	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

WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 5, 2016

Rickie Fowler

Scottsdale, Arizona

A flash interview with:

RICKIE FOWLER

Q. There was a steady run where you had nine straight pars. How would you characterize today?
RICKIE FOWLER: It wasn't playing easy out there. The wind was kind of blowing from an awkward position. Played 15, 16, 17 in off the left, and a lot of times you play down off the right. Blowing from a position that a lot of guys don't see here.

It was tough to hit fairways, wasn't playing easy. Just tried to stay patient, fight through it. Nice to make a couple birdies coming in.

Unfortunately the one bogey of the day, 17, it was a bad 3-putt there.

Q. Talk about the putting. I thought you saved par half a dozen times.
RICKIE FOWLER: I hit some really good putts, ones that, you know, you make and it continues to build the momentum and continued with the rhythm through the round and stuff. Something I wasn't able to do last week. That's been the biggest difference.

Nice to be able to build on that and hopefully do that all weekend.

Q. Talk about playing with Danny. He's psyched playing with you. That should be fun, playing with Danny?
RICKIE FOWLER: We'll have a good time. Hopefully it's a lot of good golf, and hopefully we'll have some big galleries definitely tomorrow, for sure.

Q. Parents, grandparents, a lot of friends here following you around. Is that special? Do you look over to see them and stuff?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's pretty hard to see them here with the crowds. Sometimes on the front 9 or further on the back 9 I get to see them. With the big crowds it's tough to find them. 16 is nice that the Thunderbirds have put in a little ledge where the families can walk in so I can see them there.

Yeah, I have full family, parents, sister, her fiance, grandparents, uncle, friends from high school and some of my best friends from California. Definitely having fun this week.

Q. Obviously a great way to finish there at 18. How excited are you at getting in the hunt this weekend?
RICKIE FOWLER: In a great position for a the weekend. Didn't play easy out there today. Nice to cap it off with a birdie on 18. Excited for tomorrow.

Q. Conditions tougher today?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, definitely. Yesterday we didn't have much wind, and then today it blew from a direction you normally don't see here, especially during the tournament, playing holes likes 15, 16, 17, where it's in off the left and typically it's down off the right.

There was a lot of tough driving holes out there today. So the course definitely played a bit harder than yesterday.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I mean, you have seen a lot of tournaments where if you just make the cut you have a chance to put yourself in the event with a good round and stuff on Saturday.

Nice to be in a position where I don't have to rely on going out and having to catch up. I have a chance to go out tomorrow, another good round, and put myself in a good position for Sunday.

Q. Were you battling the swing a little bit today?
RICKIE FOWLER: No, not really. I actually felt I swung it better today than yesterday. I got a little bit of work in this morning, went out and did a little bit of a longer warmup.

Tried to clean things up, tighten it up. It's starting to feel better. I made a lot of good swings out there. Definitely made two really good ones, probably my best of the day coming down 18.

Q. Going back to Abu Dhabi, how do you compare your play this week to that week when you won there?
RICKIE FOWLER: Fairly similar. Putted well there, and it was probably -- it's probably very similar right now. I didn't strike the ball as well as I could have, but I was able to keep it in front of me, stay away from making big mistakes and able to make good putts which I was able to do these two days.

Q. After that win, the confidence boost, a couple weeks later after it sort of sunk in, I'm curious how much that has been a boost to you feeling like you can be kind of more consistent, in contention, and those sorts of things?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, to go around and not feel like I was playing my best but to get the most out of it and continue to move forward that week, that was big. That was my first win being out front.

To go out and feel as comfortable as I did and kind of control my destiny definitely made me feel more comfortable coming into here this week. It's one of my favorite events having the loud crowd out there. Hopefully we'll give them a reason to get loud.

Q. The fans out here?
RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely have a lot of good fans out here. It's cool. I have always enjoyed playing here. I have had a great following. The fans are always fun here. They are very straightforward, that's for sure.

Q. Your thoughts about being on the leaderboard with Danny.
RICKIE FOWLER: Danny is a great player, a great ball striker. He's fun to watch. Definitely looking forward to us playing together tomorrow. It will be fun. Hopefully he continues to play well. I think it will be fun tomorrow. I'm not sure what the conditions are planning on to be right now. Still have a lot of golf left. We will have a great time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297