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ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPEN

July 12, 2017

Rickie Fowler

Ayrshire, Scotland

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rickie, welcome back. Great to have you back at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. Give us your thoughts on the week ahead.

RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely looking forward to being back here in Scotland. I was a little bummed that we weren't able to make it back last year with some schedule conflicts, but after getting the win here in 2015 at Gullane, I always love playing over here in Scotland. Links golf is probably my favourite. Any time I get a chance to play it, we do.

Got to play the course here on Monday, and looking forward to seeing it again this afternoon in the Pro-Am. It's going to be a fun week.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: What did you make of the golf course?

RICKIE FOWLER: I thought it was fun to play. A lot of variety on tee shots, not just drivers on every hole. And so I like that about links golf, depending on what the weather is going to do, which looks like it could be pretty mild this week. Shouldn't change too much.

But you can hit a lot of different clubs off tees. If the course dries out and firms up a bit, you can get the ball to run a bit more, possibly some 2-irons off tees. That's fun. I like being able to use my imagination out here.

Q. Last year obviously the Olympics was the reason that you didn't come here; obviously you mentioned the schedule. How much do you feel not playing last year impacted when you went to Troon in terms of your preparation for that?
RICKIE FOWLER: Not a whole lot. I came over a couple days earlier than I would normally to a tournament, which I've had success in The Open coming over and doing that.

I feel like as professional golfers and going to different tournaments, there's some times you have to deal with, the shorter preparation time. Through the first couple of years, seeing golf courses for the first time, for me being in The Open rotation, there's a lot of courses I haven't seen more than once, other than St. Andrews.

Yeah, I would have liked to play the week before. I enjoy playing the week before majors but it doesn't always work out that way, and can't, based on some scheduling conflicts every once in a while.

Q. How do you feel about what lies ahead over the next fortnight?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm looking forward to this week here, just because I feel like I know I can play well on links courses. I'm looking forward to playing this week here and getting myself in position to go win the tournament and be in contention. I've been playing well this year and everything has been trending in the right direction, being in contention at the first two majors.

Like I said, I enjoy playing the week before the majors just to get myself ready to go, check off some boxes. That way there's less prep the week of a major. You just go out and get ready on the golf course and go play.

The Scottish Open has been great for me going into The Open, and with my best finish in The Open coming after, when I played my first Scottish Open up in Aberdeen. I think there's a lot of good that can happen these next two weeks.

Q. You mentioned the two finishes you've had in the majors this year, being in contention and not quite getting there at the end. Do you feel that next week is the -- how do you make next week the moment, I guess?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I've just got to, I mean, do what I've done the first two majors. You have to get off to a good start, play three solid rounds to get going. You know, it's almost a new tournament come Sunday. It's almost like the first three days are the first half, and the second half is that final day.

I've continued to feel better and better on a Sunday at a major, being with the top 5s and, what was it, 14. From there on, it's been a lot of fun for me being in majors.

I didn't quite play well in the majors last year, but to be back and get off to the start this year with the way I played at Augusta and the U.S. Open, I'm looking forward to putting myself back in a good position on Sunday, and a lot of that will come from the work here this week and getting off to a good start and playing well and continuing what we've been doing all year.

Q. Kind of a chicken-or-the-egg thing. A lot of kids from California or the United States, they never adapt to links golf. Growing up did you know that you would love links golf or did you come over here and fall in love with links golf?
RICKIE FOWLER: It was a little bit of both. I feel like I've seen -- from seeing pictures and what links golf would possibly look like or feel like, I grew up on my local driving range at home and it was just a flat piece of land with some built-up mounds and flag stuck in the middle of that.

I had to learn how to use my imagination and just hit shots, since there wasn't really much -- it's not like there were trees out there or bunkers to try and hit shots to pins or anything like that.

Learning how to use my imagination growing up and just hitting different types of shots out there. The other thing where I grew up, typically the wind would blow a little in the afternoon, so I learned how to play in some wind.

And then going to school at Oklahoma State, you get some conditions there. I've seen just about all the conditions you can see being there in Stillwater. So that definitely helped prepare me to be ready to jump in and be ready to play links golf over here, no matter what the conditions are thrown at us.

Q. Considering how good the preparation is for playing The Open, when you play The Scottish Open, are you surprised more fellow Americans don't come over here?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, everyone has kind of a different philosophy or way that they like to get ready for events. Some guys like to have the week off before to practise and do some work at home. Some guys like to play in. But I think you've seen more guys come over in the past five years or so, just I think with seeing how much success guys have had from playing the week before, The Scottish Open, and going into The Open.

For me, it's been something I've liked. I've seen success from it. But like I said, it doesn't work for everyone and some guys like to get the work in away from a tournament to prepare.

Q. With the benefit of hindsight, would you have done anything different in those final two rounds of the majors this year?
RICKIE FOWLER: I got a little -- I tried to push a little too much and tried to make things happen too much at Augusta, and that definitely helped me at Erin Hills. I really just didn't get the ball close enough or make putts on Sunday, and Brooks went out and won the tournament. He played an awesome final round on Sunday. It wasn't playing easy. It was probably the hardest conditions we faced all week.

I didn't play bad by any means. Like I said, just didn't really get anything to go in. Still a good finish, but it would have been kind of nice to battle back and forth with Brooks a little about. But like I say, he went out and won that golf tournament.

Q. The winning formula, not being quite as aggressive -- somewhere in between what you did?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I feel like I did everything right at the U.S. Open. Like I said, putts didn't go in, and you can't force that. I hit a lot of good putts, and I saw the ball just kind of skirt by, high side, low side a lot. Like I said, I felt really good on that Sunday. Get a couple putts to go in on the front nine and it's a different story.

Like I said, this week and going into next week, biggest thing is getting myself back in a position where I can give myself a chance on Sunday.

Q. Assuming that your physical preparation is similar week-to-week, is there a different preparation mentally for majors, or is it just the same process and acceptance?
RICKIE FOWLER: I think a lot of guys early on, possibly make it different. But I think it's something that myself and my team have gone to try making it as normal as possible as another event.

I feel like guys will spend some more time on the golf course or more time than they would at a normal Tour event. So I've gone to trying to play nine holes Monday, nine holes Tuesday and 18 holes Wednesday. Just like I would a normal event here; you play a Pro-Am Wednesday and lead into the golf tournament.

So trying to, like I said, make it more like my normal preparation of a normal week, and then that way, playing the week before a major, kind of checks off the boxes on how the golf game is and the swing is. And for me, getting potentially, nine, nine, 18, it gives me a chance to figure out what I want to do on the golf course and not worry about my swing or what I need to work on there.

Q. What's your favourite course in Scotland so far, and why?
RICKIE FOWLER: Favourite course in Scotland, I always go to St. Andrews. Home of Golf, the history. It's just a fun place to play. I've had a lot of good memories there, my first Open. It's a place that doesn't matter how many times you've played it, every time you go back, it's a special experience.

Q. What percentage of the time do you spend working on short game compared to long game?
RICKIE FOWLER: For me, I don't spend a whole lot of time on the range or practicing. I spend a lot more of my time playing and for me I get more work putting myself in kind of real situations. And then when I see something that needs a bit of work on, I'll go spend, you know, 30 minutes to an hour on that.

So a lot of times, it can be based on where the game's at and what needs to be worked on. It's not so much about the amount of time that you put in. It's the quality of it.

So when I see something that needs work or a little tightening up, that's where I'll go focus that day.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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