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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2016

Rickie Fowler

Oakmont, Pennsylvania

RICKIE FOWLER: I didn't drive the ball well. I mean, you look at Dustin, he's probably driven it the best, and he's out front. You don't have to putt very well here. You're not necessarily having to make a lot of putts just because of how tough the greens are. But if you drive the ball well, you're able to give yourself more looks than anyone else, and you're bound to make something.

Yeah, not getting the ball in play as much as I needed to is what made it tough.

Q. When you miss greens out here, how hard is it to scramble at Oakmont?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I mean, with how severe the rough is, it makes it tough to really get balls out of there and have control of the golf ball once it gets on the green. If you're above the hole, you basically have no chance, especially come the second round, once the greens were able to be sped up. The first round you can kind of get away with some things. But, yeah, if you're not driving the ball on the fairway, then you're not able to control the ball into the green, and it's just going to be a long day.

Q. Any specific thing that you can cite as the driving trouble?
RICKIE FOWLER: Mainly just not trusting it. You know, I've been driving it well. I've been driving it well at home, having great sessions on the range. I felt like I drove it well in the practice rounds. Yeah, just struggled to kind of get the confidence built up and just go out there and trust it.

So made some good swings today, though, some not so good. But we'll get some work in tomorrow and hopefully be able to sneak a session in with Butch and be ready to go next week.

Q. How different did the course play from when you played it two days ago to today?
RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, (indiscernible) hit it in the fairway, that was the big thing. But green-wise, they got a bit quicker. The ball was actually feeding out the way it was supposed to and what we kind of prepared for. With the first day, how soft and slow the greens were, balls weren't coming off slopes and were hanging up, but it also gave you the opportunity to get some balls down from above the hole.

I'd say it probably played about the same toughness, just in different ways.

Q. Rickie, you had such the good run in the majors since 2014. Can you put a finger on what's been happening? Is it a confidence issue?
RICKIE FOWLER: Just confidence and going out and making good swings off tees. You've got to drive it well. I felt like that's something I did really well in '14, is I put the ball in play and I didn't put myself in trouble. That's probably been one of the biggest things, that and not making as many putts.

Q. Rickie, Rory had it going pretty well for a while. Were you surprised at how he finished?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, Rory got off to a great start. I was kind of fighting back, and we were kind of all trying to get it going and kind of feed off each other. It was unfortunate to see him finish the way he did. I know, obviously, he was kind of trying to fight through some stuff, not swinging as well as he would like to Thursday. I know he got some work in yesterday.

Got off to a great start, and, yeah, it's never fun when it's yourself struggling, seeing your friends struggle. So, yeah, it would have been a little more fun if we could have both snuck in there for the weekend.

Q. What kind of schedule have you got now? Obviously, there's a lot of big events coming up.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I've got next week Quicken Loans, and then we've got Akron, a week off, then Oakland.

Q. Week off and then PGA?
RICKIE FOWLER: You can kind of piece it together from there. It's pretty self explanatory.

Q. What does winning a major mean to you now?
RICKIE FOWLER: That's kind of the main goal, but you've got to focus on smaller things to get the game back where we want it. That's kind of been -- it's been a fine line with the missed cuts as of late.

Q. There for a while, you were really in the hunt like every time.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah. I mean, for the most part, it's driving the ball, getting yourself as many looks as possible, and you're bound to start making putts. When you're scrambling, trying to make putts for par, it's hard to get moving in the right direction, kind of fighting to stay level. And then you miss one, you're moving back.

Q. When Butch talked to you -- I'm assuming he talked to you earlier on after the round -- did you guys talk about what the fix might be and how complicated it is or isn't?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's easy. I was swinging it great on the range and just taking it out there and getting some good swings on the course. I'm looking forward to getting a little bit more work with him. I don't know, maybe I'll go practice this afternoon, tomorrow. No, it's not far off. That's the good thing.

Q. Talk about the Olympics just a bit. Where does it fit in? Are you looking forward to it? The Olympic experience is different than pro, do you think?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I'm definitely excited about the opportunity, but I think we want to make sure that we do our homework and make sure that we feel safe about going down there both on the security reason and the health reasons, and make sure that everything's taken care of. That's our main focus right now.

I mean, yeah, I'd love to have the opportunity to go down there, but we don't know for sure yet.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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