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PGA Tour: Xander Schauffele Speaks Following Playoff loss at 2020 Tournament of Champions

Post tournament interview with runner up finisher Xander Schauffele at the PGA Tour’s 2020 Tournament of Champions.

Q. What a day for you. How would you describe the emotions of this playoff?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, windy. Very up and down. I was happy with the way I played in regulation. I should have won the tournament. I know it. Everyone knows it. I mean, J.T. was right there, but under the circumstances I should have closed it off, and I didn’t. I kind of did everything I was supposed to do until the last moment, which sucks. But this is another learning experience, and I guess I’ll have to work on some wind putting.

Q. Can you walk me through that putt in regulation?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I think I got gusted, honestly. On the initial putt, it went — I honestly thought it was going to go like four feet by, but it caught some speed, and once it started breaking right with the wind, it kept going. I was so convinced that it was going to go back right to left coming back up the hill, but it really wasn’t going to do that. It was just bad.

Q. You mentioned a learning experience. What will be your takeaway from this week?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I can win. I think that’s pretty plain and simple. I’m good enough to hang with the best, and I just need to be a little bit smarter when the time is right and able to close it out.

Q. Heck of a defense today. I know you’re disappointed, but it looked like you kind of fought back on the back nine. What turned it around for you there?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it was windy. That stretch of holes J.T. went 4- or 5-under through, I’d like to see anyone else try it. He was hitting ridiculous shots, making good putts in the wind, and he deserved the lead he got, and I just kept telling Austin let’s play smart, stay patient. We finished last year with a bunch of birdies, and we were able to do the same this year.

Q. You had a couple of chances in regulation and then in the playoff. Just tough putts there at 18?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it was kind of stupid on my part. I trusted the wind a lot. I got gusted a little bit on that first putt and was convinced that it was right to left kind of coming back even though it was a pretty straight putt. I was a little dumbfounded when I missed the hole by half a cup. If I had maybe took a little more time, maybe called Austin in, just stuff in the moment that I wasn’t really aware of. I was doing great all day until probably that moment. Same thing in the playoff. I was kind of spooked by my first putt going so far by, I left my playoff putt 25 feet short. It was just childish, and you try to learn from it.

Q. How would you assess how the day played out today?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I’m happy for the most part. J.T. sort of had a little present there on 18. I think I’m more than capable of two-putting from about 35 feet. Obviously it was a little windy. My downhill, downwind putts today I’ve hit by all day, so why not do it again to try and win the tournament. It was just a little childish, I think. I think I held on pretty decent. J.T. had an incredible stretch of golf through some difficult holes to gain a lead, and I started birdieing the easier holes to try and claw back into it, and it was a whirlwind day.

Q. You’ve won a lot of golf tournaments, but you’ve also had your fair share of disappointments. How disappointing is this one?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I think that’s the problem, I haven’t really won enough. I’ve only won four tournaments. It would have been nice to be a little more mature at the right time, sort of assessing the wind and the downhill speed. Just realizing that I’ve been hitting it long all day. I didn’t think about it at all and I managed to hit my winning putt eight feet by and then misreading the second one due to the wind. Just sort of a rookie move trying to close out a tournament, and I’ll definitely try to draw back on this in a positive way when the time is right.

Q. That also begs the question, what positives do you take out of this week?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, that I can win. I think I’m plenty good. I don’t see why I shouldn’t keep playing great golf. This sucks. Maybe I need just a kick in the ass to sort of wake up and do the right things most of the time. Yeah, this kind of burns a little bit, but overall happy with how I handled myself.

Q. I think it’s the first time since ’99 and Tiger that someone has gotten that close to their two title defenses. Can you just run through obviously being so close?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, just sort of a rookie move. I think my awareness — in all honesty I was pretty calm all day. I didn’t feel much nerves. The first time I sort of felt nerves was walking down 18, which is different than the past, so that’s a good sign if I’m trying to find the positives. If I was more aware I would have realized that I’ve blown all my downhill, downwind putts, and Austin told me it’s going to be a helping wind once the ball starts breaking with the wind, it’s going to start moving, and I kind of got gusted. I thought it was going to be like three, four feet by and it ended up going six or seven with that extra trickle. It was just sort of a rookie move, not really being aware of where I was and what I did in the past, I guess.

Q. How proud are you of the way you fought back today?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it was just comfortable again. I just needed someone to get out ahead of me so I could chase them down. I mean, if you look at the stretch of holes J.T. went birdieing through, it was an unbelievable stretch of holes. 9 is a birdie hole, 10 was tricky, 11 was tricky. All those downwind holes are so tricky. I thought J.T. played an incredible stretch of golf through that stretch. I wasn’t too worried about it. I was waiting for my turn.

