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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2018

Rickie Fowler

Augusta, Georgia

Q. Conditions obviously much different than yesterday. Talk about the conditions and how they affected you.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I mean you had a little bit more breeze consistently throughout the day. We had it kind of lay down later in the afternoon as we were playing later on the back nine. Today ‑‑ it's supposed to stay up the rest of the day. I'd say it's pretty similar for everyone throughout the day. No benefit really, I don't think, to the tee times. It's a very fine line out there as far as it's there. You hit good shots and you can get the ball close, but you're going to see some balls catching ridges and shots that are just a little bit off and end up pretty far from the hole, especially when it's going downhill and with the wind. You'll see some guys maybe leave putts short downhill that are back into up the wind, you get a little bit of a gust. And once the wind gets to 8 or so, where it is now, and above, gusts up a little over 10, it's enough when the greens are as dry as they are on top, and as quick as they are, to get quite a bit of‑‑ the ball gets affected quite a bit. And so it makes it tough. It makes it kind of a mental grind, just because you may not get the result you think you're going to get. You might get tricked a few times out there. But that's kind of the fun part of this.

Q. Talk about that big save on 6.
RICKIE FOWLER: The save on 6, I felt like I hit a great chip shot. I didn't think it was going to have any problems staying up top. And I felt like I was playing on the conservative side, but that just shows you how quick they are once they get going, and once they just start to catch the ridge. There's nowhere they're staying. So make that putt. I know the putt well. Obviously everyone hits it in practice rounds. But the hole, it was a nice bonus, and kind of kept me moving forward. I felt like I had a lot of good looks after that. I was able to make one on 8. Had some good looks on the back nine. And just wasn't able to make a whole lot.
Happy where we're at after two rounds, definitely looking forward to the weekend and the putts are definitely due to fall.

Q. What was it about the holes today and how tough is it when you get that right off the bat?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, 1 is, obviously, not an easy hole. So that being the starting hole, a little downwind. I chose to go with 3‑wood off the tee, just to give myself a little bit wider of a fairway. And if you miss the fairway obviously it creates trouble right there from the get‑go with the pin front left. It's not exactly a pin that's hard to get close to. I would say for the most part when you see guys miss the fairway or try to get the ball back in play, they're trying to go to the front right of the green where they can either putt or chip up the hill. I ended up in a bad spot left. I thought I hit a decent shot, the wind didn't really hold it. It was supposed to be a little out of the left. Hit a great putt for par, just missed. It's always been a tough starting hole. But that front left pin is I think the hardest location on the green.

Q. Do you feel you got as much out of the round as you could?
RICKIE FOWLER: Tee to green I did a great job, I feel like. Six was really the only one that fooled me with the wind. I thought it was going to be off to the right, it was supposed to be, and somehow it pushed it right. So that's where I got a little thrown off there. Other than that I feel like we did a good job. Hitting both par‑5s on the back nine, kind of the putter, get a couple to go, having those three three‑putts in four holes, which was 13, 15, 16. So, we'll make some more over the weekend.

Q. Phil obviously had good fun out of the last couple of months. What did you see out of his performance these two rounds here?
RICKIE FOWLER: It just seemed like he wasn't completely comfortable off the tee. I'm sure you could see from the coverage he was in some tough spots off the tee. And it's not fun when you're playing on a course out of position. He's obviously one of the best at it, and he can usually create a lot of things. He ran into a tough one there at No. 9 making triple. But that's sometimes some of the funnest golf to watch, when you see what he can come up with. There were some times out there when he got himself in play, you could see his iron play is on. I think it's just mainly been kind of a driver, for the most part.

Q. Talk about making good decisions this week?
RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like I've done a good job. Yeah, I feel like we've managed our way around the golf course really well. Don't have those three‑putts, even a better spot.

Q. The greens are tough.
RICKIE FOWLER: The greens are very tough. They're a fine line. Not very often do you get a gimme after having anything outside of 20 feet. It's really tough to put it in the two foot circle, just because of how quick they are and the slopes. I'm definitely happy about it. We're in a good spot going into the weekend.

Q. With the weather conditions predicted for tomorrow, how do you mentally prepare for that?
RICKIE FOWLER: Hopefully it's kind of the same for everyone. I'd like for it to either stay consistent throughout the day or if we're playing later, then maybe it clears up for us. No, just play with what we get. I don't mind playing in some weather. I've played some great golf in tough conditions, whether it's wind, rain. I've played The Open Championship and played well in it. Just take it in the right mindset knowing that you just have to go out there and battle it and get the best out of it.

Q. Have you ever played here in kind of like a driving rain?
RICKIE FOWLER: No, I don't think really many of us have played in a windy kind of rainy condition. There's some times you get a little misty or the ground gets a little wet. But it also can benefit if it makes the greens a little bit easier. If they do get a little bit wet and they soften up, they can slow down a little bit. So there are some benefits to having that. But then you deal with the golf ball being wet and you're dealing with more surface on the golf ball and the club face. Controlling the golf ball becomes tough into these greens when you're trying to hit a two or three yard section. But, hey, like I said, we'll see what it is, and go battle through it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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