Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele preview 'brand new' East Lake | Golf Central | Golf Channel

golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Apex Irons from Callaway Scotty for the third consecutive year enters the Tour Championship at number one in the FedEx Cup standings uh Scotty obviously a great year this year with six victories and uh the addition at the of the gold medal at the Olympic Games can we just get an opening comment from you on your return here to Eastlake um yeah it's good to be back the uh yeah it's could to be back um in a nice position going into the the week um yeah it's good to be back here at East Lake you know it's obviously everybody's goal at the beginning of the year is to have a chance and going in in the first spot you know no better opportunity than than where I'm sitting so I'm looking forward to the week all right we'll take some questions out here if you have a question we'll get a microphone to you we'll start with Mark in the front Scotty what are your thoughts on the uh the renovation what do you like about it maybe not um it's definitely interesting I mean it's a it's a basically new golf course from what it was before it's um not really at all the same um the greens since they're new or extremely firm which I think makes it more challenging it'll be tough to access some the whole locations and I think the that we'll have a bit to learn in terms of golf course setup um but overall we'll see how it plays it's it's so new right now that it's really hard to tell exactly how um all I know is it's just it's way different other questions Scott do some of the new grasses and and the fact that it is a completely different sort of uh test now benefit you a little bit uh over what it's been in the past yeah well I mean s a golf course I always really liked I felt like I hadn't played my best golf year and so coming here this year seeing a fresh golf course that I think is going to be really challenging I think will uh will suit me pretty well out there Steve all the way to the right yeah Scotty uh having left here the last two years in the same position without without winning it uh what what were your emotions and feelings at the ends of otherwise very successful seasons and what what might you do differently now to flip the switch um hopefully just make a few more birdies um more birdies and Bogies typically helps you know low scores um as far as the tournament goes you know treating it like every other event you know not focusing on the the starting Strokes or anything like that just going out there and trying to execute and do my best and um not really thinking too much about the results got one in the back there hey Scotty uh Andrew Green obviously revamped oakill BJ championship last year do you see any similarities to oakill from a year ago as to what you've seen already out there in the course yeah I think with the Contours of the greens and the way he shapes the greens a little bit more boxy and uh definitely the way he shapes some of the bunkers around the greens too you can definitely see a lot of the similarities like I felt like I could have looked at the yardage book from this golf course and known know exactly who did the redo Rex what was the most surprising anything just stand out to you as far as the golf course goes when saw it for the first time really the the thing that was most different is the firmness of the greens just um typically most of the greens out here slop back to front and you were um all into the Grain and so you weren't really playing for a lot of balance on many of these holes unless you're a really really long Club in um and now I mean it's they are extremely firm you know especially the part 3es the part 3es I think provide the most challenge because the run-ups to the short of the greens are still fairly soft and so if you land it short it's probably not going to be bouncing up and if you land on the green it kind of Just Hits and and goes and so there's going to be a real challenge to that you're going to have to hit some shots that are pretty extraordinarily high in order to hold these greens and I know we talked last week about Hadi having withdrawal with injury can you just talk about how difficult it is coming to the end of a long season it seems like everyone is dealing with something yeah I I would agree with that I think everybody's dealing with a little a little something at the end of the year um like you said it's been a long season um especially now with the way the new schedule is it's really is a Sprint to get here you know there's not really places in the schedule to take large breaks you know you have the beginning of the year where you're kind of getting you know warmed up in a sense even though you pretty much got to start the year ready to go but then you know March you have the players April Masters May PGA June Us open July you have the open championship and then you come to August and you got the FedEx playoffs so there's really not a time of the year where you're taking a break until for us after either the President's Cup or Rider cup and so it definitely is a lot of a Sprint and I'm sure people got little aches and pains but you know didn't didn't play all year to just get tired at East Lake and kind of just throwing the towel so um you know it's good competition this week I think uh the golf course is going to be pretty challenging and it should be a fun week what was your first impression of the new East L it's just new it it's uh firm it's fast uh needs to settle in it's it's a very very brand new I'm not huge in Agronomy but I've played some new courses before and they just play they're a little bouncy and you know however it was designed to be played it's going to be a little bit different you know for the first two years just because it hasn't settled in Steve yeah Zer given your your record here was there any part of you wanted to maybe throw yourself in front of a bulldozer here and stop stop all this uh 100% yeah and absolutely my caddy as well he probably would have gone first um um and what uh how does this I mean you know your record here is better than anyone's uh how does this uh affect that now it I mean it's just a new golf course I've uh kind of a half half glass half full guy so um I've played a lot of new new courses this year that I've done okay at um and this is a brand new property you know it's literally the bunkers are new the grass is new in the fairways the greens are new the greens on the the grass on the greens are new the runouts are different uh the slopes are different I think the only thing that's the same are the directions of the hole so whatever record I had is the past I have no memory or anything really on any hole to go off of um not even the tree I could aim at that I used to aim at you know it's just it's just that different so to me it's it's it's got the same name it's East Lake Golf Club um it's in the same property similar square footage but that's about it Kathy do you find that you'll be hitting longer clubs into the green for instance Victor hlin was telling us he hit I think it was two clubs longer certainly one into the first hole yeah do you do that on any other [Music] holes you try not to I understand without yeah I mean I'm trying to think I mean they they made 14 a par five this year so that's longer but it's you know it's a par five now versus a par four and I can't think off the top of my head but uh there's a few B Fairway bunkers at about 300 or 305 yards that if I'm feeling good I'm definitely going to try and take a a big wipe over them because it's a big advantage to come into the greens with a club that's spinning versus bouncing around that was kind of the point of my question thank you yeah can you please pass it to Alex Myers right in front right in front of you with Alex thank you hey Xander uh it looked like you spent a lot of time in the 18th Fairway kind of assessing the options and you notice that Scotty and Sam looked like they were kind of playing up 10 I wonder is that something that you've thought about and how much trickier is that hole going to play this year yeah I hit two drives up 10 actually I just uh didn't go and hit them and collect them um didn't hit the Fairway so it's uh yeah I spent time trying to hit balls out of the rough into that little sliver of a fairway uh for the layup area um I try to you know hit some drives over the tree on you know over on the 18th T I guess that tree right there uh it's a really small Fairway it's just plain and simple you know it kind of camers right down the middle too so if your ball's turning too much one way or the other it might roll into the rough and if you're going into the rough I mean I don't I don't think anyone on this property can hold a green hitting a lob wedge or sandwich out of the rough into the green uh unless it's a really long one that I haven't seen or with a a back stop but you need to be in the Fairway uh to do some damage out here