|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 12, 2016Rickie FowlerPonte Vedra Beach, Florida Q. Is it tough when all these guys in the morning go out and shoot great scores not to try and press in the afternoon or does it change your mindset at all? RICKIE FOWLER: It let's you know that the course is still soft like it was going into today with the practice rounds. It started to firm up a little bit out there. Wind probably picked up a little this afternoon. But, no, this golf course is going to continue to play harder over the weekend, so it's rare that guys run away. So you're looking to get off to a solid start. You can't really look at what guys do in the morning, Thursday morning here. Q. Overall, what are your feelings as you sit now? Even is not bad, but guys -- RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's not bad. Obviously, I didn't take myself out of it. But it would have been nice to get to three or four. I had a short one that I missed, ball just bumped on me. It started to play tough with the kind of winds blowing a little bit, greens were getting crusty on top, and it was tough to make putts out there. Q. Zach came through and said it was kind of crusty, it made the shorter ones difficult. Did you experience that at all? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's just the way they are. The tops of the greens are dried out and crusty and underneath is still soft, so you get footprints and spike marks. So it's not easy. You can hit a lot of good putts and it's tough to get the ball to go in the hole. Q. Is it tougher to come back as defending champion, with the spotlight on you and everything else you have to go through during the week? RICKIE FOWLER: No, I mean, it's been great. I was able to knock out a lot media day here a little over a month ago and it's been easy early in the week, haven't had really any obligations, other than just normal media press conference, I was able to prepare just like I was last year. So, no, it's been good. Probably felt better coming into this than any other PLAYERS, confident with the game, feeling confident with this golf course the way I played last year, so definitely looking forward to this week, not exactly the start I wanted, but not terrible. Q. You mentioned the start that you wanted. Historically, the winner hasn't come from more than six or seven shots back. What do you think you need to do Friday to really get back into contention in this tournament? RICKIE FOWLER: Just play solid golf tomorrow. Like I said, the golf course is going to get really tough this weekend. The top of the greens already dried out, the rest of the greens are going to dry out and it's not going to be easy. But, yeah, I guess history's bound to change at some point. No one's repeated here, no one's come back from five or six. So we can change that. Q. Unbelievable run on 17 last year, did you feel like you had a chance to add to that birdie total with the 8-footer today? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I hit a great putt, another one that I don't know how it missed, really, I birdied it Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was feeling good coming in. I played that hole well, confident there, I played it in all kinds of conditions and all clubs. So hit a great shot and hit a good putt, just didn't go in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|