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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

June 18, 2017

Rickie Fowler

Erin, Wisconsin

Q. Way to finish, Rickie. Thoughts on the round?
RICKIE FOWLER: Oh, it was nice to finish with some good swings. Make a birdie at the last as well. It was a tough day out there.

I know it was probably a little less wind than the guys saw this morning, but it still wasn't easy. I mean, wind was affecting putts quite a bit, and it was tough to get things going. I mean, there were very few low rounds. It looked like Hideki put up a good one, a few groups out in front of us. Obviously, Brooks played a hell of a round out there this afternoon.

Q. Yesterday you talked about (inaudible), how that can create an atmosphere of having to be perfect in some ways. Obviously Brooks birdied the first two holes. Was there some sense of that out there today that you couldn't make a mistake and that maybe creates mistakes?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, you definitely didn't want to give shots back, and with the wind affecting quite a few putts on the greens, we knew we had to be careful in some areas.

I mean, a couple, I gave a shot back. I can't even remember a whole lot. But I had a chance to start off with two birdies. I missed a short one on the second, which the putt was supposed to break left towards the back of the green, and we have wind coming from the back of the green. So it just kind of pushed it right outside the hole, and it never moved. So getting kind of the right gust at the right time was kind of key.

I definitely did make some good putts out there to keep things going, but also made a couple bogies that I really couldn't afford being a couple back at the time.

Q. Can you talk about the positives you take, and any negatives you take from the experience?
RICKIE FOWLER: No real negatives. I wish I would have been able to give myself a few more looks out there today and make a few more birdies.

But we came out swinging well. Like I said, birdied the first. Had a short one at 2nd, and made a great par at the 3rd. Another good putt at the 4th. Really felt like I kind of eased into the round a bit. It was, all in all, good. It was just tough out there.

And I didn't get as many looks as Brooks, obviously. It's still cool to see him play well today.

Q. Seven first-time major champions now. What does that mean for the game? Do you think it's good for the game?
RICKIE FOWLER: I think it's a great thing. You saw the leaderboard this weekend going into today, and still with a lot of the guys that were on that board today at the end, it's a lot of new blood, young guys. Kind of some of the younger crew is coming in. I'm not saying the older guys are out by any means, but I think we're making our presence a little bit more known.

Q. When you leave a week like this, Rickie, what are some of the positives of putting yourself there again on Sunday, and then just the disappointment of not getting that first major?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I mean, I feel like golf-wise I'm playing at the highest level. If you look at the negatives too much, I mean, you're going to be stuck doing that the whole time.

You have to measure success in different ways, not just by winning, just because that doesn't happen a whole lot. I think Tiger had the best winning percentage of all time at 30%, and you're lucky to even sniff close to 10.

You kind of have to say, hey, it's a major. We played well this week. I felt like I did a lot of good things, especially in the first round, executing my game plan. Even though the scores were somewhat lower than a normal U.S. Open, but to finish in double digits, under par at a major championship, especially the Open, it was a good week. I think I might have gotten another Top 5 snuck in there, maybe. I don't know.

Q. What did you feel like your strategy was off the tee today, Rickie? Seemed like you didn't think driver was necessary on some of the holes because of the wind? What were you thinking?
RICKIE FOWLER: That's how I played all week. Yeah, I stuck to the game plan where we were trying to hit it. Basically on every hole, I didn't vary from the game plan at all, from what I had done Thursday through Saturday and into today.

Q. Is this a course after the week that you'd like to play again and maybe have a U.S. Open come again down the road here?
RICKIE FOWLER: It would be a lot of fun to see this place firm and fast. It's a lot of fun to play, but I think you see a little bit more of its characteristics when you can play the ball a little bit on the ground if you have to, and get kind of the roll and everything of the natural terrain.

So it was fun to play with some soft conditions, and at least be able to score, because typically at a U.S. Open you get your head beat in. So, at least here if you played some solid golf and hit your shots where you needed to, you still had to be precise, but you got rewarded and you could take advantage of that. No, it would be fun to see it on the other side. It might just be a little bit more of a mental headache if we do get to see that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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