BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2023

Rickie Fowler

Olympia Fields Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What was working for you out there today?

RICKIE FOWLER: Good, solid start. A lot of good stuff. I'm happy with how I drove it for the most part. That's a big key around here. If you don't get the ball in play, it's going to be a long day or a long week out there.

Hopefully we can continue to drive it similar to how we did today and tighten up some of the iron shots.

Other than that, yeah, good solid start. I thought anything under par today in the wind was a good round of golf.

Q. What do you remember about winning here in college?

RICKIE FOWLER: I had one really good round and two solid rounds. I shot 70, 63, 70. Yeah, honestly I don't remember the tournament a whole lot other than my scores and the win day that I played a nice round of golf.

But I've always really liked this place. You can see it's stood the test of time. It's a great track. It's got a lot of good variety, a lot of options. You don't have to hit driver all over, but you're rewarded if you do hit driver and get it in the fairway.

Yeah, it's got a lot of defense to it because even when it's soft like this, it's not like you're seeing guys tear it up.

Tomorrow there will be some chances with a little less wind, but we'll see. You have to drive it well to have a chance here.

Q. When is the last time -- have you been here since your college win?

RICKIE FOWLER: I haven't. '07 would have been the last time I was here.

Q. Were there any holes you particularly remembered? What was your remembrance of the property as you got here this week?

RICKIE FOWLER: I didn't remember it like too well. It was nice to get out and play nine on Tuesday and Wednesday and kind of get reacquainted. But it was -- I think the golf course is pretty much right in front of you. It tells you what you can and what you have to do depending on what you're choosing to hit off the tee.

The greens are -- there's a lot of slope but fairly simple. You know where the uphill putt is or where you don't want to hit it or where you don't want to miss it on the greens.

It's just a tough place, but it tells you what you need to do.

Q. In general the sense of these Playoffs and making the TOUR Championship, which you're secure for that, as a goal, where does that fit in goals for the year when you start the year.

RICKIE FOWLER: Going into the year one of my main goals was to be at East Lake. To be there you've accomplished a lot of good play throughout the year. You don't necessarily have to win, but you have to play well and have some good finishes to make it to East Lake.

Especially being able to lock that up before the Playoffs, that says a lot about the year and especially with the win in there, or you can do it the other way, Lucas Glover style, win and get in, and then win again and lock it up that way.

It's been impressive and fun to watch him the last couple weeks.

Q. Why do you think his story has resonated so much with you guys and with fans in general? It's really kind of caught on.

RICKIE FOWLER: Lucas has always been Lucas. He's a great guy. He's fun to be around. He's always been a great ball striker. He's had a handful of years where he struggled with the flat stick and shorter putts, and that's always been tough. That's not something you want to see.

You feel for guys when they're going through that, and so it's been awesome. I don't think you're going to find anyone that has pulled against him, seeing that he's kind of resurrected his game and probably self-belief on the greens. Yeah, I've enjoyed watching it.

Although Cantlay is a good buddy of mine, I know he wasn't exactly pulling for him in the playoff. But it is what it is. Yeah, just like I said, good to see what Lucas has been able to do.

Q. With this being the last week for Ryder Cup automatic qualification, has that been on your mind at all, like qualifying for that team on points? Was that a goal going into the year?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yes and no. You know, I don't know exactly how the points shake out. I'd probably have to win or somewhere up there to secure points as far as an automatic selection, but we're just going to continue to play well and try and go get ourselves in contention and ultimately try and get ourselves in a good spot for next week.

If we do that, the Ryder Cup should fall into place.

Q. Does it create a little bit of added motivation, the whole context of that knowing that that's part of these two weeks, as well?

RICKIE FOWLER: It does, but also if I don't play well enough to make it on points, Zach has got a lot of really good players to choose from. If he doesn't pick me, there's no hard feelings. It's up to him, what they think is best for the team.

I've been a part of a number of team events. It's obviously something that I want to be a part of. They're some of the best weeks in your career. I'd love to have that opportunity to be there and be on that team, but yeah, we'll see what we can do this week and then leave it up to Zach and the assistant captains to figure out the rest.