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SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN

November 2, 2018

Rickie Fowler

Las Vegas, Nevada

Q. Talk about the difference in today and yesterday. The wind machine was turned off, wasn't it?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I always enjoy playing in the wind. Yesterday it was kind of gusting up from a couple different areas, and then we're trying to figure out elevation. I got up here Tuesday. Shaking some cobwebs and some rust off, but definitely enjoying being in this Vegas.

Lived out here for a year after I turned pro. It's nice to be back. I feel like we're off to a solid start first two days. Like I said, after basically coming off not playing a whole lot of golf, I'm happy where we're at.

Q. Can you be aggressive on a day like today when you know wind is down? The second nine especially were you really going at the sticks?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I put myself in some good positions to do so. Felt like we had better control on numbers today and controlling our distances.

There was a few spots where I was able to take advantage and be aggressive, but you do have to I guess play smart at times. There are a few holes if you get out of position they can jump up and get you pretty quickly.

Q. That was a pretty good shot at No. 9 from the trees over there up on the green. That was not an ordinary second shot.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, no, I drew a nice lie. It was sitting on a little bit of an upslope. I had some branches on the follow-through. Tried not to think about those too much.

Actually described it I hit it perfect. I opened up 4-iron a little bit, tried to get it to start a little higher, jump a little bit, but float and draw. Sounds complicated, but turned out all right. It was perfect.

Q. It was a great shot. Tell me this: Being a Vegas guy or at least having lived here, do you go out to shows? What do you do tonight? Relax?
RICKIE FOWLER: We haven't had time yet. Tonight we may go down and do dinner down on the strip. No booze definitely. Vegas has great food. I'm not sure if we'll get to a show tonight. Potentially a show or hockey game tomorrow night.

Yeah, if you got free time there is plenty to do here in Vegas. Going to try to make the most of it, and I think we're going to try to stay Sunday night before flying down to Mayakoba on Monday.

Q. Wow. Great city, isn't it?
RICKIE FOWLER: It is. Like I said, there is always something to do. It's hot in the summer but pools are open. Those are crazy, but they can be fun if you do them right with a group of friends.

Worst case you stay inside and maybe play some black jack or craps and have some a good time that way.

Q. What comes to your mind about your first two rounds here in Vegas?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's nice to get some rust off. There is still a little bit more that needs to get shaken off, but I'm happy with where we're at. Two decent rounds of golf. Definitely happy about the one yesterday getting off to a slow start and making things happen and at least finishing off and turning a potentially bad round into a decent round.

So I'm happy with where we are. Get some putts to go in and we'll be in a great spot for Sunday.

Q. When you have rust, where is it in your game it shows up? Around the greens or...
RICKIE FOWLER: I think it kind of depends. Sometimes certain things -- yeah, sometimes it's one or the other. Sometimes might not be driving it how you want to. Right now I'm hitting solid golf shots. Putter is typically one of my strong parts of the game. Felt like I've been hitting good putts. A little off. Pushed a few early, left-to-righters. Not good when you push a left-to-righter. You usually miss.

And then it's tough chipping out here, so it's not necessarily easy to just say the short game is off. I hit some good bunker shots; I missed both putts when I had the looks to save par. Like I said, the rough is spotty. You get some interesting lies. It's really grainy and that thatchy around the greens, so you will probably see some interesting chip shots as far as how they look coming from professional golfers. I know I had at least one that was -- didn't even get to the green.

No, so can't blame a whole lot on the short game. You can get some interesting lies. The biggest thing for me so far this week rust-wise, get the putter going.

Q. You're likely to be in really good spot going into the weekend. Do you ramp it up now?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I've had success here. I know I can go play this golf course. The big thing I think was obviously not going out and having it go the wrong way and then you don't have a weekend tee time.

First and foremost, take care of business and move forward and make sure we have a Saturday tee time, play some solid golf, eliminate mistakes. I think we did a pretty good job of that. A lot of bogeys just came from maybe just missing a line. Yesterday was a couple number judgments based on elevation and wind.

Other than that, if we would have made some putts would be in a really good spot. Save them for the weekend.

Q. You lived here in Vegas for a year. Now I think you're back out at the Summit. What's the most interesting thing that you see about actually living in Las Vegas?
RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, yeah, lived here for a year. It's a great spot. I spent most of my time up in the Summerlin area. A lot of people think, Yeah, you lived in Vegas. Must have been crazy and a lot of stuff going on. I mean, I went down to the strip to have dinner with my golf team once in the time that I lived here for the year.

Yeah, I'm an owner -- I have a condo that will be finished I think in 2020 up at the Summit. I've lived in Florida; been there I guess ten years now, so that'll continue to be our kind of home space. That's where we spend the most time.

Kind of looking forward to the Summit getting built out and finished and potentially spend a little more time over there.

Q. It's been a couple weeks now since the Ryder Cup. What's the first thing looking back reminiscing about that experience and everything that goes into it, during it, and the post-round second guessing, et cetera?
RICKIE FOWLER: No second guessing. We had a great time over there as a team. I know there was some stuff that came out, rumors or whatnot; a lot of stuff that was definitely not true. I think there was some stuff said. Who cares?

I know I had a great time we had a great captain. Had a great time with the guys on the team. No regrets. We just got to beat. We didn't play well enough. They made more putts than us so they won and we didn't. That's the way it goes.

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