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AT&T NATIONAL

July 2, 2011

Rickie Fowler

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Rickie Fowler into the interview room here at the AT&T National after a 6-under par 64. You started right out of the gate with birdies, just great playing all day long.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I got off to a good start, birdied four of my first five, I believe. I think that's correct. I don't know. Maybe it was just three. But got off to a good start. I was hitting the ball well, driving it in the fairway, hitting it close and had some opportunities to make some birdies, so it was nice to get out of the front nine with 5-under. And made a couple birdies on the back, but there was a couple tougher pin placements and wasn't able to take advantage of some holes that set up for birdie. I made a tough bogey at 17, but not exactly an easy pin location there. All in all it was a good day, definitely good moving day, and in great position for tomorrow.

Q. How early in the round was it obvious to you that maybe you could go deep today?
RICKIE FOWLER: Before I teed off I saw that some guys were playing well and that some guys were making birdies and that birdies were definitely out there today. I got out, and my game has been feeling good all week, so went out and started off well, hit some good shots and kept moving from there. But prior to the round I saw some guys were playing well and making some birdies, so I knew it was going to be possible to take it low today.

Q. The second shot on 18, I mean, obviously you want to try to get yourself in position but you didn't want to cut it too close to the tree. Take us through your thought process there as you were looking at it. How much did you want to try to push it?
RICKIE FOWLER: I hit it pretty good. I couldn't have hugged the tree much more. I didn't miss it by a whole lot. I was actually trying to hit it further right. I was really just trying to sneak it on the front of the green, and right where I hit it was fine. I wasn't trying to hit it close. There was pretty much no way to get it within ten feet, so I'll take 4 after where I drove it.

Q. How did today's conditions set up or compare with other Saturday rounds you've played throughout this season?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's tough to say because each course sets up completely different. Obviously the conditions were perfect. The course setup was great, and they put some pins in some easier spots today than the last two so we were able to make some more birdies.
But as for comparing to other courses, it's tough to say. You know, I thought they did a great job with the setup today and the last couple days, so really to compare it to some others, it's hard to. This is probably one of my favorite stops that we've had, and it's a good course, and it gets up great for tournament play.

Q. You've been in this position a few times. What have you kind of learned from those experiences that you're going to use tomorrow to try to get it done?
RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, like you said, I've been in a similar position before. I've played in final groups and played in contention. I think the biggest thing is just go out and be patient, not get ahead of myself and not get too excited or anxious, so kind of just sit back, relax, go through things the same way tonight and just go have some fun tomorrow.

Q. (No microphone.)
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, since we're playing two hours or so earlier, the course is going to stay a bit softer and it'll obviously probably be similar to today if not firm up a little bit more later in the day. So it'll still be scorable depending on where they put the pins. But obviously going to have to put up a good number. There's a lot of guys playing well and there's guys that put up some low numbers today that are going to go into tomorrow with confidence. I mean, no matter what, depending on setup or where you're at position-wise, you're going to have to put up a good number on Sunday to win, so that's what the plan is.

Q. As your round progressed the crowd around you seemed to get bigger after every hole. How would you characterize your relationship with the fans?
RICKIE FOWLER: It definitely grew as the round went on and I moved up the leaderboard. It's great to have some fans, some supporters out there, and to see them grow and see kids with my hats on and stuff like that, it's definitely nice to have people out there to watch me play and to root for me and keep me going. Gotta love the fans.

Q. You said on television that you were looking forward to drawing from past experience. What experiences are you looking to draw from and what did you learn from those?
RICKIE FOWLER: I'd say probably the two that stick out would be Memorial and Scottsdale. I mean, those were probably the two best chances I had at winning, basically led almost wire to wire at Memorial, and then I felt like I put up a very solid round on Sunday at Scottsdale, bogey-free 68, and just happened to get beat out by Hunter there, and Justin Rose played really well on me the last day at Memorial.
I think I'm going to go into the round basically the same way I did there. I felt like I played well on Sunday at those two tournaments, just think we left a couple shots out there in both of them that were the deciding factor, and for the most part go in tomorrow, stay patient, not get ahead of myself, and for the most part just keep moving forward and have some fun.

