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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPENFebruary 2, 2018Rickie FowlerJim ConnellScottsdale, Arizona Q. Back-to-back 66. Very strong front nine. What unfolded on the back nine? RICKIE FOWLER: Nothing really, I mean still made some good swings. Funky little chip on 17 where we were in a good position to make birdie there, after putting myself in a great spot, so a little unfortunate to make bogey. Other than that I feel like it was a solid day. Kept moving in the right direction. Nice to step up and make a good swing on 18, give ourselves a look at the last. We're in a good spot going into the weekend and this is spot that we know we can play well in. Q. That's for sure. TPC Scottsdale, 11 straight rounds, 70 or better. What is the key to your consistency here? RICKIE FOWLER: I just feel like I'm comfortable on this golf course, I've had quite a few rounds here and there's been a lot of good ones. So, no, I'm looking forward to getting out this weekend, I know I can play well here and we'll piece together the nines at some point. Yesterday we started on the back and got off to a decent start there and cooled down a little bit on the front. Today played the front well and I think that's going to be key this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, being that we'll be off No. 1, if I can go out and get off to a good solid start, play the back nine a little better this weekend. Q. You said earlier in the week it's just a matter of time before you win this tournament. Clearly you played well here before, so what's the mindset going into the weekend to try to get that done? RICKIE FOWLER: Just keep the gas pedal down. Once we started making birdies at Tiger's event in the Bahamas that was kind of the whole game plan was just keep going. Like I said, we'll piece two nines together at some point and we'll have some fun tomorrow and hopefully put ourselves in a good spot for Sunday. Q. Second consecutive round of 66. Give us your thoughts on this one. RICKIE FOWLER: Well this one I got off to a little bit better start than yesterday. I parred the first five yesterday starting on 10, but playing the first six 4-under was a nice way to start the day. It would have been nice to close a little bit better, but still put ourselves in a great spot for the weekend and we were able to capitalize and put two nines together over the weekend instead of the first two days. We can live with where we're at and better golf ahead. Q. These greens are really difficult to read yet you seem to putt beautifully here year after year. What's the secret? RICKIE FOWLER: I see them well. This was a fun little putt, it broke right early and just drifted back at the end. I think it was left edge overall. I just feel like I've seen these greens well and I guess they don't surprise me much with random hitting the putt somewhere thinking it's going to break, I don't get surprised a whole lot here and it's a good thing. So it is fun to be at a course where you have good memories tee to green but also on the greens and making putts. Q. Although you enjoy the atmosphere at 16, some of the negative comments you didn't particularly enjoy. You quite enjoyed it there today. Tell us about this one. RICKIE FOWLER: Well, we had more people in there so it's better that way, then it's constant noise, you don't hear anyone shouting or anything like that. I was a little disappointed, they were loud and then as I was about to pull the club back they kind of quieted off. So they need to keep the noise up. It also helps when you're in between clubs and you need to get a little extra out of a 9-iron. Q. Tee shot on 17 down the left-hand side and then the chip was kind of peculiar, it seemed to come out funny. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it did. It's back up the hill and it's really steep right here so I was trying to make sure I carried it above that. And with it being uphill I didn't think I needed to try and spin the ball much, I thought I needed to let it chase up there. And then this all runs away past the hole. So just a little, I flew the pitch a little too far and just misjudged it a little bit. And this one here, it was back, it was super spongy on the hill and just didn't kick up the way I wanted to. Felt like I hit a decent putt, but it all added up to five, a bogey. Q. The commentators were telling the story of the young boy on your hat there, young Griffin who we lost recently. You described him as your No. 1 fan. How inspirational was he to you in the brave way that he fought? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, just to see how he fought and what he was going through, to seeing him here every year, whether he was kind of walking or on the tricycle or wagon or whatever it was he was getting around with his parents and family and, yeah, just made you kind of look over and appreciate what we have, what we get to do and I think people get down on life a little too much and when you see someone going through that and fighting for their life. And to have him as my fan, like I claimed him as my No. 1 fan, just because of how into it he was and the support that he gave us, he was pretty special. It was something that myself, Joe, my caddie, everyone on my team, my family and friends, I've been around him a bit over the last few years and Griffin definitely touched a lot of our lives. Q. Another round of 66 today. A little different round, a sizzling front nine for you, was it tough to keep that pace up that you had on the front nine going? RICKIE FOWLER: Yes and no. I made some good swings, made the birdie on 10, thought I made a good swing off the tee on 11, it got a little further right than we thought which led to bogey there. But other than that made some good swings on the back, kind of kept moving forward, had a couple putts that we just missed, a little miscue/misjudgment on 17. Other than that, I'm happy with where we're at and how we played. Haven't exactly pieced two nines together yet and nice to have had a good back nine, which starting on there yesterday and then today getting off to a good start on the front nine. So I think that's going to be big is playing the front nine well over the next two days, especially tomorrow getting ourselves in a good spot and being in that spot and going out and getting off to a good start on Sunday as well. Q. The fans here, a little different atmosphere but particularly the young fans here all these kids wearing the P hats out there, the Puma hat with the P on it and you have a special person on your hat that you're honoring this week. