WORKDAY CHARITY OPEN

July 11, 2020

Rickie Fowler

Q. Just your general assessment of the round today?

RICKIE FOWLER: You know, I'm happy with it. A couple spots where I got out of position. One I made bogey on 4. Outside of that, kept giving myself a lot of good looks, which was key out there today with the wind, so hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and made some putts, had some lip-outs. Overall, I'm happy. I drove the ball well, hit some good iron shots, and like I said, made some putts. I hit good putts all day, so definitely happy with Saturday's 66 and getting myself potentially a chance to give it a run tomorrow.

Q. You started the day 10 back. When did you start thinking you did have a chance this weekend going forward?

RICKIE FOWLER: I knew it was going to take a really good round of golf today because I wasn't necessarily expecting guys to move back, and it's playing tough out there. All I could do was go shoot what I could shoot today. I figured, yeah, anywhere from 6 to 8, plus or minus, I'd take more than 8 if I could, but anything in that area would be a solid round today with the conditions and at least give me a move up the leaderboard and potentially, right now at least, having a shot. But it depends on what these guys do the last six, seven holes.

Q. How far do you think is too far back?

RICKIE FOWLER: I would say probably around six or seven may be too far. But it's been done. It's just a lot more work.

Q. There's a report out today that the PGA TOUR is going to announce Monday that for the rest of the season no fans and no pro-ams. Could I get your comment on that?

RICKIE FOWLER: That's the first I'm hearing of it. I think with everything going on and the health and safety concerns and everything that the TOUR has done up to this point, I've got to stand with them as far as saying it's the right decision, and I think we're seeing that there's been some more spikes and nothing has necessarily calmed down.

In a way, it could have been inevitable at some point with where things were starting to go, but I think the TOUR has done a great job thus far, and everything they've put in place, all the protocols, and sometimes it's on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis trying to learn and progress as we go on. Yeah, like I said, first I'm hearing of it, but I think they've done a great job, and I stand by them with their decision.

Q. Are you still committed to the changes you're working on right now or are there little tweaks and you might be bringing back a few things you were trying to get away from, or are you fully committed?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, fully committed heading forward. It's been a work in progress since it kind of started things back in September last year with Tillery, and for me early on there was stuff that was tough because I feel like my sequencing was a bit off, and it was almost some old tendencies I needed to get back from how my lower body used to work better earlier in my career, and so almost like reprogramming. Yeah, we're heading the right direction, starting to see things pay off, but still got a ways to go.

Q. This was kind of billed as the easier of the two tests at Muirfield this week. Would you agree, disagree with that? Just kind of your assessment on potential comparison of the two weeks?

RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, to me, yes, the original setup this week was intended to be easier, softer greens, a little slower, and then they're going to let the rough grow to next week and ultimately kind of dry the greens out, firm up, get them faster. That's all going to be dictated by weather, though. As we've seen here in the past, we can get some storms and a lot of rain. I'm hoping that we don't get that. I'd love to see some rough and this place firm up a little bit and get faster. So yes, it's supposed to be harder next week, but that's all going to be kind of weather dependent, and there's nothing we can control on that front.

Q. If you could take me through the eagle at 7 and then the birdie putts at 13 and 14.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, 7 I hit a great drive, had a good number, ended up having 4-iron in and hit it left of the hole, which is where you should to have a good look. Although Stewart Cink hit it just short right and I made it first, so I opened the door and he made it right after me, so it was nice to get two eagles there. That was a good way to get the round really moving.

13 and 14, I played the holes how I wanted to. I know a lot of guys on 14 may be going for it. I haven't really seen coverage today, but both 13 and 14 I just put the ball in the position that the pin positions kind of called for and made two really good putts.

Q. Does it ever cross your mind out there that you are sort of playing the Memorial because this is such an unusual situation, just the familiarity with it and where you are with that?

RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, we're playing -- playing against yourself, playing against the course, and then obviously playing against the leaderboard and trying to put yourself in a position to win. It really doesn't matter what course, who you're playing against. The ultimate goal is to have a chance to win on Sunday. This is a little different situation being that we're playing at Muirfield back-to-back weeks, but once I saw this come up, I was all for it. I changed my schedule around a little bit because I was originally going to start out playing four in a row, but being that the success and how much I do like Muirfield, I wanted to be here for two weeks.

Yeah, we'll hit a reset button come tomorrow night with whatever happens, and then we'll get ready for the next tournament. Like I said, just happens to be the same spot, and next week is the Memorial. It's nice to be here at Muirfield, like I said. It's a place that I like, I've played well at and had success at.

Q. You were asked about the tweaks to your game. Without going into great detail, just kind of share what the biggest things you're trying to work on and why you decided to do that.

RICKIE FOWLER: For me, the sequencing side of it as well as where the kind of club is -- I mean, prior to impact, it also affects what it does after, but the club being a lot more out in front of me, so out in front versus kind of behind, and then -- which that then allows the body to move better through the ball. Those are kind of the two main things. It's going to -- it looks a lot better shorter and mid irons right now. It'll get better in the longer clubs, but that'll take a little more time. The longer the club, the easier it is for it to kind of get thrown behind. Still working on that, but we've come a long ways. We've looked at some stills or videos from different points of the kind of process, and that's where you can see the biggest difference. If you just kind of look over time, you don't really see a whole lot. But if you see comparisons back-to-back from a few months apart, you can see kind of where we've come from and where we are now.

I'm happy with it. Heading the right way, starting to see results, but still got some work to do.

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