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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 25, 2017

Rickie Fowler

Old Westbury, New York

Q. Rickie, how about finishing off with a birdie?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's always nice to finish with a birdie. I felt like I had a good read on it and Dustin was a little right of me. Kind of helped confirm my read and hit a great putt. I thought it was going to go in the middle, went in the right side, but still, ends in.

So yeah, nice to end in a birdie and definitely pleased with the way everything has gone the first two days.

Q. Two-day impression now of this course?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's good. Got to drive it in the fairway. If you do, you can definitely get after it. A bit easier to make putts in the morning. But unfortunately I wasn't able to do that versus yesterday I made more putts and the greens were a little bumpy.

It's a good track. You have to hit it straight. But the fairways are somewhat generous to where it takes a missed shot to definitely miss them.

You don't want to be playing out of the rough, though.

Q. Does that birdie give you any confidence and momentum going into the weekend?
RICKIE FOWLER: Like I said, it's always nice to end it with a birdie. I've driven it well the first two days. I think it's more the cumulative play to put me in a position to birdie the last hole is what will give me more confidence going into the weekend. Definitely looking forward to the next few days.

Q. When you're Dustin Johnson, every golf course pretty much suits your game. Does this one suit his game a little more than some others?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, this one is right up DJ's alley, but like you said, there's not many courses that don't fit him. You know, long courses, they become somewhat shorter for him, and the shorter courses, can basically take driver and lob-wedge and putter.

I think the biggest thing is it continue to drive it well to give myself a legitimate chance this week and continue to make putts. Stuff that I think I've done well all year. I would say there are some hole, certain carries and stuff like that, that open it up for DJ a little bit but by no means -- that I can't go out and beat him.

We have fun playing together. It's fun kind of getting into it like we did the first two days, with him, myself and Rahm and kind of being able to feed off each other. Even though they are hitting it past me, I'm kind of trying to plot my way around, and maybe hit it closer and make a couple more putts.

But it's fun just to kind of feed off each other like that.

Q. How much -- and it probably shouldn't matter, but can it get contagious if someone is playing well; everyone can play well?
RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely, you get in the right group, everyone gets going, or maybe if one guy gets going and the other two kind of tag along at some point. It's a lot more fun seeing good golf than bad golf. It's a lot easier to follow a good shot than a bad shot.

Q. What's the mentality now for you heading into the weekend?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm looking forward to relaxing in the afternoon with my girlfriend, just chill. I definitely like playing the late/early tee times, if I got to pick, just because it splits up the Thursday/Friday and Saturday/Sunday. Just relax, play tomorrow afternoon and keep doing what we're doing.

Q. When you're doing kids' clinics, what are you hoping the participants get out of it?
RICKIE FOWLER: When I do clinics, I think just showing them kind of how to have fun, hitting shots on range and how to use your imagination. We talk about finding ways to create competitions or contests with my buddies growing up, whether it's putting contest, chipping contest, closest to the pin, who can hit the shot properly to the hole. Just ways, like I said, to have fun.

Q. I've been told that you go above and beyond, making sure each kid gets some contact with you. Why do you do that?
RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like I was in their position not too long ago, and even just a little thing went a long ways. Even when I'm maybe rushed for time on some of the clinics where I can't sit and sign or hang out, you know, I'll either sign stuff beforehand or afterwards to make sure that everyone gets something. At least when they are small enough, the clinics. When you start getting to 500, that might be a little tough.

I love being able to do the clinics and see the kids kind of become interested, or they want you to hit different shots. Sometimes, most of the time, they just want to hit a driver, so it becomes pretty simple. For the most part, they like seeing kind of the high or low, maybe sometimes the curve. But the end of the day, they just want to see driver.

Q. When you were a child, was there a PGA TOUR player who gave a clinic that you attended that you had a positive experience or a negative experience?
RICKIE FOWLER: No, no bad ones. I think not necessarily a cling, but when I played junior golf in southern California, we used a standard bearer at the Skins Game in the desert. So being around Sergio and Tiger, Freddie, a handful of guys that were out there for guys, did it a couple years.

Obviously you guys know Freddie was one of my favorites growing up. Always liked Sergio, and now he's one of my better -- my good friends out here, being that we were just at his wedding kind of a month ago.

Q. That's kind of weird that you were a standard bearer for a guy that you end up being in his wedding.
RICKIE FOWLER: He was young at the time. He's still young.

Q. You're from Southern California, and this is like California weather for you. We've had hot and humid weather in New York. Is that something that you and other PGA players look ahead for, and does it affect your training, meals and drinking, that you could do otherwise?
RICKIE FOWLER: It definitely makes it easier on a day-to-day basis with it not being too hot and humid. I live in South Florida now, so you're not really going to throw anything at us that's going to be bad. It's nice to be in good weather up here.

Q. Justin told us the other day that when you played at Shinnecock, you both shot 65. What was the day like for you?
RICKIE FOWLER: It was great. We had a good time. We had a little fun match together just playing head-to-head. I had him 2-down and then he made a couple birdies coming in.

We had a good time. It's probably the easiest we're going to see the golf course ever play just because it was in perfect condition. The greens were soft, and you could throw darts with 5-irons, which won't be the case next year at the U.S. Open.

It's one of my favorite places to play. It's the best out here on the island and like I said, one of my favorites in the U.S. by far.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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