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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 15, 2013Rickie FowlerARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA Q. What was working for you today? RICKIE FOWLER: Finally just kind of pieced everything together. I played well the first day scoring. I had a few holes get away from me. Yesterday I just had a bad stretch and today I just made a few putts to keep the round going. I swung it well, drove it a little better, and stayed out of the rough as much as possible. So definitely feels good to be done with the round and sitting here and getting ready for tomorrow's round. Q. How was the setup today? Was it any more accessible? RICKIE FOWLER: Not necessarily. I feel like the setup's been fair and pretty similar every day. There's some tricky pin placements out there every day and that's part of the reason why the scores are where they're at. You can hit it on the green and there's some tough 2‑putts out there. I've had a handful of 3‑putts this week, unfortunately, and that's just part of it. It's like hitting in the rough, you're going to make bogey, if you hit it on the wrong side of the hole here, you're going to struggle to make a 2‑putt. Like where I'm at and I'm excited for tomorrow. Q. Sergio has that terrible 10 on 15 and then Robert on 18. You're playing with two guys that aren't doing very well, how do you go, I just got to stay on my own? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, playing with those two guys, I enjoyed playing with both of them. And it was ‑‑ you couldn't exactly tell what was going on with them today, which was awesome. It shows a lot about they're character on the course and the way they handle themselves. So it was fun to be around them, it was, I could never tell that they were having terrible days. Sergio obviously made a nice comeback and Robert was just one of those days, but it was fun to be around the guys and it says a lot about who they are, just the way they handle themselves around me when I was playing well and they were struggling. Q. Rounds were taking over five and a half hours. Why? RICKIE FOWLER: A lot of guys made the cut, threesomes, split tees. We had two groups on the first tee when we made the turn, and the course isn't playing easy. So all that together it's going to take awhile to get around. But I have no complaints right now. Q. Is some of that just the awkward routing of some of the tee boxes really close to the greens and then groups are being waved up on certain holes? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, there's a couple holes or a handful of holes where the tees are very close to the past green or future greens. A lot of cross ways. So with waving up, waiting for other people to tee off or putt, there's a little bit of a waiting game out there and just kind of get to hit when it is your turn. Q. Have you drawn on your experience in 2009 and the Walker Cup and the good vibes, going 4‑0. Played well that week. How much has that helped you this week? RICKIE FOWLER: It's helped a lot. Just knowing that I've played well here before. I know I've made putts here. The biggest thing this week has just been staying patient, sitting back and letting things happen and I finally was able to do that today. Q. How would you compare the course now to how it was back in 2009? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, it's quite a bit different, just with the rough and some of the routing of the fairways, couple different bunkers out there, the greens are softer than what they were when we played Walker Cup, but you add the rough and it's a completely different story. I feel like it played quite a bit easier for us in the Walker Cup. We were able to make quite a few birdies. A lot of us were actually playing well and if I would have played the way I did today then it would have been quite a bit lower. But I'm happy with what happened today. Q. After Thursday when the course played soft and receptive, did you guys think that for the next three days a 67 was even out there on this course? RICKIE FOWLER: As long as it didn't get baked out and the greens didn't get really firm and fast, we knew that a solid round you could go out there and shoot a few under par. But it definitely takes a lot of work and you got to drive the ball well, which I did that today. But it's definitely not easy. It shows you a lot about kind of the course setup. Even with the greens soft, some tricky pin locations, it's still playing tough out there. Q. When you start off on 11 and you get through the tough holes, 14, you were 1‑under through 14 through 18. That's got to give you a little bit of a boost right there? RICKIE FOWLER: A little bit. I still think one of the toughest stretches on the course is 3‑6. I feel like I've played 14, 15, 16, fairly well. 17 and 18 are obviously it doesn't matter how you play them, they're going to be tough no matter what. But, yeah I feel like if I get off to a good start tomorrow, get through first six holes, get off to a‑‑ stay patient, stay within myself and just get off to a good start, I can play well from there on in. Q. In a final round like tomorrow at a Major Championship, playing well in the Open Championship two years ago, Walker Cup experience, but specifically tomorrow on this tough course, where do you look to for your confidence out there? Is it back then, how you're playing now, what goes into it? RICKIE FOWLER: Some past experiences, I obviously know I'm swinging the club well right now. I've been hitting my lines and hitting a lot of solid golf shots. So if I can get off to a good solid start, stay patient, make sure I'm committed to every shot, get through the first six holes or so, and put myself in a good position where I can go ahead and play the rest of the course the way I have the first three rounds I'll be okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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