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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 16, 2015

Rickie Fowler

Lake Forest, Illinois

DOUG MILNE: Rickie Fowler, thanks for joining us for a few minutes prior to the start of the 2015 BMW Championship, making your sixth start in the event, top-5 finish in the tournament last year at Cherry Hills, and you're coming into the week fresh off a win, second of the year on the PGA TOUR, Deutsche Bank Championship. Congratulations there. With all that said, just a comment or two on being back here at Conway Farms.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, excited to be back here this week at Conway Farms, being that we played here two years ago. I played Canon Cup here in AJGA. The course is in great shape. Staying out of the rough will definitely help you out there, and it's nice to be coming off a win and a week off to follow that.

Got to celebrate and enjoy, relax a bit, and get some good practice in, and ready for this week and getting ready to put myself in good position for the TOUR Championship.

Q. What sort of career breakthrough would you say it was for you to win last week or week and a half ago?
RICKIE FOWLER: I would say it was a bonus on the year. It was nice to get the wins earlier this year, and it's been a good year as far as being able to get the door knocked down. Last year I put myself in positions to win, and this year I finally took care of business, and I've been able to rack up a few trophies.

Very confident in the game and how it's performed and turned out when I needed it to and in pressure-packed situations and down the stretch. Looking forward to the last two weeks of the year and seeing if I can put myself in similar positions. No reason why I can't continue to win.

Q. Now that you've got a handful of these wins, have you figured out how to kind of keep your foot on the gas pedal and keep going and playing well after them?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, the big thing being the patience side of it. I felt like I did a very good job of that at Deutsche Bank and just hanging around. I didn't have my best stuff or all around. It was a little spotty. One day something would be go and the next day it would be off. It was nice to be the putter working and the irons working good, but it was hit or miss with other things. Just the way I was able to continue to move forward and continue to hang in there felt really good.

Yeah, coming off of that and being back in a position where I like this golf course and I feel like I can play well here, the biggest thing is just not getting ahead of myself, staying patient this week. It is a small field and there's no cut, just get off to a good solid start tomorrow, and there's no reason why I can't be in a position to win the golf tournament come Sunday.

Q. Has there been any key reasons why you've performed so well coming down the stretch, PLAYERS, Scottish Open, Deutsche Bank?
RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like I've always played well in those positions before in junior and amateur golf, and I think a lot of the stuff that has helped is being in situations and Tuesday games with the guys and Phil where I've had to make birdies or go out and make something happen, whether it was in the last couple holes or on a specific hole, and since THE PLAYERS I now go back and think about that, whereas before it was thinking back to practice round matches in a way to try and get that boost of confidence mentally.

So now that I've got some memories to rely on in the real mix of things, it's nice to have that.

But I'm not sure how and why, but for some reason, it's like a little bit more intense focus, get zeroed in and really try and give it my all. I guess it's kind of hard to explain. It just happens in a way.

Q. And were you disappointed that it was an off week last week, or would you have liked to have teed it up last Thursday?
RICKIE FOWLER: I was fine with it. With the Playoffs, it's tough to go four in a row. If it were four in a row, I think you'd see more guys take a week off in there. Having the week off, going two, one, two I think is very big because a lot of guys don't play four weeks in a row, and especially with them being pretty pressure-packed weeks, it's nice to have that little bit of a break to recharge and get back after it for the last two.

Q. If you look at some of your shots on 17 at Sawgrass, right of the flag on 17, which is unusual --
RICKIE FOWLER: Yep, there's room.

Q. Left of the flag on 16 at Boston, correct?
RICKIE FOWLER: It was in line with it (smiling).

Q. It just made me wonder, what do you fear? Do you fear anything when you're playing? Do you ever fear consequences?
RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely. I feel like I've done a very good job of eliminating those thoughts. Yeah, of course I'm aware of the risk and the consequences that are there. 16 at Deutsche Bank with the new tee is not an easy shot to that back pin, especially with the cross wind in off the right. 17 at Sawgrass, the right pin, yeah, good shot in there is 10 feet left of it, where I hit the first two shots, and the only reason it ended upright of the pin is because the wind switched down on the left, and I continued with the same line and just let it drift from there, so it worked out perfect.

But no, I feel like under the gun and in contention down the stretch, I get zeroed in a little bit more. For some reason I focus a bit better and hit a lot of great shots where I want to start it. It's pretty rewarding.

