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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONSNovember 6, 2014Rickie FowlerSHANGHAI, CHINA Q. Your third year here, I know you haven't really seen the tournament grow from its early stages, but it has grown, hasn't it? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, first year I was here was in 2010. This is my third time here. Just in those few years, I've seen the area around here grow and the tournament grow. So it's been cool to see that and I know from when they started, they turned this event into probably the biggest event in Asia. It's obviously a great field and excited to be here to start my 2015 season. Q. 3‑under, good score? RICKIE FOWLER: I came in kind of with not many expectations, coming off some weeks off and enjoyed some free time at home. It's nice to be back in competition, in contention, and I'm excited about the way I started. Q. Are you heading back to the practice green to work on anything? RICKIE FOWLER: No, I'll probably sign some autographs, go stop to the Rolex tent and say hi to a few friends there and grab some food and rest up for tomorrow. Q. The guys talked about the rough being rougher this year. Did you find it, as well? RICKIE FOWLER: The rough is very rough. I drove the ball well today. Hit a lot of fairways. I think I only missed two. That made things a lot easier for me out there. But it is a premium to putt it on the fairway and glad I was able to stay in the short grass today. Q. Nice return for the first day? RICKIE FOWLER: It is. I had some weeks off after Ryder Cup and came in here with not many expectations, just trying to start off the season and see if we can get a good, solid week together and see where the game stands and what we need to work on moving forward. Solid start, drove the ball well and had a couple 3‑putts on the back nine that I would like to get rid of those throughout the week. All in all, solid round and good start. Q. Birdie, birdie start, that helps. RICKIE FOWLER: Coming out of the gate, I made a great putt on 10, my first hole and hit one close on 11. So it was a nice way to start and you know, played pretty solidly out there. It was nice to make a putt on my 17th hole, No. 8, the par5. Nice to come in with some positives. The course did play tough today. A little bit of breeze, just enough to affect the ball, sidewind and into the wind. Looked like Graeme played nicely today and got around pretty well. Yeah, it is showing that it's playing a bit tougher. Fairways are at a premium and don't want to be in the rough. Q. What you want at a WGC course? RICKIE FOWLER: This is a top event. Some of the best players in the world, probably the best field you're going to get in Asia, and you don't want it to be a pushover. You want a good, solid test and it's showing that. Q. Can you see a score for yourself out there? RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, if you play a good, solid round of golf, I think you can get to maybe seven or eight for a day but to continue that on for three more days, it's going to be tough. A little will depend on the weather. I know there's possible rain this weekend. We'll see how the course tends to play but the rough is not going to change. That's going to be tough. See if we can keep putting together solid rounds and get ourselves in contention for Sunday. Q. How many guys are playing better than you lately, the last few months? RICKIE FOWLER: Obviously Rory, the way he played in the summer. Seems like Stenson has been playing quite well for the past little over a year. Kaymer has been playing well. Q. Maybe the last couple months, three months, four months. RICKIE FOWLER: I've played very solid since June. I feel like I really turned the corner after Memorial. I got some good work in on the golf course, even though I was missing the cut and I feel like I went in to Memphis with kind of a different mind‑set and then obviously played very well through the summer. So as far as who is playing better, golf's golf. You never know. That's a day‑to‑day basis. You look at match play for that, basically. But that I've cracked the Top‑10 in the World Rankings and to be in the Top‑10 in the world is pretty special and see if I can keep moving forward. Q. You came in with less expectations, but has to be nice to see after taking a couple weeks off, the form is still there. RICKIE FOWLER: It felt nice out there. I was hitting shots off the center of the face. A couple off‑line but some areas that I can work on this week and kind of clean things up. I had a couple of putts that I shouldn't have missed but like I said, don't want to get everything‑‑ you don't want to have a perfect round to start. It's nice to have some areas where you feel like you can improve and I feel like I did really good with that last year through the Majors. I kept improving on a day‑to‑day basis and kind of cleaning things up, so if I can do that this week, if I continue the trend, it would be good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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