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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 3, 2012Rickie FowlerCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome Rickie Fowler to the pressroom here, 66 today, nice round, playing in your third Wells Fargo Championship. You have a pretty good track record here with one top 10 and a top 20, as well. Obviously you like the course. Maybe some opening comments about a good day for you. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I've played well here, had one good finish here along with another one that was okay, and then, yeah, a course that I like. I enjoy playing here. It's usually in great shape, and looks like we're going to have warm but good weather for the week. Q. Do you feel like the eagle at 7 sort of jump started your round? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I actually played pretty solid the first six holes, just couldn't get a putt to go in. Every putt I had that was uphill I left it short, and I had two kind of quick downhill putts that just one broke off, one stayed just outside. Just finally got a putt to go in and kind of went on from there. Q. What were the details on 7? RICKIE FOWLER: 7, I hit drive down the right center, just in between 6 and 7. I went with 6, wind was a little off the right, and held a 6, ended up in there about 12 feet, just past and left of the hole. Played it about a cup out on the left and snuck in the right side. The front left hole location there, there's not a whole lot of room left or right of it, just kind of one of those ones you've just got to fire at the stick and kind of suffer the consequences if you miss it one way or the other because it's not easy left and it's not an easy putt from the right. Q. Had you gone back and forth with cross‑handed before as a kid or on TOUR and maybe I wasn't paying attention, or is this the first time? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I played quite a bit cross‑handed in high school. I shot 10‑under four times in high school, and I think I went two and two. Works either way, I've just got to‑‑ it's kind of helping me get into a little bit better setup right now, a little bit more square instead of ‑‑ sometimes I tend to get a little open, hips and shoulders, and just helping me get into a better position and working on getting the ball started on line, so it's working right now. Q. You have a very low scoring average here. What is it about this place that it somehow fits your eye? RICKIE FOWLER: It's always in good shape, looks good to my eye. No, it's a fun course. I feel like I'm comfortable off the tee here, and I seem to hit a lot of good iron shots here, which on these greens if you can get it into the right section, I mean, get things going, you can put up a round like I did today. Q. (Inaudible.) RICKIE FOWLER: I think I shot 67 Sunday, the day Rory won here. I felt like that was a really good round. I played pretty well to kind of sneak back in for a top 10, and obviously Rory topped it with a 62. But I felt good about it. Q. I guess it's been about a year since your swing coach back in California passed away. I'm trying to remember exactly when that was. RICKIE FOWLER: He passed away in May, yeah. Q. You're still kind of flying solo and doing your own thing. Is it easier, harder? Have you been tempted to give Butch a call or anybody like that to help you through flat spots? Obviously it's a unique thing. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, there's not a whole lot of guys that kind of work on their own or don't work with anyone type of thing. I mean, Bubba is probably one of the only other ones. No, I haven't really been tempted. I didn't really work a whole lot swing‑wise with Barry the last four years he was around. When I was in college I really didn't see him a whole lot, and I just kind of go back on what we would work on when I was a kid. I'm still kind of a kid, but when I was 10 to 15, two years ago (laughter). Just kind of focus on the fundamentals of everything and work on ball‑striking and making sure the ball was starting where I wanted it to, kind of in that window like players talk about. I mean, I've had a few to plenty of coaches say, I wouldn't even want to try and mess with you, I'd just screw you up. A lot of guys just tell me, just keep doing what you're doing, don't worry about asking for help. What you're doing is right, just keep swinging. Q. Do you look at video on yourself? RICKIE FOWLER: Occasionally. Q. Or on TV? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I see it on TV here or there. It's not something I rely on. My swing has definitely progressed from I'd say when I was 15 until now. I used to take it way outside and it was a lot more laid off and underneath, and as I've grown and gotten stronger, it's a bit more on plane, not as much laid off. Yeah, I'd definitely like to see it get closer and closer to, I guess you would say, the perfect swing. But it's always going to be my own. I'm not going to try and force it to be anywhere that doesn't feel good to me. Q. You mentioned Rory. How much do you guys kind of drive each other? I saw an interview where he referenced that he lives not far from you and Keegan. Is there sort of a friendly competition where you guys kind of spur each other on in some way? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, definitely. I hate to lose, and I definitely don't want to‑‑ I feel like when you're playing against other young guys around your age, they're the guys you don't want to lose to the most. I think it's definitely a friendly rivalry. It's not like we dislike each other or anything like that. But it's always fun to beat each other, and when you're behind them, you're trying to catch back up and put them behind you. Q. Do you guys play together a lot at home, and what about Rory's game as a fellow touring pro jumps out at you? RICKIE FOWLER: He's just kind of recently been spending time down there. I haven't played with him back home yet. Actually I haven't played with Keegan, either. There's actually a lot of guys down there, but we always have games and get things going, so it's only a matter of time before we tee it up together at home. Rory is a great player. There's not really‑‑ I don't think he really has a whole lot of weakness anywhere, from short game to when he gets the putter going, drives it. I mean, he hits it long, he hits it longer than I do, and I guess I've got to find a way to beat him. Q. Just curious you're still in the early stages of your career, but when people say you haven't won yet‑‑ RICKIE FOWLER: I won in Korea. I beat Rory. I couldn't let him win. Q. Does that grate on you? Do you look at it as you know it's going to come? RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, you look at Dufner last week, and obviously he's been very close a number of times. In a way it's got to‑‑ everything kind of has to fall into place. I feel like unless you go out and have four great rounds and kind of win by more than three or four shots like I did in Korea, you're going to have to get some good bounces or in a way get lucky at some point to get the first win or multiple wins. You know, it's tough to put 72 holes of great golf together. Just waiting for that time to come, keep playing well, and right now the last couple weeks I've been hitting the ball well and putting myself in position. I wouldn't be surprised if a win is just around the corner, and once it does, hopefully the doors open and we'll go from there. Q. Do you feel like the most difficult win is going to be the first one? