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THE BARCLAYSAugust 20, 2014Rickie FowlerPARAMUS, NEW JERSEY KELLY BARNES: Rickie, thank you for joining us in the interview room. You're on quite a hot streak heading into the Playoffs. Why don't you just talk about your chances this week. RICKIE FOWLER: I think I obviously have to feel good about my chances. It's been a great summer for me. The preparation for the majors and the way I've played in the majors has been something to look back on and I'm definitely proud of it. Would have been nice to get a win, but to be one of three guys to ever finish top five in all four majors is something I'll be able to look back on for the rest of my life. And obviously building confidence of those coming into the Playoffs and really haven't had a great run in the Playoffs before, so I'm looking forward to getting off to a good start here and seeing if I can keep moving up on the FedExCup points list and have some fun at East Lake golf course. Q. Most guys who have won Majors always say that you have to come close first, that they had to come close first before they could do it. Is that something you can take heart in or is that a little bit too difficult to assimilate when you haven't yet won? RICKIE FOWLER: No, I can definitely see exactly what they are talking about. Sunday at Augusta, I probably wasn't the most comfortable as far as a Sunday setting and having a chance to win. It was great to be there and be in contention but to be able to relate how I felt Sunday there versus Sunday at the PGA, it was a completely different experience. Sunday at the PGA, I actually felt like I was in a position where I could win the golf tournament, knew I had the game to go do it. Unfortunately I just wasn't able to hit the shots as close as I wanted to and execute the way I wanted to. But from all four, from the Masters to the U.S. Open to the British and then to the PGA, each time I felt more and more comfortable in the situation, and other than ended up finishing third, I would have been possibly tied for second with Phil, it would have been a better finish each time. I think it was kind of a showing of how I felt under the gun in the situation and being in contention at a major. I felt great on Sunday there. Like I said, kind of unfortunate I wasn't able to give myself some better looks on the back nine. Q. You talk about being in contention and the factor of comfort that comes with it. How much does that help you going into the next time you find yourself in a situation in contention like that? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, any time you can put yourself in a situation, whether it's maybe a match money game at home to get some of juices flowing to a week leading up to a tournament, playing, and checking some things under pressure and being at an actual golf tournament; and then actually being in contention on a consistent basis, makes it‑‑ nothing surprises you. You feel comfortable in the situation. So I felt like I was able to do that with the majors and put myself in similar positions, and come the PGA, nothing shocked me. I felt right at home and was ready to go out and play golf. Q. Keeping on that theme a little bit, with the way you've played this year and especially in the Majors, do you feel like the golf gods sort of owe you a little something? RICKIE FOWLER: It's always nice to have maybe a good bounce on my side somewhere. I have played well. Especially at the U.S. Open and the British, I had two guys that really out‑played the field with Rory and Kaymer. Bubba and Jordan kind of got off early at the Masters and distanced themselves a little bit. Yeah, I really felt like I had it at the PGA and that was, like I explained that Sunday, that was the one that really hurt the most. Unfortunately I have to wait all the way until the Masters to really have another shot, but it's going to kind of keep me working as far as working towards being in that position again and putting myself in that position on Sunday. Q. How things were handled on 18 on Sunday evening at Valhalla, what are your thoughts on that now, a week and a half later, and have they changed since then? RICKIE FOWLER: Still the same. The guys came up on the tee and told‑‑ I was okay with Rory and hitting up off the tee and checked with Phil prior to them doing that and he was okay that. But we had no intentions or didn't say anything or was going to allow them to hit their second shots into the green, so I'm not sure where the guys at the PGA got that idea. You know, I still haven't talked to‑‑ I know Ted Bishop wanted to get in touch. I know he talked to Phil just to go over some things. But it is what it is and kind of unfortunate. It would have been nice to hit my putt and have a little bit of a better look at it. But, you know, Rory's played a great summer. Not saying that it would have changed the outcome of the tournament, but maybe a little bit of the flow of the way everything happened on the last hole. Q. What in your explanation accounts for just how well you've played in all the majors what is different for you that just seems to click so well in the majors? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, if you look back at the work I've put in, on and off the golf course, as far as practice and prep leading up, working with Butch and cleaning some things up in the swing, and a lot of my work done the weeks leading up to the Majors, especially the week prior, playing in tournaments, kind of going through a bit of a checklist to make sure my game is where I want it; that way when I show up the week of a major, game is basically in check and I can go figure out the golf course and go through more of my mental approach. So I think I've been a lot more prepared to go tee it up Thursday than I ever have, and actually during the tournaments, my mental process before each shot has been a lot better and I've been able to kind of step into every shot, a few here and there where I don't fully commit. But just I think a lot of the mental process and then actually believing in the swing stuff that Butch and I have been working on. Q. You mentioned the summer that Rory has had and the majors he has to this point. We often write about golf with rivalries and different one‑on‑ones, with