January 5, 2020

Kapalua, Maui, Hawai

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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Professionals

PGA Tour: Justin Thomas speaks on his Tournament of Champions victory

Post tournament interview with Tournament of Champions 2020 winner Justin Thomas talking his 12th PGA Tour victory.

PGA Tour: Winner Interview Tournament of Champions Champion

RACHEL NOBLE: We’d like to welcome 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions winner Justin Thomas to the interview room. Justin, thoughts on how that all played out.

JUSTIN THOMAS: I don’t really know, to be honest. My adrenaline is kind of wearing off, so I’m tired, I don’t know what happened, but all I know is I played — I mean, really 16 I feel like I didn’t play that poorly. I hit a great drive, just the wind got it, took it a little farther and a 70-yard bunker shot is not exactly easy, but I played 16 holes about as good as I could have played them in those conditions. I felt like I had total control of the tournament. I was doing everything well, and just kind of got between clubs on 17, made a great putt there for par, and then 18 was a terrible drive that left me on a steep, steep downslope and hit the wrong club, but we got lucky to where we had a chance and even more lucky that we were given more chances, and fortunate enough to get it done.

Q. Talk about that final shot you hit.
JUSTIN THOMAS: In the playoff? Yeah, I had 113 hole, and we just — it was kind of a — that pin is so weird because you can do so many different things, and that’s kind of what I said to Jimmy. The wind was kind of quartering down and off the right so I either needed to hit something high and cutting that flew the slope to have some spin or I needed to hit something driving with a little bit more left to right on it to land up on that top shelf and roll down. I just felt like — although it was actually funny, the first thing Jimmy said was, “What do you think is the safest?” I said, We’re 113 yards, I need to make birdie; I’m not worried about what the safest play is, like we need to make 4.

Just for me I felt like my best chance was going to be to hit a cut sand wedge and we were trying to fly it about eight short, so that was playing I felt like about 95, so I just tried to hit a 95 cut sand wedge, and it looked like it was pretty close to going in.

Q. Loft on it was what?
JUSTIN THOMAS: 57 degrees.

Q. They say that you can learn more from a loss than a win, but I feel like this might be a win that you’ll take a lot away from. Can you speak to that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, you should take something from every round, but yeah, it just was such a bizarre way for it to finish. I mean, something about this place I seem to have the tournament pretty well under control, and then I hit it in a hazard, on 15 and 17 I did it. But as long as it ends up the way it did, then I’m fine with it. But yeah, it was — I feel like I’ll be able to — once early next week or after next week, I’ll be able to kind of sit back and maybe think of some stuff we could have done differently.

Q. As a huge positive, 12 wins now, the most for anyone who’s currently in their 20s on TOUR, and I think you just took over Jordan’s spot there. Talk about the accomplishment of having so many wins.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, personally it’s not an accomplishment getting to 12. It’s an accomplishment winning today, but I’ll have fun with my family and celebrate it tonight, and next week we try to get 13.

Q. Curious about the pitch shot to the right of the green on the first playoff hole I guess it was. Of the three guys, you looked like you were least likely to —
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I was definitely in the worst position. I was praying that that ball stayed in the fairway so I could get my hands on it. I didn’t have a very good number on the second shot. It was a 3-wood — if I just pured that 3-wood, if I hit it like that it had no chance, and I couldn’t get a 5-wood there. So I tried to kind of cut a 3-wood, which is hard to do downhill, ball above your feet, and I hit it on the screws. So when it went over, it just — we went back there and I saw where it was, and I was like, you know, Jimmy, what do you like here, what are you thinking, and we kind of both agreed that we felt like a sand wedge was going to be best because less bounce and it wasn’t going to dig as much, and it was very grainy and wet. I had the wind to my advantage where as long as I hit it hard enough to the left the wind was going to take it down, and man, when it was rolling I thought it had a really good chance to go in. But it was one of the better shots and definitely the best chip I’ve hit this week.

Q. Earlier in the week we sat here and you talked about, yeah, I definitely should have won more, I’m a little disappointed. Here you are winning more. I guess I’m trying to just gauge how that feels in light of what you said earlier in the week.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, right now it’s — I don’t know. It’s been a pretty bizarre last two hours. But yeah, I mean, kind of like Ben said earlier asking about the winning and losing, I feel like I’ll be able to really take a lot from this once I figure out what it was or whatever it might be. But yeah, I mean, it —

Q. Winning is winning?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Exactly, yeah. It’s always nice no matter how it’s done.

Q. Two things on 18 in regulation, a nice moment to reflect on. On the second shot you had, did you hit a bad shot or was it a bad lie?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was a really bad lie. It was the wrong club. I should have hit a 5-wood. It just — I had no chance to get it to the green. The only good thing about a 3-wood was that it was going to cover more if I slightly pulled it, not hit it as far left as I did. But I mean, as steep as — the thing is the farther down you get it, the flatter it is. I hit that drive so bad and so far off the toe that I didn’t get it far enough down to be flat. It just was — with a one-shot lead that was so stupid. I would have been better off hitting a 6-iron than a 3-wood. It doesn’t make sense.

