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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2017

Rickie Fowler

Augusta, Georgia

Q. Anything to kick yourself about or is it all just elements?
RICKIE FOWLER: Oh, I mean, I could have accepted five at the last, but a little ticked off about making six. Other than that, it's a decent day. Got off to a solid start. It wasn't playing easy. You're not going to try to squeeze much out of the round today. Anything under par today was good and even par is still a good score and 1‑over's not terrible.
So, just go get some rest and come back out and play in some more wind tomorrow. I love playing in the wind, this golf course is fun to play, you got to hit shots and quality golf shots especially in the wind, so the Tournament's far from over.

Q. Remind you of an Irish Open or something like that?
RICKIE FOWLER: A little bit. It wasn't, it was blowing pretty good, but you can't exactly play the ball on the ground here, so you still got to get the ball up in the air. And especially with the softer conditions, there wasn't much of, you used some slopes, but for the most part it was in the air and stopping the ball, trying to stop it where you wanted it to.

Q. Do you feel like knowing that you like playing in the wind, that puts you, gives you an advantage over a big part of the field who might be just looking at the wind and mentally struggling with it?
RICKIE FOWLER: Not necessarily. I mean, I feel like if I play well and manage my game well, that I'll be in a really good position for the weekend. But still it's not easy, if I'm just a little bit off ‑‑

Q. Like just embracing it. There are going to be some guys here who are just not able to embrace the conditions. They will mentally psych themselves out.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I think Jack used to talk about that with Majors, where a lot of guys, a lot of would be taking themselves out of the Tournament. Whether it was mindset or just maybe the thinking differently or the fear of being in a Major type of thing, and then obviously these are some different conditions than we're used to seeing at Augusta.
So, I love playing in the wind, but like I said, I still have to go out and execute and hit the shots that I want to, to play the way I want to do it.

Q. Why do you like playing in the wind so much?
RICKIE FOWLER: You have to use your imagination and creativity and visualize and see what the wind's going to do if you hit a certain shot. And then how to manage it when it's‑‑ which shot to pick, whether to hold the ball in the wind or let it ride and high, low. And then just being able to execute and actually hit the shot that you're trying to, to get it to fly the proper yardage and do exactly what you want it to do in the air.

Q. The second nine's playing to a 38 scoring average right now. Obviously just hard today, but is there anything especially difficult in these conditions about that side of the golf course?
RICKIE FOWLER: I only shot 1‑over then.
(Laughter.)
10's not too bad. It is tough with the front right pin.
11, I mean it's probably playing to at least a five right now, I would think. With where the wind's at and off the right, I mean, I hit a great drive and had to hit a good 4‑iron. And then the pin's over on right and you can't miss it right, so just went ahead and wrote down my five.
12's dicey, it's kind of just quartering enough off the right where there's some hurt, but if you ride the wind it almost starts helping. So you will see some guys long, some guys short, you just have to match the flight and distance or how far you're hitting it, how hard you're hitting it properly there.
And then from there you get a little bit of a break, but 16's not playing that easy with the pin left and you got to start it at it and hold it or start left of it and let the wind drift it.
And 18's, I mean, it would play a lot easier if there was just a little bit of help. But it's just hurting slightly and mainly left‑to‑right off the tee, so that makes that tee shot pretty tough. So, yeah, I made double there.

Q. You came out this morning for the ceremonial tee shot and ceremony for Arnold. How come?
RICKIE FOWLER: I came out the last couple years. It's a nice thing to be a part of, nice to be able to see the guys hit, both Jack and Gary and. I mean, I know they had a moment of silence for Arnie and it's a cool tradition and glad I've been able to do it the last few years.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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