	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2014

Rickie Fowler

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

MIKE WOODCOCK: We're pleased to welcome in Rickie Fowler back into the interview room. Rickie, that was another 4-under par, 68 today, a good round. That leaves you six shots off the lead, in second place going into tomorrow's final round. How satisfied are you with the way you're playing?

RICKIE FOWLER: I'm definitely satisfied with the game. I got off to a great start today through 12 holes. I was playing very solidly, and looking to draw on that tomorrow. I had two tee shots that slipped away from me a little bit on the back nine and one approach shot on 17. Three of those definitely cost me the three shots coming in. Looking forward to, definitely, like I said, pulling off the start I had today. Because playing with Rory, being six back, same position I was today. If I'm able to go out and get off to a good start, maybe I can put a little bit of pressure on him, because he's definitely in control of the golf tournament right now.

Q. Is it a sense of frustration that it might have been a good bit better? And what will your approach be tomorrow, what will your game plan be tomorrow? Attack?
RICKIE FOWLER: Same game plan as the past three days. We ended up having some pretty good weather today with what it could have been. I'm definitely satisfied with where I'm at. Bad swings happen and it's just unfortunate that I kind of strung a few of those together and it cost me a couple of shots coming in. But I feel that I've given myself room for improvement every day. And I've kind of gone out and taken advantage of that and improved little by little. Unfortunately did make those rough swings coming in. But I've been swinging great. It's my second final group in a major, coming off the U.S. Open. I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and see if I can put the same start on Rory as I did today.

Q. Do you think you still would have ended up working with Butch if you hadn't missed the cut at last year's Open or was that the incident?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I would have ended up with Butch. It was only a matter of time. It was just at that point I wanted to have a little bit of guidance and start heading -- I wanted to start moving forward. I was kind of at a standstill and wasn't getting what I wanted out of my game. It was just pretty much a matter of time. Definitely, definitely happy with what we've been doing.

Q. Phil said that when you play with him he's never seen you hit your long irons as well or your irons as well as you have. What's behind that? Why are you hitting them better?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm definitely delivering the club properly. My swing is a lot more efficient than it's ever been. It's less effort. It's more based on body rotation than timing and hands. It's fun being Phil's partner on Tuesday. We had a real good time with that. It's a great way to warm up for events. But it's also fun to be in front of him and try and impress him, because he's not easily impressed.

Q. You've done a fair bit of playing with Rory. Can you talk about your relationship with him. What the atmosphere will be like between the two of you tomorrow?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, we've traveled a bit together between tournaments. We both live down in Jupiter, Florida. He spends a bit of time down there. And we first played against each other at the Walker Cup in '07 and it's kind of gone from there. So I'm looking forward to it tomorrow. It's going to be a good time. We're good buddies and at the same time we both want to beat up on each other as bad as possible. We'll have fun throwing shots back and forth. And it will be fun to see if I can go out and put a bit of pressure on him and make him earn it a bit, and see if I can get myself in the mix, and maybe we'll be able to throw some blows back and forth.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICKIE FOWLER: It was just a matter of time. But in '07 you're never really sure about what's going to happen in the future. He was definitely the young star over here. And I was one of the young stars from the U.S. But in the past couple of years, seeing what he's been doing, obviously he has two majors already. He's a bit out in front of me right now. It was just a matter of time before the two of us found a way to sneak into a final group together.

Q. Can you talk about the confidence you now have working with Butch and how that's maybe changed the way you play?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, a year ago here, talking about when I first hit with Butch, I was definitely probably at a confidence low as far as looking at my whole game. Maybe there was week to week that one thing would stand out and I'd be able to go with that. But right now I'm definitely able to come in the majors and go into each week believing in myself and believing in my game and believing in what I'm working on with Butch. And that gives me so much confidence knowing that I'm working, I believe, with the best coach there is in golf. And to see the preparation that we've done, the amount of work we've put in to prepare -- to be in positions at majors this year, and to see it actually pay off. It just keeps building confidence for myself. So this year, with how comfortable I felt in the majors, it's not even close to the past few years. It's kind of hard to explain. It doesn't feel like a big stage. It feels like I'm supposed to be here.

Q. Referring to Phil again, how much have you gleaned from him, not just on those Tuesday practice rounds, but even off-the-course things? Can you talk a little bit about that as you've kind of seen how he operates with the public and how he handles things emotionally.
RICKIE FOWLER: I've learned a lot from Phil. He's kind of been like, hate to say it, but like a dad out here. I'm sure he doesn't like hearing that, but he knows he's a little older than I am. It's been a lot of fun being around him, like I said. Not just playing on Tuesday, but having dinner with him and the guys. I've flown with him a couple of times and just being around weeks with him. And seeing, like you said, how he operates on and off the golf course, how he treats his fans. He's very well respected. So I want to try and be like him in a lot of those ways with how he's able to treat his fans. I've gone to not signing on the golf course during practice rounds. That's something I got from Phil. There's times you've got to work, and there's times where you're able to go after the round and spend 30 minutes or so and sign for fans and give them our full attention then. And then how he sets up the schedule and time management, whether it's media, to sponsor days. I've definitely learned the most from Phil.

Q. As someone who was in almost this exact same position a month ago at Pinehurst, what was that atmosphere like? With such a large lead, did you feel that people liked the competition? What was that like?
RICKIE FOWLER: I definitely enjoyed the week at Pinehurst. With it being my best finish in a major, by far the most comfortable I'd ever felt in a major. Going and being able to look back on that and see how the day went and knowing that -- obviously Martin had a big lead, but if I was able to go out and shoot two or three under on the front nine, the tournament could have been a lot different. There just wasn't really any pressure put on Martin. And obviously he had a very, very solid week, and was a very deserving champion. Now, tomorrow if I can go out and learn from what I did there at the U.S. Open and try and get off to a bit of a better start, maybe I'm able to put a bit of pressure on Rory, and maybe we can get into a fun little match come the back nine.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Rickie, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. Best of luck tomorrow.

RICKIE FOWLER: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297