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, and I definitely think that Korea was a good stepping‑stone towards that. I've been close a few times out here, and that's definitely one of my main goals is getting my first win out here and kind of solidifying my position as a player on the PGA TOUR. Q. What about being there when Bubba won has helped you at all with anything? Has anything stuck with you these few weeks that you think you can use or will help you? RICKIE FOWLER: I might have been more nervous than he was there. It was a lot of fun to be there. Obviously being one of my best buddies, probably my best friend out here and having Ben and Badds there, as well, just kind of getting to see kind of the moments from outside the ropes and see what was going on coming down the stretch, I definitely took a lot away from it, kind of more the feeling that I want to be in that position. Instead of Bubba winning I want to win. Maybe he'll let me win one soon. Q. Has his swing coach philosophy rubbed on off you at all? Obviously he's gotten a lot of attention for the fact that he's never had a lesson and doesn't want anybody to help him. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, him and I basically came up the same road. We didn't grow up at a country club or exactly getting lessons on video or watching our swings. I mean, my coach, Barry, was more of a mental coach in a way, just kind of helping me mature and figure out my game on my own. Yeah, we definitely, I guess, help each other in that aspect, that we're kind of the two main guys without a swing coach out here. Q. Could you just assess your season so far? It's a Ryder Cup year. Obviously you're aware that that light is on and you're pretty far down the list. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, it's definitely been a slow year. I feel like driving‑‑ I've been driving the ball really well this year and giving myself some opportunities to be actually playing irons from the fairway, so that's been a huge positive. But I haven't been hitting the ball as close as I would like to. It's getting there, though. I've felt like I've made some really good swings the past few weeks, so hopefully I'm turning a corner, can get into contention and start having some fun and start focusing on that first win. I really had three main goals coming into this year: First win, making it to the TOUR Championship and making the Ryder Cup. Still focusing on those and have some fun. Q. What was the goal first, TOUR Championship or winning? RICKIE FOWLER: Winning. If I win, that gets me to TOUR Championship for the most part, and play well from there and have a chance at Ryder Cup. The main goal is working on my first win, and obviously got to be in contention come Sunday to have that, so it was nice to get back up in there last week. Q. Do you get a sense people are wondering when you're going to win on TOUR, and if they are, do you think it's fair this early in your career? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I mean, there's obviously been a lot of talk about it, I mean, as soon as I got out on TOUR. This is my third season on TOUR. I think I would have been‑‑ I'd just be finishing up my fifth year at college if I would have stayed. Q. You'd be a sophomore? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah (smiling). No, I feel that I'm good enough to win. I definitely feel like with the amount of people expecting or thinking that I can win is compliment. You know, like I said, with it being my main goal for this year, that's my main focus. You know, I'm not too worried about the talk that goes on about when my first win is coming, but like I said, it's my main goal, and that's what I'm focused on. Q. With regard to that, as the time has built and as your expectations rise and you play well without the win, how much self‑analysis do you do about why those wins aren't coming and do you know what might be missing? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I think one of the things I've learned most in the past couple years is you can't really let up at any point. I mean, you come off a double and you make a sloppy swing off the next tee and make bogey and go from there. You give up a shot here and there, and you find yourself on Sunday five back. I mean, you hang on, get the most out of a couple rounds early, and now you're one or two back. So for me it's been trying to focus and fully commit to every shot that I hit and make sure that I'm getting the most out of every round that I play, and that way I have no second thoughts or regrets come Sunday or after the tournament. Q. You've talked about watching Bubba from outside the ropes, you've seen Rory at a similar age do it. Do you find yourself daydreaming about what it will feel like when that does come for you? RICKIE FOWLER: A little bit here and there. I got a pretty good glimpse of it when I did win in Korea. It was my first win as a pro, so I'm not expecting it to feel a whole lot different. It was nice to come out on top in a tournament for the first time as a pro. To have guys there like Rory, Y.E., it was a huge step for me, and I'm definitely going to pull off of that for my first win here. Q. I was just curious if you can go over the details on your finishing birdies, 16 and 18. RICKIE FOWLER: 16, hit a good drive down the right, hit an 8‑iron in there about 15 feet below the hole, snuck it in the left side. And 18, I hit a good drive up the left side, as well, and had 133, played up a little, I guess it played like three yards up, a little into the wind, so I played it like 140, and had about, I guess, eight feet behind the hole, played it about a cup out left and tapped it. It's a little quick up there. Q. How far was the 6‑iron, the second shot? RICKIE FOWLER: Like 177, I think. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Rickie Fowler, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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