Tiger and Phil or whatever it might be; do you feel like you're worthy rivals or do you yourself feel like you need to break through with one major before the world would see it that way or what do you think about that? RICKIE FOWLER: I would say Rory is definitely a step ahead of me or two or four Majors. I definitely have some work to do but there is a potential of him and I being able to play against each other for a long time to come, both being the same age. He turned pro a little bit before me, and like I said, he's won a few more times than me. But it's going to be fun. We've got some good, young players right now. Obviously you can include Jordan in the mix and Patrick with a few wins and keep going down the list. There's a lot of guys under 30 years old in the Top‑50 in the world right now. So as far as Rory and I sticking out as two, I think Rory is kind of out on his own right now and we'll see if a few of us can rack up some more wins. I think I said it after the British Open, him and I playing in the final group, it wasn't going to be the last time him and I were in the final group together or battling for a major down the stretch. Q. Adam was in and he said, man, I thought I would certainly win more Majors after winning the Masters last year and seven have gone by, and looking at Rory and the way he's going, we all have to step up to the plate or he's just going to get so much confidence and just run away. Does Rory's run sort of put everybody on notice to make changes, make improvements, make adjustments just to stay on pace with him? RICKIE FOWLER: Not necessarily. I mean, everyone knows that he's playing well and I think a lot of it can be looked at in his driving. He's been driving the ball very well this summer and a lot of confidence from that kind of bleeds into the rest of his game. But as far as changes and everything, I mean, nothing that needs to be forced. I think everyone is trying to work on things here, every day, every week, to try and get better. I'm not going to change what I've done the past six months or look back and say I didn't do enough. But like I said, I think everyone's always trying to look for the ways to get better, and I don't see Rory changing anyone's outlook as far as needing to do anything specifically different. Q. Fearlessness from all the Major winners, especially the last three, the way they played fearlessly, is that the way to kind of win these big events now, just to play with reckless fearlessness? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, fearless‑‑ can't play reckless, but fearless, yes, you can't be afraid. You have to be ready to be in the moment and go hit the golf shot that you need to hit. Whether that's playing safe to the right part of the green and just hitting aggressive shot there or actually going after some pins and making many birdies; depends on the situation. But yeah, you have to be fearless. You have to believe in yourself, have that confidence and not be afraid of a possible bad swing or making mistakes. Those are going to happen. But when you start worrying about those and showing fear, you're going to go downhill. You play without fear and accept that some challenges and some mistakes are going to happen and you're going to be a lot better off. Q. What do you think of the presentation of the golf course this week this? RICKIE FOWLER: Golf course looks great this week. Today is the first time I've seen it this week. I did a couple outings earlier this week with a couple of my sponsors and today was great. I thought the golf course was pretty much perfect. I mean, it has a chance, as long as we don't get any rain, really, to firm up and play pretty tough this week. It's got some good rough. You've got to drive the ball well. There was a few spots, depending on what lies you get, how matted down it gets, but today, if you had the ball sat down, you struggled to get a wedge on the green from 120, 130 yards. So unless you happen to get a good lie or the rough gets matted down, it's going to be tough to play out of the rough, and, yeah, I didn't really see anything that was really wrong with the golf course today. Q. Given how you've played in Majors this year, where does the FedExCup sort of fit into it from the standpoint of, can playing well the next few weeks or playing well in the FedExCup, can that take the sting out of not winning a major championship and coming close? Can it sort of change maybe the whole year for you? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I would definitely like to get a win. You know, playing well in the majors definitely gave me confidence going in. I've played okay in the Playoffs but nothing great. I want to stay on top of form. I know four weeks in a row is going to be a bit of a stretch. Coming to East Lake, those 30 guys, I know it will be kind of survival of the fittest in a way. It will be a fun stretch but I'm looking forward to trying to play well all the way through. I'll probably have‑‑ it would be nice to have a little bit of time off early next week with a little bit of a break in there. That's really all we'll get. But a win or possibly having a chance on Sunday at East Lake with a chance for everything there, it would be kind of icing on top of the cake for a pretty solid year for me. Q. If you think back to when you turned pro, how different a person are you now and how different of a golfer are you now? What are some of the things that you feel like have changed or made you more prepared to break through in the majors? RICKIE FOWLER: As far as who I am, I don't feel like I've changed much. I've grown up a little bit. I feel a lot more comfortable out here, a lot more mature and golf game has matured a lot, especially in this last year. I think the biggest thing is looking back at how I felt in the Majors, four or five years ago, versus what I do now. I mean, I played my first major in 2008, so to look back to where I was as an amateur and as I progressed through the past few years, I still kind of feel like I'm a kid but as far as my golf game goes, I've definitely matured quite a bit and most of that has happened in the last year. KELLY BARNES: Thank you, Rickie. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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