A lot of times fans will get frustrated with athletes for giving the same old, same old answers in interviews or press conferences after competition.
That wasn’t the case with Xander Schauffele after Sunday’s final round of the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
The talk of the weekend at the PGA Tour’s annual stop in San Diego surrounded Patrick Reed (and later Rory McIlroy) and a situation with an embedded ball during Saturday’s round.
“I mean, he did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there,” said Schauffele, who didn’t search for video of Reed’s situation but heard players talking about it. “Obviously the talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess, but he’s protected by the (PGA) Tour and that’s all that matters, I guess.”
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When asked if he’d ever ran into a similar situation on the course, Schauffele’s response was direct and to the point: “I would not put myself and create a situation like that.
“If my ball’s embedded, I usually will wait and call someone and kind of wait until everyone’s on the same page, wait to look at video,” he continued. “So I try to avoid situations like that just for that reason.”
The San Diego native finished in a five-way tie for second at 9 under, five strokes behind Reed.
Lanto Griffin, who finished T-7 alongside Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris, was also asked about Reed’s embedded ball situation, saying “it’s tough to see, it’s sad, kind of pisses us off, but it’s the way it is. Hopefully something changes and come to a conclusion.”
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