WM PHOENIX OPEN

February 10, 2023

Rickie Fowler

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. Comebacks in golf are fairly common. You see guys winning who haven't won in a while. Is that encouraging to you or is it more sort of frustrating? Like, come on, where's mine, I'm ready.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, no, it's coming. But it's kind of -- it's part of it. Unfortunately been on the bad side of it for a little longer than we would like to, for sure. No one stays at the stop. You never stay at your best. You're always going to have to deal with struggles and tough times. So it's just part of being out here and part of the sport.

Q. It looked from the outside like you really turned a corner last year where you made some changes and went back to Butch and did a couple other things in your setup and your inner circle and all of that. Is that what it looks like from the inside as well, that you've kind of turned a bit of a corner?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I mean, obviously being back with Butch is something I'm very familiar with. He's a great voice to have in your corner. I took a lot of stuff that I learned from Tillery. I have to give him a lot of props too. Unfortunately, we didn't have success we wanted to when we worked together. But I learned a lot from him that I was able to take and move forward and kind of fine tune some stuff with Butch. Wouldn't be in the position without him, but obviously in a good spot with Butch.

Yeah, definitely happy with the team that we have around us. Yeah, like you said, it was good to see some results in the fall to at least give myself some confidence or build some momentum to go into the season.

Q. You have won here. So did you look around thinking, All right, this is my place too?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah. No, this is a place I obviously know that I can play well at. A number of good finishes and a win. But we've got a lot of good players here this week. Scottie out front right now. He obviously likes this place as well. It will make for a fun weekend. Definitely excited to get out there and definitely try to go chase the boys down.

Q. Looks like this golf course is a little more scorable thanks to some calmer wind today. How did you it look to you from your point of view?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it was nice once it started to warm up and the wind started to lay down a little bit. It was still tough out there this morning. Yeah, you still got to drive it well to give yourself the opportunities to go score. Feel like we did a good job of getting it around. Definitely a lot nicer today than it was yesterday.

Q. When did it seem like the course warmed up and became a little more scorable?

RICKIE FOWLER: Really when we kind of finished our first round and jumped right back out for the second. It was right in there. I had some cold weather gear on for the finish today this morning and ran in and shed a few layers. So it was definitely a lot nicer for the second round.

Q. What does playing well here tell you about where your game's at right now?

RICKIE FOWLER: This is obviously a place I feel comfortable at. I feel like I did a really good job coming in on my last two. I struggled with tee balls a little bit. Finally hit a couple nice ones. You have to drive it well here. I feel like that's where you can take advantage of it if you're driving the ball well. From there it's fairly straightforward. So I think it's much more about off the tee and that's somewhere where I've been doing very well.

Unfortunately, yesterday wasn't that great. But, yeah, you kind of get thrown into the middle of it. It's a good checkpoint with all the people, especially that back nine. You can't really fake it with all those people around and all that energy and noise. You either got it or you don't.

Q. Another guy who had it when you had it and has kind of struggled during this same time period is Jason Day. He's doing real well as well this week. What do you make of his efforts to get his game back?

RICKIE FOWLER: I love Jason. He's as good a guy as there is. Yeah, I know he's been putting a lot of hard work in. Someone that was having a lot of success and, same thing, kind of going through a period where he wasn't playing what we, where we think he should be or especially himself.

So I don't know exactly to kind of pinpoint what he may have been struggling with or if it was kind of across the board. But he's always been a great putter. Something he could always rely on that. I feel like that was something similar to me, where kind of lost that for a few years and wasn't able to rely on that. But, yeah, he's someone that's easy to root for. It's good to see him playing well.

Q. Can you tell us about your shot of the day, if you had to pick out one?

RICKIE FOWLER: I basically hit like a perfect shot into 16. It's always nice hitting a good one there. Unfortunately, with the wind being a little different than normal you can't, didn't have a great number to actually go at the pin. So hitting a little controlled 8-iron in that stadium isn't exactly the most fun thing back into the wind. So pulled off exactly how I wanted to hit it, the number and just left of the hole. So I like that hole a lot more when it's down off the right versus in off the left.

Q. What's it feel like when you drive in and see your reserved spot with the name in the parking lot? Does that give you anything?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, no, to have won here, to finally get that off my back after some good finishes, a few seconds. Well, it's nice, because I always know I got a spot right up front. So I don't have to worry about that.