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THE 148TH OPEN

July 20, 2019

Rickie Fowler

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Q. Did you do enough today?
RICKIE FOWLER: We just gave ourselves a chance. I definitely left some out there but you can always look back and say you left some out there. Thursday, Friday, as well. We went the right direction today, that's for sure. So I felt really good about what we did, especially the back nine, where the swing's at. Actually made some putts today, unlike Thursday and Friday. Regardless of how far back we are we're going to go out there tomorrow and give it a run and leave it all out there, especially with the weather we're supposed to potentially have. You never know what can happen.

Q. What's the worst you faced Thursday and Friday?
RICKIE FOWLER: The worst --

Q. Weather.
RICKIE FOWLER: Worst weather? I felt like yesterday, Friday, I felt like that played out fairly equal throughout the day. I think Thursday was a little bit more of where we may see a little skew in the scores. It seemed like kind of the early and middle got a little bit more weather and wind, not that it was what it obviously can be. It seemed like the late/early was definitely the good wave to be on. But you end up on good sides, bad sides, it can equals out at some point or other.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICKIE FOWLER: I think so. You look at conditions like this and you have to go out there and make birdies to make up ground. I'm not saying that pars will do that tomorrow but when you do or if you make a birdie it's going to make up a lot more ground than what it would be with good scoring conditions like this. So it's obviously just go at it with the right mindset.

Looking back at 2011 with Royal St. Georges, played a heck of a round there on Saturday to move up in contention. Yeah, you've just got to take what you get. That's links golf. That's The Open. There's nothing you can do about it. And go throw the waterproofs on and have fun.

Q. What was the best part of your game today?
RICKIE FOWLER: I would say probably iron play. I hit a lot of good iron shots, especially on the back nine. Hit a lot as far as hitting lines and hitting my spots where I was trying to hit it. It played about as -- probably as far away from links golf as you can get on a links golf course. It was very much in the air today. You had a lot of forced carries with doglegs or mounds or bunkers you're trying to take out of play. And into greens there's a lot of false fronts and run up areas that are pretty steep. It's hard to run golf balls up. So it was a lot more just playing the ball in the air and playing to spots. So it was nice we could adapt to that on a links course. You're used to playing a little more on the ground.

Q. What's it going to be like tomorrow with high winds?
RICKIE FOWLER: Not fun at times. It doesn't -- like I said, this golf course doesn't really give you the option of running golf balls up on a lot of greens unless you hit a really low and really hot one. It benefits it if you can control it through the air. But you start talking with moisture and water on the face and on the golf ball you start losing control there because you can't spin it as much.

It should be interesting. That's where it kind of gets fun.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICKIE FOWLER: Today was really good. Obviously you can look at it and say certain things can be better here and there. But I really like where it's at right now especially the work I put in earlier in the week, seeing that pay off Thursday, Friday. It's just continued to get better. I'm trending the right direction. I think you can see that with the scores as well. I love where it's at. It's definitely back to where I was earlier this year winning at Scottsdale, the Waste Management there. Nice to get some cleanup work done.

Q. Talk about the position you're in, near the top, going into the final round of a major?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I'm going to be a little ways back, probably -- hopefully only four or five, it could be more. But all I can do is go out there tomorrow and just play a damn good round of golf and see what happens. So we'll leave it all out there, have some fun, at least try to in the weather. And that's all we can do.

Q. In regards to your affection for that other school, did Ricky Elliott or anyone else talk to you about wearing orange tomorrow or not wearing orange?
RICKIE FOWLER: No. I obviously know the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland. But a few people told me that being not a local, it doesn't necessarily matter as much or it shouldn't.

So, no, I'll have traditional Sunday orange for you, just because you don't like the orange. We don't like that crimson or whatever you call it.

Q. If I'm not mistaken, I didn't see you on the list for Memphis. You're not going next week?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm not, no. Taking two weeks off. It was really schedule-related, coming back from here, from playing the week before, playing the Scottish Open, getting ready for this week, my main focus being The Open. And getting two weeks off prior to the playoffs.

Q. Are you surprised more guys aren't doing it?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yes and no. We'll look at it as fun going back from here to different time zone playing. Some guys are going from the Deere to here. It's all personal preference.

So I'm looking forward to a little time off and getting ready for the playoffs.

Q. What your first links experience?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yes, that would have been the first true links. I had kind of seen it and obviously watched The Open and seeing kind of how it was played and different shots and how you can hit the ball kind of however you want, you just have to pick it and try and hit the shot and pull it off.

So we got over, we played Royal Dublin and Portmarnock and then County Louth on the way up to County Down. So the first day was we were right off the plane, so that was just more a hit and giggle. But definitely enjoyed it, just going out and having fun with the guys.

I think some of it, too, was the atmosphere, guys like DJ and the guys we had on the team there. It was pretty much immediate.

Q. Do you expect them to change the WGC date and do you hope they do?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm not sure. Obviously I'm not necessarily part of that decision making. I think it would probably be beneficial for the tournament for it didn't follow a major. WGCs are always going to come second to a major. Whatever major is around is going to have the priority. So like I said, that's not up to me.

Q. What's the vibe staying with your buddies in a big house? Is that a big departure from a normal major feeling?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's fun. We all just hang at the house, whether it's in the morning before play. Tonight we'll all have dinner and hang out, whether it's movies or watching some golf. It's a good escape. It's a fun hang. I know we've all enjoyed it the last few years when we've been able to get either a big house or two houses together.

Q. How do you kill time when you're waiting a really long time to tee off?
RICKIE FOWLER: Hang out. Hopefully some of the boys will be going late, as well, or at least not early. We'll hang out in the morning. Typically throw a movie on, whatever it may be, depending on how late I'm going tomorrow. The tee times are going to be an hour and a half earlier so it's not going to be too bad.

Friday when I teed off late I came out and practised a little bit beforehand just to get out and get moving and get off the couch. We'll see what time we're off tomorrow and then decide what we're going to do after that.

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