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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 24, 2011

Rickie Fowler

MARANA, ARIZONA

COLIN MURRAY: Rickie, thanks for joining us. Great playing this morning, 6 and 5 victory over Phil Mickelson. Just a couple of opening comments, if you would, on how the match went this morning and how you played.
RICKIE FOWLER: I played great. After making bogey on 3, I turned things around with two birdies. And Phil left a couple of doors open that I took advantage of. My momentum kind of went my way from there.
I had a lot of fun playing against Phil. Obviously I look up to him. He's someone I love playing with and against and look forward to doing that for a long time.
COLIN MURRAY: Your first appearance, obviously off to a 2 and 0 start. Your thoughts on the match play format and how that suits your game.
RICKIE FOWLER: I love playing match play. With the Ryder Cup, Walker Cups I played and coming off of some U.S. Juniors and U.S. Amateurs, definitely have had some recent experience. It's a lot of fun because you know exactly what you need to do. You go out and you've got to beat the other guy. It's plain and simple, but it's not too easy sometimes.
And off to a good start and the game feels really good, so looking forward to getting on to tomorrow, hopefully move on from there.

Q. Are you passed the awe factor with anybody, does that still exist?
RICKIE FOWLER: No, not really. There's obviously, you know -- I love being around the guys out here. I love guys like Phil, you know. He's -- in a way he's taken me under his wing a bit. He played a couple of practice rounds with me early on when I turned pro. Being with him at the Ryder Cup. I wouldn't say there's anyone that scares me in a way or I'm sitting there staring at them. But it's definitely something I've dreamed about playing out here with these guys. And playing with guys like Phil and Tiger.

Q. I'm trying to remember, I think you might have said at Torrey Pines when you were a pup you went down and watched Phil play once or twice in the tournament. Do you sort of relish the way that guy plays, any vestiges of his kind of gun slinger approach that you've adopted? I can see a little bit of that in your game, I guess.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, Phil is definitely one of the guys I've liked to watch for a long time, basically between him and Tiger. But I love the way he plays. He's a great player. He's a really good ball-striker. He's got a decent short game (laughter). No, I love watching him play. I love playing with him. And obviously it was huge for me going out and getting the job done today. But I look forward to every chance that I get to play with him or against him.

Q. Talk about the two eagles, the shot you hit in and the putt and what you were trying to do with those shots.
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I don't really remember the exact numbers. I just -- both were 4-irons. I hit them both perfect, they looked really good in the air. High and soft 4-irons on the par-5s, both of them I was just aiming a little bit right of the hole. One of them was a little bit into the wind, another one was downwind, which was the last hole. I ended up having to make the putt on, what was that, 11? Phil hit it in there, had a close look for birdie. And at the last he gave it to me. Two really good golf swings.

Q. What about 11?
RICKIE FOWLER: It wasn't too bad. Played a little outside left. It broke right and looked like it wasn't going to try to come back but snuck in the right side there. Hit it exactly how I wanted to and the putt did exactly what I thought it would.

Q. You say you like the head-to-head match-ups in a match play where you go after a guy. Do you play a different game then? Do you still play shot-to-shot or you say I'm looking at what he does. Do you think there ought to be more match play on Tour?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, in a match obviously you're just trying to beat the other guy. If he hits it in the water, you may play a little more conservative. But for the most part off the tees and stuff like that, doing the same lines, not trying to do anything special. From there, there are times you may play more aggressive or times where you play more conservative.
And as for more match play, with there only being basically the one event, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more. It's fun. It's a different form of play and I think the fans like watching it.

Q. As amateurs grow up playing, they play a lot of match play. You were talking about the junior amateurs, or even club matches and then it disappears a little bit when you get on Tour?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I mean like I said, we just have the one match play event throughout the year, other than Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. So I wouldn't be against seeing more match play. I like playing it and it's a lot of fun. Like I said, the fans like seeing it.

Q. Is there something about the nature of match play? It seems like this week a lot of the younger guys are doing pretty well. Is there anything about match play that might level the playing field a little bit with experience or is it the other way, do you know?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, with match play you can go into it -- I mean, for the most part anyone can win this tournament once they're in. If you're in the Top 64, you've got a shot. You've just got to go out and beat six guys, I think. You've got to go out and win six matches. It's not like you're trying to beat 156 guys in the field. So it's pretty cool. The young guys, I guess it's just some of us are playing pretty well this week. We're going into it, I think most of the young guys are pretty fearless. We're ready to play.

Q. We asked Rory this yesterday, but do you feel old compared to Matteo?
RICKIE FOWLER: A little bit. I've got him by five years, I think. But he's considered one of the young 'uns, I guess. It's pretty cool to see a lot of the young guys, with a lot of them being in the Top 50 and 64 this week. And I wouldn't be surprised seeing more coming up in the next few years.

Q. You obviously consider yourself part of that young group even though you've been a name for a while.
RICKIE FOWLER: Part of, I guess, the young guns out here. But like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing some of my friends and some more young guys making a splash out here soon.

Q. You probably saw what Ben did in his match. Does that surprise you? Is that the first time he's played faster than you?
RICKIE FOWLER: It was probably the first time he has played faster than me, and he'll admit that. It doesn't surprise me. Obviously Ben's been playing well. He's not going to miss many fairways, not going to miss many greens, and if he has a look at birdies, he's probably going to make it. I think it was key for him to get out and get up in the match early. It's unfortunate to see him beat Rory that bad, but it's the way match play goes.
If you ham and egg it the right way, you make birdies on the right holes and make pars on the others, a match can go that way. It's the beauty of the beast.

Q. You talk about being fearless. On a hole like No. 3, do you go at the pin or is a par okay there?
RICKIE FOWLER: The par-3, here?

Q. Yes.
RICKIE FOWLER: I was trying to go a little bit left of it. Obviously there's not much room right of it. And with my partner short sided or my playing -- Phil was short sided over there on the right, I was trying to play more towards the middle of the green and made a bad swing there.
But it kind of depends if you're playing first or second. If you're playing first, you're kind of playing a little left of the pin, you don't want to end up in the water and give the hole away. If your partner goes ahead and hits it in there six feet, you're going to be fine going for the pin trying to make birdie. It depends on the situation.

Q. What did you see as the turning point?
RICKIE FOWLER: I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the match after 9. Phil hit a -- he pushed a shot out of the fairway bunker into the desert and chipped it across and back across, and gave me the hole. So I think that was kind of the turning point there. And chipped in and then kind of went on my run from there.
COLIN MURRAY: Ricky, thanks, good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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