought that I did and and didn't do it kind of like responding to a text but um yeah I think I voted every year do you have you voted for yourself or is that a weird thing yeah that's a good question I don't think I've voted for myself that maybe maybe I haven't voted in the past couple years when I felt like I had a chance to win I think maybe I didn't vote then because I I don't think I'd vote for myself but maybe I'll I'll ask the player relations guys and see if I voted the last couple years or not and see if they'll they'll tell me if I voted or not but just thinking of what I would do this year I think since I'm in the running I probably would just refrain from voting I think it'd be a bit weird to vote for myself all right Scotty thank you good luck this week all right thanks y'all f