But I feel like a lot of the negative thoughts go away. I know the thoughts are still there. I'm aware of what's going on or where the trouble is, but I focus on the positive and exactly what I'm trying to do.

Q. Do you care if you fail?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I definitely don't want to fail. It's there. I've been in situations before where I have failed. I feel like as a professional golfer you deal with that a lot. It's not like winning is a normal thing. You know, sometimes you have to look and feel success in a top 20, a top 10, a top 5. If the only thought of success is winning, then there's going to be a lot of failure out there.

Q. Jason Day was in here yesterday talking about how long it took him to believe that he was the player to beat at some of these tournaments. Did you ever struggle with anything like that, and how did you overcome that?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I guess -- I mean, how deep these tournaments are, how many guys -- when you come to a week like this, anyone here can win. And to be able to have that extra belief in yourself and that confidence to know that you are the best player or to believe that you're the best player there and guys are looking at you as one of the guys to beat, it goes a long ways. You definitely have to have the confidence and the belief in yourself to really be a contender out here and to win. It doesn't just happen.

So to be able to build that confidence that I feel like Jason and I have been able to this year along with Jordan and some other guys, I know I feel very confident in my game. It's helped after THE PLAYERS to win at the Scottish and the Deutsche Bank, and I'm sure Jason is very confident with where his game is, with his dominating performances as of late. There's no reason why he shouldn't believe in himself as much as possible and believe that he is a guy to beat out here.

Q. So how much different do you believe in yourself now as opposed to that first tee on Thursday at THE PLAYERS Championship?
RICKIE FOWLER: I think being in the situation, I'm a bit more of a go-getter, I'm going to go out there and I know that I can get the job done and I want to go get the job done. I'm not just playing to hang around or see if something can happen. I want to go make it happen. I want to get in the mix come Sunday, the final nine or the final few holes, and go get the job done. I'm definitely not scared of it.

Q. You talked about Jordan and Jason. You've played with them individually, but this is the first time you guys have played together as a threesome as a TOUR event. I just wonder what your thoughts are about that, and what does it say about the state of golf right now?
RICKIE FOWLER: We're going to have a blast the next two days. The three of us really enjoy playing together, individually and being a threesome out there, our caddies are all good friends of ours throughout the three of us, and it would be fun if we can kind of build some momentum and get the three of us playing well out there the first two days. But yeah, there won't be any shortage of smiles and laughs going on out there the next two days.

Q. Two years ago Jim Furyk shot a super low round here and Zach Johnson went on to win. They're not known as long hitters. Just talk about what type of game is going to do well here. Is it a place where maybe the long hitter doesn't have as big an advantage as at others?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's not really a long golf course by any means. There are some holes where I'm hitting irons off the tee, more so on the front nine. The back nine is a little bit more of a driver side.

But yeah, it still favors some length off the tee, but it favors more being in the short grass. There's a premium in hitting the fairways here. If you don't hit many fairways you're going to struggle to have a chance to be in contention.

When you look at guys like Furyk and Zach Johnson, they hit a lot of fairways. They're great drivers of the golf ball. They may not be considered guys that hit it long, but they hit it long enough. And when they're hitting more fairways than other guys, they're going to be in some better situations because with it not being as long of a golf course, some of the par-5s may not be reachable, but they're some of the best wedge players, and then being in the fairways on the other holes becomes an advantage. You can't play out of the rough here and expect to score.

Q. I just had a Presidents Cup question. I assume you were pretty happy to see Phil get a pick. What was your reaction, and what is he going to mean in the team room?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I was definitely excited to see Phil get the nod to be coming over with us to the Presidents Cup. I know he's fired up and wants to bring the best game possible over there and be over there to help win some points.

I mean, this was the first time he hasn't made a team on points since I think it was '94 or so. He brings so much to the table, probably more so off the golf course than on. We'll see. Maybe he'll step up and take care of business.

I don't question him one bit. He's going to go over there and give it his all.

Q. I'm curious your mindset this week, and if it matters to you whether you're first, third or fifth at the end of this week?
RICKIE FOWLER: Mindset, I mean, stay patient, continue to play well, give myself a chance to win this week, and get myself in contention.

As far as coming out on the points, if I'm one to five, the higher the better, but ultimately it would be best if I'm in a position where if I win next week, I have a chance to win the FedExCup.

Doesn't matter, but at the end of the day, yeah, the higher -- there's better possibilities if I was not to win next week.

DOUG MILNE: Rickie, best of luck, and we appreciate your time.

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