A look at some of the questions (and answers) posed to the marquee players after the second round of the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, where Xander Schauffele leads by two shots at 13-under par.
Players featured include Schauffele, Justin Rose, Tony Finau, and Tiger Woods.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE
1st: 63-64 (-13)
Xander, I guess I’ll break the seal here, there’s one more Ryder Cup pick, obviously. How much are you thinking about that and do you think this is a good place to kind show off for the Captain a little bit?
SCHAUFFELE: You know, it’s all a result. Obviously I thought a lot more about it the past couple of weeks.
You know, I’m sort of in a position where I feel like a win is the only way I’d even be in consideration. I mean Tony obviously is the guy right now. He just shot 64 as well. He’s not making it easy on anyone else trying to get on that team. So, you know, hats off to him for playing really well.
JUSTIN ROSE
2nd: 66-63 (-11)
Do you know Xander Schauffele?
ROSE: He’s a great player. I played a bit of golf with him the last couple seasons. Love the way he plays, love his temperament. Good putter, drives the ball far.
This golf course is suiting him now. It’s a golf course that suits a lot of guys if you can fly it 295, 300 in the air, really kind of opens out in certain areas and with the soft conditions guys are having short irons. Comes down to putter.
Xander is a very confident and aggressive putter. The greens being slow-ish is probably making that a good thing.
TONY FINAU
T8: 68-64 (-8)
As a Nike athlete, what do you think of the recent campaign?
FINAU: Definitely stands out. I’m proud to be a Nike athlete and be associated with them. They’ve been great to me. The feeling is pretty mutual.
As far as Kaepernick and all that is concerned, we all have freedom of speech; using it in a way that’s non-violent which is something you have to respect as an American.
TIGER WOODS
T20: 62-70 (-8)
Tiger is 7-under through 10. Does it feel like you missed the cut by like 20 when you’re playing next to him?
WOODS: Anybody that’s tearing it up and they’re 5, 6-under the first round, it’s not going to be — you’re sitting there, it’s an easy golf course. The second you try and force something here into these pins you end up making bogies. You don’t force anything, there’s not a whole lot of bogies out there.
You play the par-3s the right way and play to the fat parts when you’re out of position you should make pars. So, I thought I did a really good job kind of just talking to myself, being patient, not getting upset with the fact that you hear roars everywhere and obviously with Tiger and Rickie both playing well.
I thought today was a really, really good test for me mentally and I did a good job finishing up.
Credit: Getty Images, Fastscripts