If I just would have made 4 there I would have won the tournament in regulation. Obviously if I made 5 I would have, but standing on 18 tee, I’m like, we make 4 we’re probably going to win this thing, and boy, I botched it up pretty badly.

Q. I know some things take a while to digest, but after you missed the eight-footer and you’re off to the green with head bowed and hat off, are you already digesting the pain of throwing one away?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, for sure. It’s so weird. Xander had to go through the same thing I did with the wind on that putt. It really is not a hard putt. It’s probably the two easiest putts that you could get to that pin. Xander’s was probably straight, maybe left edge, and mine was right edge, something like that. But because of that wind, you know, the wind kind of picked up on mine and went low and the wind stopped on his and that’s why his broke. Same with Patrick’s putt on the last hole. There’s no wind there, that thing goes in the dead center. It’s just — I don’t know. I really don’t know how I won today. I got very fortunate.

Q. After what happened on the last in regulation, were you at all worried about your second shot on the final playoff hole?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I wasn’t worried. I don’t like that second shot. I fat it once a year. I fatted it like twice this year. Something about it, it’s just — I like working the ball left to right, and you need to work that thing right to left, and for me if I try to draw it, my miss is going to be a little bit behind it, and then when you’ve got a huge slope behind you, it’s really behind it. I mean, I had a perfect 5-wood number and a perfect lie, I thought, in the last playoff hole and I fatted a 5-wood again. I don’t know what it is about that hole, but apparently I need more than a one shot lead, I know that.

Q. Along those same lines, have you ever played the same hole four times in a row in a tournament that you ended up winning or even ever?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No, definitely not. I know it was the worst hole we could have possibly played to try to beat daylight. We picked a 680-yard par-5 with the wind blowing 30. I think a 200-yard hole we could have got in maybe five or six times. I was saying that to Jimmy, walking down the last playoff hole, I was like, man, this is a pretty bad hole to play when you’re trying to beat daylight.

Q. You won this tournament back in 2017, arguably your best year, you won the PGA that year. How do you feel after winning this tournament this year compared to winning it in 2017?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don’t know, I mean, they’re very different. I was in a little different stage of my career then. Not that one win was better than the other or felt better. They’re both tremendous accomplishments and huge for me, but that was a long time ago, and they were both done differently. This one was a lot more stress and a lot more hard-fought. So I’m probably a little bit more tired, a little bit more exhausted after this one. But they both ended with the correct result, which is nice.

Q. Should we expect a 59 on Thursday?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I hope so. Tell me where to sign, I’ll take it right now.

Q. I know you have to digest it, but you hopefully will push this through —
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I’m not — I haven’t thought about anything next week yet. I’m just trying to figure out where I’m going to stay tonight because I missed my flight and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a room around here, and we’ll get there tomorrow, and then once tomorrow gets settled then we’ll worry about Sony.

Q. This may be a little bit repetitious, but what’s the emotion because you don’t seem — like I’m sure you’re happy you won, but is there more other emotions like relief and so forth that are sort of mixed into that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it is. It’s just a lot. It was really hard today. If you went out there and played 18 holes in that, like you’d be tired at the end of the day just for how hard it was.

Q. And the 40 extra shots.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I wasn’t going to bring that up. But trying to win a golf tournament and the grind and then just the emotions and how I was winning and then I was barely winning and then I was losing and then I barely got in a playoff — just that takes a lot out of you. I probably don’t seem as elated as I might be or as I would hope to be.

But it’ll just take a little bit. Once I get back to the hotel hopefully with my family, I’ll be able to enjoy it a little bit and we’ll talk about it. But yeah, relief is definitely a word that comes to mind. But still very happy.

Q. You’ve had obviously a nice run since it started in Malaysia, but just curious, as much as you won, do you think it’s underrated the fact that you’re guaranteed coming back next year? Do you think about stuff like that?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I was stressing last year. I only had five or six events left to try to get in, and yeah, there’s no — that’s the first thing I said to Jimmy on 18 after we won, I said, “We’re coming back.” I mean, I don’t know. I guess everybody feels differently about this event because some guys don’t come, families, whatever it might be, but man, I love starting the year here. It’s a pretty nice feeling.

Q. I know you’re in the moment, you’ve still got a big putt left, but as a competitor what’s it like when you hear someone scream out “cheater” after Patrick hits?JUSTIN THOMAS: Did someone do that?

Q. Never mind. I retract the question.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I didn’t hear.

Q. You didn’t notice that at all?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Uh-uh.

Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

January 5, 2020

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports