|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSJanuary 3, 2018Rickie FowlerKapalua, Maui, Hawaii JOHN BUSH: Like to welcome Rickie Fowler to the interview room here at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He's making his third career start here. Rickie, a place that you love, I know. Just comment on being back in Maui. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I think any time you get to start your year in Maui there's a lot of good things you can look back on. And like I said, starting here it's a nice way to ease into the year in a way. I won't be playing next week, some guys make it a couple weeks over here. We got to spend five days down at Makena leading up to this week, so definitely enjoying Maui. And it's a great way to start the year. JOHN BUSH: Talk about your goals for the rest of the season, if you can for us. RICKIE FOWLER: Goals going forward this year is I would say, biggest and main one is get a Major. I think we did a good job last year of putting myself in contention multiple times, but there needs to be some better weekends to make sure that we're on top come Sunday afternoon. So that's the main goal this year. JOHN BUSH: Open it up to questions. Q. Are you under the weather? RICKIE FOWLER: Just nasally, sore throat, nothing crazy. Q. Allergies? RICKIE FOWLER: Could be allergies, I don't know. I feel fine. It's just this area (Indicating). Q. You look good. RICKIE FOWLER: Yes, thank you. Q. Can you talk about -- you've won late the previous year. Can you carry momentum from a late win in the previous year into a new year in this situation, or do you just kind of start from scratch? RICKIE FOWLER: I think you can definitely carry momentum, especially I obviously played well through the summer, through the playoffs, and then having a decent break, five weeks before Mexico, finishing second there, had another little break. Winning Tiger's, the Hero, and then another little break until here. I feel like can kind of build off of playing well through some down time and not necessarily putting a lot of time into the golf game. Obviously there's been probably more so just thinking about it and thinking about what was done well in Mexico and at Tiger's and how we just worked our way around. And maybe not playing my best golf or not being the tightest after some time off, I think it's a great position to be in. Not being as tight, but still playing well and finding a way to get it done. So coming into the year, playing here and really getting back into the swing of things, if we can build off of how well we were playing and tighten things up and make it even better, I think it can be a really good year. Q. When you look back on the year, how do you go about it? What do you do in terms of analyzing it? And secondly what do you, what did you sort of learn in particular to maybe reference the weekend play at Majors and such, for this past season. RICKIE FOWLER: I think looking back, see where areas got -- which areas got better, how much they got better, what made us play better compared to the previous year. Some of the stats, finishes, Top-10s, wins, Top-5s, the consistency of the game. Ultimately I would have liked to have and should have won more last year. I was in contention and put myself in a lot of great positions to do so. I would say in a handful of cases there's guys that just went out and won the golf tournament and I feel like that was something I did at Tiger's event. Sometimes -- pretty much all the time have you to go out and earn that win, it's never going to be given to you. You look back at the U.S. Open, obviously played well and fell a little ways back, but the way Brooks played golf that week and on Sunday he was going to win that golf tournament. So going into some of the weekends at the Majors is -- it's not necessarily not being defensive or playing offense, but just going out there and playing like you really believe it and you just go get the job done. It's not going to happen every time, but going out there and playing the way I did through the week at Mexico to the way we played on Sunday at Tiger's event, we do that, and I think we'll be just fine. Q. But do you actually go back and watch any of those rounds or anything? Or is it just statistical stuff you look at in terms of the specifics? RICKIE FOWLER: I don't really go back and watch anything. If something happens to be on, I might watch a couple shots. I still have never watched the kind of finish of the PLAYERS or anything like that. I've seen the highlights of '17 or some of the shots, but I never necessarily watched -- I don't remember what I did on the front nine that week -- or that Sunday. I kind of remember the first couple holes of the back nine and then the finish I remember. But, no, I've never necessarily gone back and done too much there. But talking about like the statistics and seeing where the game has gotten better and also looking at areas that can be better to help elevate the game. Obviously, putting's finally back to what I'm used to and where it should be. And bunker play has probably been one of my biggest improvements over the last few years. And then one of the areas I feel like we have seen that can use some of the most improvement could be around a 100 to 150 yards, wedges to pitching wedge, 9-iron, an area that I'm not necessarily bad at, but statistically I can be better against -- when you look at the other guys on TOUR. For the most part I feel like we have done a good job every year of not falling back statistically. Last year was statistically one of my best years. Not that we're going to live off statistics, but if we can check all the boxes in there and put ourself -- be some of the most prepared that we can be and ready to go win golf tournaments. If there's a weak part, that's ultimately going to hurt you when it comes down to Sunday or the weekend or being in contention. So if we can check all those boxes, that will ultimately help Saturday and Sunday. Q. What's it going to take to win here this week? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, luckily we don't have to beat a whole lot of guys. It's nice having a small field. You earn your spot here at this tournament and it's a great way to start the year, even though this is, it feels like it's already the middle of our wraparound schedule season. It's fun. I'm going to have to play some good golf. I know we're supposed to have some wind the next few days, which is normal here. I think we're supposed to have a little bit more than normal wind, which I definitely enjoy. A few weeks back we played in the wind a bit in the Bahamas, so I feel like it suits my game. I can play well in it. I just have to not go out and -- I have to stay out of my own way and I'll be okay. Q. Jordan said yesterday that this is one of his favorite courses, like top three or four for him. Where does this course rank for you on your list? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, when you make it here it's definitely it's up there as one of your favorites. Unfortunately, I haven't made it here as much as I would have liked to. But just everything about this week, it's fun. It's a great way to start your year. This golf course is very different from pretty much anything else we play. The only really other place that you get some lies and maybe some shots similar to here would be Augusta, with the amount of slope there is. So it is a fun golf course, especially when the wind picks up. You have to use your imagination and kind of disregard some yardages and numbers and just kind of hit the shot that the land or the wind or the slope calls for. Q. I asked a few other guys, we have had some five-win seasons from people in the last few years, but we haven't seen a 9- and 10-, sort of 8-, 9-, 10-win season since Tiger and Vijay and whatnot. Do you see it as possible out there for someone to do that now or probable or is it too deep? RICKIE FOWLER: I almost think it's too deep. I'm not saying that no one can do it. I don't see that separation between say the top 10, 15 players in the world. Obviously you're seeing guys -- it doesn't matter what your rank, you see guys that show up at a TOUR event, anyone can really win. It's just how deep the fields are. And it shows you how much better Tiger really was than the majority of players in the early 2000s. I don't see it being very likely, but it's definitely not impossible to have an eight- or nine-win season. Q. Do you envision yourself doing it at any stage? RICKIE FOWLER: I would love to do it. I think, boy, the most I've had is three wins in a season. I'm talking all around. THE PLAYERS, Scottish and Boston. Yeah, three is not enough. Five and six is a pretty special year. You get past that mark, just go hang up the clubs and go hang at the beach. Q. You're still considered -- I feel like you've been out here for awhile now -- RICKIE FOWLER: I'm a Vet, yeah. Q. You're a Vet, but you're still considered part of the young guys -- RICKIE FOWLER: I try and hang around the young guys as much as I can. Q. It's interesting. It's interesting to see the evolution of like your group of peers, like Jordan and Justin, and the way you guys hang out. And have you noticed that culture shift a bit from when you were a rookie? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I was always hanging in a way with guys that were older than me. I was one of the youngest guys on TOUR. And I still hang with guys that have been out here for a long time to guys that are coming in and I would say I'm kind of somewhat in the middle. And it's fun. Just being able to play with your buddies and some of the best players in the world, and ultimately, we're just kind of trying to push each other to be the best that we can be. And I feel like I kind of have had that at every level along the way. I had a really good high school team and we all pushed each other. And going to college at Oklahoma State, we had such a good team that we just tried to beat up each other at home as much as we could, ultimately make each other better. And at a time if you beat all your teammates, you're in a good spot. Being out here, having a good group of buddies, whether it's on the road or back home in Jupiter, playing, practicing with these guys, I think it's very useful and I think we're using it the right way. We're keeping it fun, enjoying it. And, yeah, I think it is -- it's a great way to get the most out of each other and I think it's a great way for me to get the most out of me talent-wise as a golfer. Q. I feel like you kind of led that. You perhaps maybe led that movement a bit, since you're a little bit older in terms of like this cultural shift on TOUR, if that makes any sense. When you were a rookie it wasn't that often that guys would be hanging around the green waiting for people to finish. Where I feel like now it's like a weekly thing and that's pretty cool. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, there's definitely different, not groups, guys have their two, three, or four close friends out here maybe, and I feel like I get along with just about anyone. I don't think I have any beef with anyone out there. If so, we'll clear it up. No, I enjoy seeing my buddies play well, but I enjoy it more when I get to beat them. So finally getting to have JT and Jordan congratulate me at the Hero, felt good. I need to do that some more. Make them wait around. Q. Justin was just in here saying that parts of his game he wanted to improve. One of the things he pointed out was he wants a sand game like yours, the way you play out of bunkers. What stands out to you as part as his game specifically? RICKIE FOWLER: I think for me on JT, whenever we have chipping contest -- I feel like I'm a good chipper and pitcher of the ball and I feel like I chip better in tournaments if I need to. But when we're at home I don't know if I've ever beat him in a chipping contest. So he chips and putts -- he pitches the ball well where he doesn't have to make many putts, because he chips them close enough. Also, I would say his kind of short and mid iron game, I feel like he kind of -- if you were to say proximity to hole, he's typically a very good ball striker in that area, whether that's say a 100 to 200 yards. Obviously he hits it long and straight, I mean there's, I would say those would be the strong points. JOHN BUSH: Rickie, thanks for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|