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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 4, 2018

Rickie Fowler

Carmel, Indiana

JACK RYAN: We'd like to welcome Rickie Fowler to the 2018 BMW Championship. Rickie missed the first events of the FedExCup Playoffs with an injury.

Rickie, if we could get an opening comment on making your return and how you're feeling right now.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, glad to be back. I feel like I'm definitely a lot more rested and ready to go than most guys here, I'm sure. It's been, I know, a big stretch, obviously the season, it wasn't planned to miss but it could end up being a good thing with the stretch we have coming up this week and Tour Championship and Ryder Cup right around the corner.

So, glad to be back, healthy. I feel like my health is always the priority first and foremost. Nice to be back without pain.

JACK RYAN: You mentioned the Tour Championship coming up. You're still inside the Top 30 in the FedExCup standings. How important is it for you to play well this week and secure your spot at East Lake in two weeks?

RICKIE FOWLER: You know, it's one of the reasons I wanted to try and get back early enough to where we can secure a spot for East Lake. We have some work to do this week and I think, ultimately, I'd like to not just get into East Lake but put myself in a good position to have a chance there.

So, we've fallen back a little bit these last two weeks but no reason we can't play well here, I've played well here in the past and go give ourselves a real legitimate shot going into East Lake.

JACK RYAN: We'll take some questions out here.

Q. What exactly happened, was it a single moment over time and was there any chance you could have played last week?
RICKIE FOWLER: There was -- it was probably -- it probably -- it was my right oblique. Probably got stressed out over time. It's not something that's just going to happen right there.

But I felt it, I remember exactly when and where I was, 7th tee, 6-iron at Akron on Saturday and I had felt a little bit of maybe discomfort there leading into it but that was where I really felt it and played through it Saturday there and Sunday and then tried to rest and recover as much as I could going to the PGA.

I actually played teeing it up on Thursday, I hadn't seen most of the front-9 because we went to play 9 holes Tuesday. There was a weather delay so I saw the first two holes there and was able to go out and play the back-9 on Wednesday.

So actually some of the best golf I played was actually on the holes that I hadn't seen. But it was nice to just kind of fight our way through the PGA week, get to -- kind of the most I could get out of it and then get home and try and rest and rehab as much as possible.

It probably would have been possible to play last week but I didn't start playing until Wednesday of last week. It was nice, like I said, to come back and not have pain but I wouldn't have been able to be prepared to play a tournament.

It would be more going up and just seeing what would happen but it wouldn't have been, you know, the normal prep of going into a tournament and knowing exactly what you have and ready to go play Friday.

Q. Rickie, in your absence Bryson has been going crazy, as we go. How impressive has he been the last two weeks and what will he bring to the U.S. Ryder Cup team?
RICKIE FOWLER: You know, he's been, I mean, nothing short of impressive, to win back to back especially in The Playoffs, you know, with the points coming to an end for the Ryder Cup team right before and then stepping up and going and winning twice, you know, I think he -- I mean made a pretty strong case of why he should be on the team.

So, you know, not that it was, you know, maybe perfect golf, no one plays perfect golf, but the way he either hung around, put together a solid, great round when he needed to to get himself maybe back in the mix and then to, you know, go out with the lead or get the lead and maintain that. It was definitely impressive to watch. He answered a lot of questions I think for a lot of people the last two weeks.

Q. Just go back to your oblique for a second. Can you kind of detail what kind of therapy and rehab you had to do and how extensive it was?
RICKIE FOWLER: Luckily a doctor friend of ours, Dr. "Theofalus", him and his wife, Kathy, are good friend of ours down in Jupiter. He's actually a spinal neurosurgeon.

They have a laser machine that I was able to go use, you know, two, three times a day for basically the last three weeks and so with that and then really it was on the ice quite a bit to start off the first week to make sure that the inflammation was down as well as Advil and then I was able to kind of bring in the heat to kind of help speed up the healing process, and really it was between that and just the rest.

I checked, the first time I checked swinging was actually Wednesday, Thursday of Northern Trust, still could feel it a bit, not as bad as it was, and then I checked it again Sunday before Boston and still felt like we were in a spot that yeah, I probably could have gone and played but the whole outlook on it was, you know, as I mentioned earlier my health being -- kind of main focus and making sure this wasn't something that was going to pop back up, and I didn't want to go in unprepared or having the thought in the back of my mind, you know, if I started to feel something, is this going to get worse?

Ultimately we didn't want to have the oblique fully torn. So with the partial tear, just kind of, you know rest, rehab and the treatment.

And so, like I said, to come back last week, I played Wednesday through Saturday to try and simulate playing 72 holes throughout four days and everything felt good so I'm glad with the timing and where we're at.

