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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

January 31, 2020

Rickie Fowler

Scottsdale, Arizona

Q. Nice turnaround today. Got off to that really hot start. 6-under making the turn. What was the difference between yesterday and today?
RICKIE FOWLER: Really, just driver. I've been playing the new Xtreme driver with Cobra, been driving it really well. And the two days that I haven't driven it well were Thursday last week and Thursday this week. So other than yesterday to today, just put myself in play and was able to just work my way around the golf course. So it was nice to be playing from the fairway and actually be able to move forward out there. And like you said, got off to a really good start, 6-under on our front nine, the back nine, which is normally the way we play it out here. And nice to get a tee time for Saturday.

Q. Are these green speeds, they seem to be kind of challenging out there this week. They seem to be a lot faster than maybe a lot of players think and in some spots seems like putting is a bit of a challenge this week.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I can see that. And you got to be careful at times, there are some where it gets a little shiny and runs away from you and you can definitely get a ball that runs 6, 8, 10 feet by the hole pretty quickly. Luckily I've been on the good side of these greens. I feel like I know them pretty well. I've made a lot of putts out here. I feel like I've done a pretty good job on them so far. A couple 3-putts were just either bad putts or little misreads. But other than that, I'm happy to not be sitting on the weekend, like I said.

Q. You got a new TaylorMade golf ball. In fact, it's got a design on it. What's behind that design?
RICKIE FOWLER: So TaylorMade Pix. They came out with their first version last year, which was a little bit more of an X logo and can act as visual aid with putting. There's kind of a tracking with the orange on the triangles that kind of creates halos on the outside. Really, for me, after hitting chips with it for five minutes or so, you don't really even pay much attention to it. And sometimes when you go back and chip with a white ball, to me, it looked like it was just blank. So it's been fun. Been working on this with TaylorMade for almost a year now and to see it kind of all come together and be able to launch it this week. Nice to finally get a good round out of it too. Yesterday was kind of a fluke.

So all good. Yeah, I'm excited with the ball. There's a lot of potential and possibilities where we can go from here with it.

Q. It was really solid day. A lot different than just another day, getting out of bed on the right side today. There was a lot to it. The challenge yesterday, chipping the ball, 1-7, I think I heard the numbers were. But I heard you talking about the driver.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, chipping, I can get away with that if I was driving it better than I was yesterday. Unfortunately, I was, it wasn't like I was trying to get up-and-down for birdies on par-5s, I struggled off the tee yesterday. There was a couple key tee balls on the back that I got the ball in play and started to drive a little bit better as we came in, which kind of led into today. But, yeah, that's what really held me back yesterday was off the tee. And, yeah, I would say, I mean, the scrambling, 1-7 is not where we want to be. I was in some tough positions yesterday, which kind of started from the driving. So I'm happy with today, coming back, playing well on the front nine to make it a little easier. But just happy with how we turned the driver around. That allowed us to go do what we did today and I think we got some low ones in us this weekend.

Q. That great back nine you shot started the day today. And then 1, 2, 3 wow, that could have been a little different. You're probably thinking about that a little.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, you obviously, you've got to get the ball in the fairway. I had a good look on 1. 2, got in the rough and had to just play for long there to pitch back to that front pin. And then the 3-putt on 3. So it is what it is. I'm happy with the way we fought today and at least to get a tee time for Saturday.

Q. I want to thank you for the golf ball that you gave us, which is really, really cool. The best thing about it is, is it available to the public, your ball, right now? Can they have this one with the color and everything?
RICKIE FOWLER: That's the stock Pix ball that will be in production and I'm assuming it's being launched. It was launched this week, obviously, with us out here. But, yes, that will be on shelves. And, yeah, I think there's going to be a lot more that we're going to be able to do with the ball and with different logos on there, but that's the production one for now.

Q. How was today, just bouncing back after yesterday?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it was nice. Just drove it a lot better today. I drove it poorly yesterday and just kind of put myself in tough positions. So had to just try and salvage what we could yesterday and then come back out today, try and look at it as a new day, and I think we did a good job of that. So just happy that we were able to get through it and then get a tee time for tomorrow.

Q. Outside of driving yesterday, was there anything in particular that just was kind of holding you up on some of those bogeys?
RICKIE FOWLER: You could turn to a lot of different things, but if I just drive it better, I'm not in those positions. So that was the big thing. I was just getting out of position off the tee, which then kind of put me in a position where I had to fight for making pars. I wasn't getting many times where I was having birdie looks and so that makes it tough. It's hard to keep the momentum going when you're having to try and make putts for par. So today, it was nice to hit more fairways, hit more greens, keep it fairly stress-free and move forward.

Q. Do you go to those holes thinking eagle?
RICKIE FOWLER: No, I mean, 13 and 15, I mean, the biggest, the big key there is getting the ball in play. So yesterday I did drive the ball well on both those holes, but today I was able to take advantage of the second shots a little bit more and then made good putts on top of that. So, no, you're looking at those as birdie holes. I mean, eagle's a bit of a bonus, especially on 13. It's hard to hit that green and hold it in two.

Q. Are you hitting the same club on the second shots on each of those two holes?
RICKIE FOWLER: No. Today I hit 3-wood into 13 and I hit 4-iron into 15.

Q. We talk so much about what it's like to be a golfer on the 16th hole, but I'm wondering, what do you think it would be like to be a sign holder there with the quiet please signs on a Saturday when you know that no one's going to listen to you?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's kind of a pointless job. To me, on 16 there shouldn't be any quiet signs. It's just, you get what you get. For me, I mean, I wish the music was louder in there. And then I like, I get the people to just yell and then the noise is constant. You can adjust and get used to constant noise. It's when you get someone that yells when it is somewhat quiet or they're mixing drinks in the background. So almost the more noise the better there because then you can't hear the random people shouting.

Q. Talking to Tony and he says he loves being paired with you. He had nothing but great things to say about you, but he also says that, for whatever reason, he doesn't always play well when he's paired with you. Are you happy for him to have some success?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, finally. We've played together a handful of times, and he's just not had the best of days with me. It's nothing to do with us not liking each other or getting along. We're good buddies. So I was pumped for him yesterday to finally get past that. I don't think he had broken 75 with me or something like that. I wasn't aware of it. It was, we found out from his caddie awhile back. And then I had heard that he hadn't made the cut here in a few years, so killed two birds with one stone this week, so happy for him and hopefully he'll go have a good weekend.

Q. On 16, what was the most craziest thing you saw out there today?
RICKIE FOWLER: 16 was mellow today because we were going through there, it's 9:30 maybe. So, yeah, it's hard for people to have too many drinks in them at that point. This afternoon it's obviously a different scene, especially tomorrow. So as far as me, I didn't see anything too crazy. Yeah, some guys this afternoon, I'm sure they will have some stories for you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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