Q. We had spoken a couple months ago about the value of being top 50. You just slipped out of the top 50 last week and this week. Was that any type of a wake-up call that you weren't getting the kind of results you wanted this year?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I knew I was slipping back in World Rankings. Obviously you want to be inside the top 50. That's a key number. I wasn't worrying about it too much. I knew that I was sliding towards that number. For the most part I just want to play well. I love to play well. I don't really like to play bad. I really don't try and worry about any of the numbers or anything like that and kind of try and stay focused on goals, and one of my main goals is to get my first win on the PGA TOUR and not really focus on my standings or World Rankings or anything like that. I think for the most part I just want to play well, be consistent and be in contention.

Q. Has it been a disappointing year from a results standpoint?
RICKIE FOWLER: It has been a little frustrating. The game has felt pretty good this year. I haven't driven it as well as I did last year, which has held me back from hitting as many greens and having as many opportunities to make birdie. So that's held me back, kind of the lack of accuracy off the tee. This week I've driven it a lot better and confidence is finally coming around with the driver.
Yeah, I've had some chances to go into the weekend and have good finishes, and unfortunately I've missed out on some good, whether it be top-20 or top-10 finishes, so looking forward to starting to change that.

Q. You're a young pro. Is it a learning experience to learn to play with a large gallery in terms of blocking it out but also allowing that energy to sort of carry you along? And second part of the question is could you compare and contrast motocross fans with golf tournament fans?
RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I've gotten to play in front of fairly large crowds in some amateur golf, Walker Cup especially, so I've had the experience coming into playing the PGA TOUR. I kind of played my way into having some crowds last year, and I've always loved playing in front of crowds. One of my favorite events is playing back in Arizona, Scottsdale, at TPC Scottsdale. That's where I think some of the fans you can relate to supercross and motocross fans there. Definitely a lot more energy, a little rowdy, and they're not afraid to get loud.
I like it. That's probably some of the most favorite fans for me to play in front of. It seems like these Philadelphia fans definitely like to get loud a lot of times, so hopefully we can give them something to cheer for tomorrow.

Q. The significance of the turquoise that you wear, these ladies in the gallery in the gallery were commenting how good you look in turquoise, and you just like bright colors I assume?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I like to wear bright colors. Whether they like it or not --

Q. They liked it.
RICKIE FOWLER: I'm glad they liked it. I'm not trying to please anyone or make anyone dislike me because of what I wear. Puma was a great fit for me, and they're moving along with their clothing line. They're getting bigger, and it's just a great fit. I love to wear crazy stuff, and it's definitely non-traditional, and that's kind of who I am.

Q. You mentioned big crowds at the Walker Cup. Do you have any connection with any fans that came out and saw you in '09 at Merion, any people that you keep up with or they keep up with you?
RICKIE FOWLER: There's a couple caddies that caddied for us in the '09 Walker Cup there at Merion. I've seen three of them so far this week. And yeah, there have been plenty of people that have said that they watched me in '09 there that are out this week. It's pretty cool to see that I've made a positive impact on some people and a good impression on them to come back out and watch me.
JOHN BUSH: Can you go through your birdies and bogeys.
RICKIE FOWLER: 1, hit drive, hit a wedge in there to about six feet, tricky putt, went right in the middle.
2, same thing, I hit a wedge in. Hit a good drive and hit a wedge to about 15 feet, another downhill putt, made a good one.
4, I hit a good 8-iron in there after another good drive, as well. Had about 15 feet, rolled that one right in.
And then one of my longer putts of the day, No. 7, hit a good 3-wood off the tee, set myself up, hit an okay shot into the green, not exactly what I was trying to do, a little left of my line, had about 25, maybe 30 feet.
8, bit of a rough drive, punched out, had basically a full pitching wedge yardage, hit a full pitching wedge, hit it good, landed just over the front edge and kicked down to about five feet, hit a good putt there. That was a good confidence builder because it wasn't really an easy five-footer. It was outside the hole, and went right in the middle.
No. 10, drove it down the middle, which was nice, after making the turn, putting up a low number on the front. Then hit a three-quarter pitching wedge in there, hit another downhill putt, but good shot in there to about eight, ten feet downhill and snuck that one in.
The only other birdie on the back nine would be 16, hit a really good drive, I've driven it well there all week, hit a 5-iron in, tried to keep it in the middle of the green and almost made the eagle, but it was a tap-in birdie.

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