You know, I was talking to Jim, Captain Furyk over the few weeks while we're at home and he sent me something in the text that definitely I think helped my decision with not playing Boston. It was something he heard from Davis. He said, "No one has ever said they come back from injury too late."

So that was having any doubt about Boston, that's what kind of helped make the decision, let's make sure we're good to go for these final two Playoff events and especially the Ryder Cup.

Q. What was the greatest level of discomfort then that you felt at Bellerive and how is it feeling by the end of the tournament?
RICKIE FOWLER: Probably the best it felt was Sunday of Bellerive. I kind of had to go into somewhat protection mode. I was taped up fairly good to, you know, help make sure I wasn't going to stress that area too much.

I was still able to get pretty much full numbers with irons. Driver I just -- the longer the club got the more stress it would really get and so I was able to manage it to where it wasn't too painful, it was more just where it would kind of come into play in the swing, which was middle of the down swing, which is you'd rather something happen after impact.

Like I said, we managed our way around I felt like the best we could. It was nice to be in the mix but, unfortunately, we didn't have a hundred percent, you know, good health the week of our last Major but, you know, now I mean it's completely different from how it feels now versus what it felt like at the PGA.

So, I would say we're -- I haven't gotten a second MRI to see how well it has healed but I would say I'm, you know, close to a hundred percent.

Q. I was just about to ask, is there any risk in reinjuring the area over these next couple of weeks and did any part of you just think about shutting it down until the Ryder Cup?
RICKIE FOWLER: I think ultimately I wanted to try and get back as soon as I could in a way to make sure that I didn't -- I didn't really want to go into the Ryder Cup having five weeks off away from competitive golf. I enjoy playing into Major events, and not that I wouldn't have been ready for Ryder Cup, but I think it was more -- it was more between last week and this week and, as I said, with any doubt in my mind, it was the right decision not to play last week, just to make sure that, you know, we weren't going to stress it too early and ultimately bring the potential of another injury into play.

So I feel like we're in a really good spot now. Like I said, no pain, you know, still not -- I wouldn't say that I'll be trying to step on a driver if there's a carry. But, like I said, you know, still hitting full numbers at the PGA with irons, having no problems with that, and I'm hitting full numbers.

I just won't try and reach back and go after a driver a hundred percent. Play to my strengths and I don't look at where I'm at right now, I don't have any, you know, fear in the back of my head of reinjuring right now.

Q. You look terrified right now, just for the record.
If you go back to 8 years ago, you're a PGA TOUR rookie, haven't won yet, never played in a Ryder Cup.

Were you surprised you were picked and why do you think you were picked?

RICKIE FOWLER: I look at that pick. I wasn't going to be surprised either way. Being a rookie, I knew that I was potentially on the outside looking in.

It was a risk that Corey took and was willing to take and I think maybe seeing something in me I feel like I've heard from a few -- I guess we've had a few Captains since then, but as far as someone that's great in the team room, locker room, easy to pair and, you know, not necessarily causing a problem as far as not being able to just play with one guy or have one partner. I'm kind of a rover.

The whole Furyk and I playing together my first Ryder Cup, that was never planned. With the weather delays that kind of threw some mixes and matches that weren't necessarily supposed to happen, having everyone play on the golf course at the same time.

So, I look at that as, you know, compliments and something if you know where I guess some of the Captains -- lot of the Captains said it's a blessing but it also makes it hard to not necessarily having that one specific guy you play with and being able to play with a lot of guys on the team.

So, I definitely enjoyed the Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups, they were the best weeks of the year. So, I'm just glad that I didn't have to put Furyk in a spot where he had to pick me.

Q. You clearly have gotten more comfortable with pressure over the last 8 years. What's the difference for you, just the experience or something else you've learned in the process?
RICKIE FOWLER: I definitely become a lot better player, a lot more consistent. I know my game a lot better and, you know, definitely the experience -- the experience never hurts.

I've become more and more comfortable, especially being in bigger situations, being in contention at Majors and, you know, with The Players win in '15 and going on to win after that, experience never hurts and I think that's probably been one of the biggest things, the more times you get there the more and more comfortable you get.

Q. Rickie, this week there's three long par-3s, all over 215 yards. What are you going to do to prepare for those tough par-3s?
RICKIE FOWLER: I take middle of the green on all of them for four days. And I played the back-9 this morning and the first par-3 back there, I just hit, it was a smooth 4-iron to the middle of the green there, and 17 today was playing into the wind and I hit a good 4-iron that came up short so I had to take a headcover off and hit a 5-wood. It was a soft one but I hit it in the middle of the green.

I mean the biggest thing on those par-3s, I mean you end up making a long putt, great, you're going to make up at least a shot on the field. But middle of the green and two putts and walk away and I'll be happy.

JACK RYAN: Anymore questions for Rickie? All right. Thanks for your time, Rickie. Best of luck this week.

RICKIE FOWLER: Thanks.

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