COGNIZANT CLASSIC

February 27, 2025

Rickie Fowler

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Rickie, solid start, particularly the back nine or incoming nine for you. What was special about the round today for you?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, a little slow coming out. Birdied our first at 10 but missed a few short ones. Sitting there even par through seven holes, and there's guys out there that were 5-, 6-under pretty early. Just had to kind of stay patient. I was doing a lot of things well, just wasn't piecing things together. One poor swing on 14 and missed a few short ones. So finally birdied 17 and 18 to make the turn and get things going. Yeah, nice to get something on the back and make a few coming in to try and get as close to a 59 as possible so we're not too far behind the 8-ball.

Q. What's your mindset when you start a round like this? You start with a birdie but nothing is happening for you until you get a spike like that in the middle of the round?

RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, like I said, luckily I was seeing a lot of good stuff. Really just one poor swing on 14, and patience is the biggest thing. You start trying to press or do too much on this course, it'll jump up and bite you really quickly.

There's a lot of water that'll come into play, and a lot of times it's not necessarily making bogey. It's a quick double, if not more. So yeah, with the conditions, it's not going to get any easier than it was today really.

That being said, 59 is still 59. You can't take anything away from that.

But yeah, it's a day where you go out and shoot even par or a couple under and you're kind of kicking yourself in the butt with what's available out there.

Q. You play here a lot; did you ever think you'd see a 59 here?

RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, obviously now, yes, it's doable. If you drive it well -- it's not a long golf course. You're going to get a lot of -- take advantage of the par-5s, but you're going to get a lot of wedges and short irons. But that said, you still have to hit shots. You have to make putts. Yeah, 59 anywhere is hard to do. I don't care if you go play from 6,500 yards. You still have to make putts. You still have to hit it close enough to have those opportunities.

With this place, we've seen some low scores, guys get after it when the conditions are right. But obviously no one has shot 59 before out here.

Q. You mentioned 14, and it could have been a lot worse on 14. Made two great shots. How many times have you turned your back to the hole and hit a shot like that?

RICKIE FOWLER: No, it doesn't happen a whole lot. Like I mentioned earlier, I was in the hazard but luckily not in the water. Where I would have had to drop would have been a ways back, so I thought it was worth trying to hack it out and potentially have an easier fourth.

But no, a lot of times you try not to play away from the hole, but sometimes that's the best option.