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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 26, 2017

Rickie Fowler

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

RICKIE FOWLER: I love playing in the wind but we had a lot of crosswind holes and it definitely wasn't easy, and it made some shots that were just a little off-line, made them look really bad. I did hit a couple that were off-line, but yeah, a couple of those maybe looked pretty bad out there.

Q. You were okay through the first five, level through five is pretty good, and then sixth hole, tough hole.
RICKIE FOWLER: Wind kind of switched a little bit. We were playing for it to be off the left and I started it up kind of the left side and it moved left on me, which I was not expecting at all. I was expecting that to drift right.

So misjudged or a little bit of wind change. I looked up, I thought I was going to have a good one out my window and it was to the left.

Q. How did you feel, just bad hole, move on, or slight panic button?
RICKIE FOWLER: That's the good thing with having a lead is it gives you some cushion. This was nice. The putter saved me today. A nice one on 8, some big putts that gave me a little bit of cushion out there.

Q. How tough were the greens to putt on with the wind and the greens getting crustier?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, they are definitely firm and crusty. The faster they get and drier they get, the wind affects it more, and you have the grain to deal with, as well. It's tough to ultimately go and just trust your final read. You're sometimes not sure if you're going to be close or off by a foot.

Q. So you're a couple over going out, and you then must have the feeling, just try and make some birdies, somewhere, see if I can get something going, and you certainly made this count at 12.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, turning at 2-over, I really felt, even par, I felt was probably going to be okay from there in. But some cushion, definitely makes it nicer. I had it a little easier coming in. The putts at 12 and 13, definitely did that for me.

Q. How did the crowd feel out there, because they were really trying to push you over the line.
RICKIE FOWLER: It was great. The crowd's been awesome here all week. It feels like a home event for me. This is like my second, third, or whatever you want to call it, home. Obviously back home in California in Murrieta where I grew up and Stillwater where I went to school, and now been a resident here for almost seven years; a special place.

Q. If you could take a second shot anywhere on the PGA TOUR home with you, might it be the second at 16?
RICKIE FOWLER: That one was nice. This was a hold 5-iron from about 183, I believe. And I mean, it was perfect. It was almost in gimmie range.

Q. You must have realized at this point you probably had it done. Just try to get it in, in a nice and tidy fashion?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I knew I had a bit of a lead. It's nice to have a cushion when you are playing the last two holes, and was trying to make some good swings; I did. Came out of it a little bit on 17.

18, I made some good swings in there and some wind stuff on the approach shot on 18. But like I said, we gave ourselves enough cushion.

Q. Wasn't an easy final round, was it.
RICKIE FOWLER: No, it wasn't. To go from yesterday, where it was pretty chill out here, not a whole lot of breeze, and good conditions to just go hit golf shots and pick this golf course apart.

Today was completely different, a lot of crosswinds. This was a tough wind to play this golf course in. And I felt like I hit some good shots that got just on the wrong side of the wind and didn't come back like I was expecting.

So it made it look a lot worse than it was but luckily had a decent lead going out today and then my putter really saved me, 8, 12, 13, just to kind of give myself enough cushion.

Q. The turn from nine to ten, looks like you tightened thing up off the tee there. The wind helped you there because it was with you.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, playing in off the left is going to be your hardest wind as a righty, and then playing down off the right is going to be one of your easiest. So it was nice to stand up on 10.

It's still a hard tee shot because it's a dogleg left-to-right, so the wind is pushing it away from the dogleg. Still not an easy one but it's a lot easier to hit the ball straight when you have help. Hit a great one there and that kind of eased me a bit. I think one of my best tee shots of the day was on 13. It's a short hole but it's a narrow fairway, and the wind is dead off the left. To stand up and just trust one at the bunkers and let it drift back, that was a good swing for me.

Q. Fifth time you've had the lead going into the final round. First time you got it in the garage with the win; how does that feel to finally complete that?
RICKIE FOWLER: It feels great to finally get the goose egg out of that stat is nice. It wasn't easy. I saw Gary was coming out, trying to make a late kind of run there, and kind of I just had to hold on.

Luckily I made some good swings on the back nine and made those putts; I was going to get a little bit of cushion on the last few holes which -- yeah, special. It was nice to get this win here at home in Jupiter.

Q. In the winner's circle for the fourth time in your PGA TOUR career, you told me before the round, mental challenge was going to be the most important for you. How much was that put to the test here on Sunday?
RICKIE FOWLER: It was tough. This was probably one of the hardest winds for me to play this golf course in. There was a lot of crosswinds, a few left-to-right on the front nine. 6 is not an easy tee shot, as well as 9, with that left-to-right wind.

Did a good job of hanging in there. My putter saved me a bit. It was nice to make a birdie on 3 and just get off to a nice start. Making the birdie on 8 and then 12 and 13, as well, they were all decent-length putts, so just to have that to give myself a little bit of cushion helped out.

Q. But before that cushion, how aware were you that the lead had gone down to one and then Gary was chasing?
RICKIE FOWLER: Oh, I was well aware. Yeah, double-bogeys are not good. Had a little bit of a wind switch there on 6. Expected it to be off the left a bit and the ball would drift back; it did anything but drift right. It almost fell left on me.

I was well aware that it was getting close and just kept sticking to the process and trying to piece things together, get the ball in the fairway, get it on the green, and just kind of get that simple, stress-free golf back.

I feel like we did a pretty good job of that. Kind of a little bonus was making a great swing on 16 in there and having almost a tap-in birdie, just give myself enough cushion going into the last two.

Q. You told me earlier this week you needed to get in this position to have a chance to close things out. What is the importance now that you were able to slam the door and get back in the winner's circle?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I mean, I would have liked to have a little bit cleaner card today and played a little bit better. But just to be in the position and going out and get the job done, and finding a way no matter how it is; a win is a win.

This is a good one: To have it this early in the season; to come off some not great starts, but then to play well in Phoenix and to build on that these last two weeks and then ultimately come here and get the job done. I'm looking forward to going from here and obviously Augusta just around the corner.

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