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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 13, 2014Rickie FowlerAUGUSTA, GEORGIA Q. At a point there did you feel like you were in touch with the guys, both Bubba and Jordan? RICKIE FOWLER: After the first hole (laughter). Yeah, it was a rough driving day for me. I just hit four fairways. I got off to a nice start and had I definitely got a lot out of the round with how poorly I got it off the tee. I got off to a nice start and had a good look on 2, and had a tough break with a lip out. Actually two good putts, I walked away with a bogey. Kind of a tough way to start. Yeah, just drove it poorly today, so that kind of kept me from being able to attack the golf course. Q. 20‑somethings, you've had a good run this week overall. Just your thoughts on what that means for the rest of this year and beyond? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, young ones are healthy. We're here to play. And it kind of feels good for myself to be back up in contention the last few weeks, and especially being here at Augusta in a Major. Jordan has obviously been playing well and Jonas always finds a way to play well. It's good to see him playing well here at Augusta. So, yeah, I know Rory came back, and had a good finish. It's always fun seeing the young guys play well. We don't want to let the older guys get too many wins. Q. We'll see them again, in other words? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, looking forward to playing with those guys for a long time. Q. Obviously you just said you got yourself in contention this week and played well most of the time. Now you're going into a lot of‑‑ there's a lot of golf this year. How do you feel coming out of here? RICKIE FOWLER: I feel great. The last two weeks I think going six and six, that's where I finished last week, somewhere in there. It's a big step forward for me, especially after all these missed cuts I've had to kind of grind it out and get on top of my game here. Not to have my best and to kind of find my way around and salvage a good tournament. So I'm definitely happy with it and looking forward to a fun week off and get back at it. Q. Why does this course seem to suit Bubba this well? RICKIE FOWLER: So much feel and creativity you can use. Once I felt like this year was the most comfortable I've ever been as far as I was able to go out there and feel my way around. And I believe that's how Bubba has felt the past few years here, especially after he won. He can go out and not try and calculate his way around the golf course, but feel it and know what clubs he's supposed to hit at certain times to certain pins from yardages. And just kind of knowing the golf course a bit. On top of that, being able to use his creativity and shot making. Q. Does that change your impression of Bubba, the golfer, if he does win another green jacket, does that elevate him in one way, shape or form in your mind? RICKIE FOWLER: No. He's always going to be Bubba to me. I might try and keep him grounded and humble (laughter). This place, you know, suits him perfectly.  I think just from the playoff, the shot he hit a couple of years ago. I was down there today actually and I pitched out and wedged on the green. He's able to hit golf shots around here that some guys can't. So this place fits him perfectly. It's fitting for him to win here and it's nice to see him have a good chance at another. Q. You know him pretty well. Do you think that he will not repeat what he did in '13, if he actually wins? RICKIE FOWLER: What was that? Q. Well, he knows that he kind of left ‑‑ '13 was kind of a dead year for him. And I think he understands what he did wrong. Do you think he absolutely understands and he won't let that happen again, won't get ahead of himself? RICKIE FOWLER: Golf is tough, you never know what's going to happen. But, yeah, I definitely think he's learned a lot in the past few years. And last year wasn't that great. But he's in a good spot right now moving forward. Q. Did you notice the frustration that he might have been feeling last year? He's talked about it a lot the last couple of days. He came in with a different attitude? RICKIE FOWLER: I know both him and I were not playing well. So we were kind of on the same page there. I was just going through I guess similar stuff as him, not being in contention, not winning. So I can definitely relate to it. Yeah, it sucks not being on top of your game and where you want to be and playing in the last few groups of any tournament, and obviously Majors. So he's‑‑ I think he's enjoying himself right now. Q. How much has Bubba grown up in the last couple of years? RICKIE FOWLER: He's gone from like 12 and a half to 14 (laughter). Q. Progress. RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah. He's getting there. He's always going to be a kid at heart. But mentally and with his golf game and as a dad and person he's definitely grown up. I think he understands what's going on. Q. Rory said he was actually rooting for Jordan today. If Jordan comes in as a 20 year old, intrigued by that? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, definitely. I mean it's cool seeing young guys do well, records broken. It's hard for me to pull against Bubba, being one of my best friends. Q. You appreciate the way‑‑ RICKIE FOWLER: Definitely, with the way he went out and got started today. It's almost in proportion he went out that hot, because it's kind of tough to carry that on. If he was able to do that in the middle of the round, I think it could have been a little different story. It's almost‑‑ it almost makes it harder on yourself when you go out and do something a little early out here. There's a lot of golf to be played around this golf course. Any story, as far as Bubba, you know, with Jordan having a chance and Jonas being one of my fellow Puma guys. There's some cool stuff out there. Obviously I want to be in there. But I have to hit the ball in the fairway a couple more times. Q. You mentioned Jonas. He's already got a pretty good record in the majors. What do you attribute that to? RICKIE FOWLER: He's a solid player. He's got a great short game. And a great putter. That can keep him in rounds when maybe he's not on top of his ball‑striking. Q. A higher winning score helps? RICKIE FOWLER: I think it does. He can obviously go low. He wins tournaments with a lot of birdies. But around here he's able to chip and putt his way around and stay in a lot of rounds. It's good to see him get a good finish. He's a lot of fun to be around. He's scrappy and good at it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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