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's always energetic, lively, however you want to put it here. It gets interesting at times too, but it's been fun to see the fan support grow for me over the past years. And definitely one of the biggest fans of mine, Griffin, passed away last week. He was someone that was here every tournament of the Phoenix Open for the past four or five years, following us around in the pro-am and through the tournament as much as he could. So it was an unfortunate loss to have to happen a week before the tournament, but his family, they're out here and able to kind of spend some time watching the golf and at the tournament where Griffin definitely had some great times and great memories. So he's someone that will always be with us and we're definitely going to miss him. Q. (No Microphone.) RICKIE FOWLER: Got off to a nice start, didn't, the first three holes I didn't hit great tee balls but kind of managed the first hole's pine with a back pin, didn't matter if you were in the rough, you could still kind of get your self back up there. I happened to just make a great putt. Good up-and-down on 2. Put myself in a good position on 3 to hit a wedge in there close and kind of get things going. So made some really good swings on the front nine. More so approaches to give myself good looks. Felt like we were in a good spot on the back nine as well, a couple bad swings, but more just didn't capitalize on a couple opportunities. So all in all it's nice to have, play the back nine well yesterday, going out on 10, and today starting on 1, played that nine well. So we'll piece them together this weekend and it will be fun. Q. As chaotic as this environment can be, how do you find some comfort out there? RICKIE FOWLER: I enjoy it more when it's the louder it gets and kind of the more people, just because then you don't hear the stupid comments that people may shout, which does happen, it's kind of the atmosphere, but when there are this many people it kind of gets drown out so it's more fun when it's loud. Especially 16 when you kind of get the crowd going and then it's just constant noise, you don't hear people grabbing ice or opening drinks in the background or people shouting, it's just loud. Q. What's the challenge having your threesome tournament into a twosome right before you're set to tee off? RICKIE FOWLER: It's unfortunate to not have Hideki with us today. Hopefully -- I don't know if it was his hand or wrist, or where exactly that's bothering him -- but we don't want to have him away from the game for too long. Maybe it was just a little bit too much pain to really go through. So hopefully he's back playing here in the next couple weeks. I'm not sure where he's scheduled to play. But it wasn't bad. We waited quite a bit, but at the same time it kind of made it nice to put a little gap in between each shot and stay patient and re-gather and make sure we didn't get moving too quickly and get ahead of ourselves. So I think we both Webb and I kind of knew what it was going to be like, so it wasn't bad. Q. Talk about trying to piece together those two rounds, on Thursday back nine and the front nine today, how do you do that? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, the good thing is it's starting well, so I know I can play the back nine well. The big tee shots are really 11 and 14. Those are probably two of the harder tee shots on the course. Other than that, it's nice that we're starting off well. A lot of times if you can't go get the front nine, at any tournament, you feel like you're kind of behind the eight ball and falling back. So we'll continue to get off to good starts. Q. Is there any frustration with not extending the lead over those last couple holes or do you just focus on the fact that you are the tournament leader? RICKIE FOWLER: I don't think it really matters being one ahead, three ahead, just go out tomorrow and try and piece together both nines and put together a good round and whether that puts us further out in front or behind someone, the biggest thing coming into a tournament is putting yourself in a position to win come Sunday. So hopefully I'm not in a position like the Bahamas where I need to shoot 60 or whatever, 61, whatever it was, wouldn't like to have to do that much work. No, I'm looking forward to it. I know I can play this golf course well, we had a lot of good rounds here, so, no, right now being one out to whether I could have got it to three or four, we're still going to have -- it's halfway, we still got a lot of work to do. Q. What would it mean to your family if you were able to take home a win? RICKIE FOWLER: Well this is a place that, from the first couple times I played it, knew it was just kind of a matter of time before I would win here. I know I can win here, I put myself in position plenty of times. So, no, it would be a perfect week to do it. Thunderbirds have always been great to me, giving me a sponsor exemption here back when I was in school at Oklahoma State. And since I don't play as many tournaments on the West Coast, I get a lot of friends and family that come out here, so it makes for a fun Sunday night. Even though we, I have a shoot on Monday, so wouldn't be too much fun, but, no, this is a special place and having some people out following and supporting, it would make it that much more special. Q. With that said real quick, a lot of people asked Rickie this week about the young man on his hat. Griffin Connell, who unfortunately passed away this week, near and dear to Rickie's heart. We have got Jim we would like to bring up for just a minute who is here. Just a couple of comments. Obviously Rickie playing as well as he has and how special it is, given everything. JIM CONNELL: Well, we sure think that everything that Rickie and Joe have done for Griff through the years is just phenomenal. And I don't think it's a coincidence he's playing so well this week either, Griffin, he's not here with us, but we know he's watching from above and in a wonderful place. And he inspired a lot of people. It's very, very heart warming for our family to see all the out pouring and just the support that and the friendship. So it's wonderful. Q. What is it like to know that Rickie Fowler has such an influence and your son had such an influence on his game? JIM CONNELL: It's pretty overwhelming. But at the same time, Griff, he only ever saw Rickie and Joe as his buddies and that was the coolest thing is that he was just such a presence and for a kid who he never spoke a word, with his condition, but he communicated beautifully and never met anybody he didn't consider a friend. So that's just the most wonderful thing about this. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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