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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONALJuly 30, 2014Rickie FowlerAKRON, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Please welcome Rickie Fowler to the interview room. Rickie, you're making a fresh start with the great finish in the Open Championship. Talk about the Bridgestone Invitational. RICKIE FOWLER: I'm looking forward to this week and the weeks to come. Final major next week, on into the playoffs. Busy stretch. Been playing a lot this summer. It's been a lot of fun back here at Firestone, probably one of the better courses we play all year. In great shape. It's a bit soft right now, but hopefully some of the rain can hold off. We'll get a good golf course this weekend. Q. Rickie, in 2012, when you were hoping to make the Ryder Cup team, what was it like? Did you feel comfortable self‑promoting, politicking? How did you handle that? RICKIE FOWLER: It was a struggle for me through that summer because my main goal that year was to make the Ryder Cup team. I was in position and was playing decent, and then I didn't make it well‑known, but after the fact, a lot of people knew that I was playing injured with my back that was giving me trouble. So it was a struggle just because I knew I could play well and I wanted to play well, and I wasn't able to because of the pain that my back was giving me and wasn't able to put myself in a position to make good swings. So it was disappointing to be hurt at that time and not be able to go through and play the way I know I'm capable of. Definitely pleased with what I've done fitness‑wise and swing‑wise with my trainer Noss and with Butch on the swing to alleviate a lot of stress on the low back and put myself in a position now where I'm locked up for the Ryder Cup team and not having to worry about that now, and I can go ahead and play and see if I can rack up some more good finishes this year. Q. Given how you played in the Majors, is there a little bit of wonder about what you're doing that even though you've played so well, you've had a couple of guys that have just sort of really taken off. Does that at all discourage you or make you even think you've got to be better? Or are you at where you are right now just fine? RICKIE FOWLER: I'm happy with where I'm at. You can always‑‑ golf's fun that way. There's always a place to get better. There's always something you can work on and something you can tighten up. The U.S. Open and The Open, as well as Augusta at the Masters, I played great, but I didn't have my best. Sunday at The Open, I was able to get it around and get a lot out of the round that day. It probably wasn't the best ball striking I had there, but it was the best possible score. So I was able to get the most out of the round that day. Having said that, yeah, with the way Rory played, with the way Martin played, and with the way Bubba and Jordan kind of got off to a hot start at Augusta, it was making it tough to catch those guys. Really just have to keep putting myself in those positions. I'm sure a little bit better golf will show up, but so far it's been pretty good. I'm pretty pleased with the way I finished and at times held on. I made some really good par saves on the back nine at The Open Championship to give myself a chance to make birdie coming down the stretch to at least put a little pressure on Rory. But I'm pleased with the way the year has gone, and it's only made me more comfortable and more confident going into big situations like that. Definitely looking forward to the Majors with the one next week and then moving on to next year. Q. You weren't on the 2012 team, but is there a sense among the American players that there's more motivation to win this next Ryder Cup given what happened at Medinah? RICKIE FOWLER: There's definitely‑‑ you always want to go into those wanting to win, but with the way the last couple have gone, being on the losing side in ten and then watching the guys come up short on the final guy there at Medinah, yeah, it gives us a little fire to get it all together this year. I think the biggest thing is kind of get the team together, get everyone kind of on the same page. I know everyone's going to want to win, but bringing the team together is always big. I know Europe's always very strong at team camaraderie. Not that the U.S. doesn't get along, but I feel like we can work on getting the team together a little bit better and see if we can all pull together as a team and bring the cup home. Q. Rickie, in your short but distinguished career, how would you define the PGA Championship as it relates to the other three Majors? RICKIE FOWLER: It's always been, I guess, interesting in a way as far as the first three are pretty typical as far as you know what you're looking for or what you're going to get as far as setup and conditions and the type of golf. The PGA, I feel like I've played different types of courses, different types of setups. It's‑‑ I don't know. I guess it's definitely different than the first three. Obviously, coming off The Open, the most historic Major we have. I'm not sure. They got the biggest and heaviest trophy. It looked good sitting next to Keegan's TV at his house, though. Q. Did you pick it up? RICKIE FOWLER: I didn't pick it up. Q. How do you know how heavy it is? RICKIE FOWLER: We do some stuff here in the locker room. I think I've touched or held most of the trophies. I wouldn't say‑‑ I don't have the superstition like a lot of people do, or some do. I know Phil had drank out of the Claret Jug prior to winning, being that it was a good friend that won and being in that situation. So as far as the Majors go, the PGA being really any different, it's still a Major. It's one of the four iconic events we play every year. You win one of those four, you're a Major champion. So look at next week the same as the first three and see if we can put ourselves back in that spot. Q. That being said, which do you think is the hardest Major to win of the four and why? RICKIE FOWLER: I would say typically for an American, I would say the British Open. For me, I feel like that one really suits me just because of the style of play. I really feel like it depends on the type of player. Some guys fit a U.S. Open setup. There's some guys that Augusta sets up well. I feel like Augusta and the British Open in a way can relate with the amount of imagination and shots you have to be able to visualize before you hit them. The U.S. Open is just flat out hard. You've got to drive the ball and be a ball striker there. And a PGA Championship is kind of a little mix in the middle there. So I don't think there's really one definitive answer as far as which one is the hardest to win. It just depends on which one suits your game and which one may be a little tougher for you. Q. Two‑part question. What is your level of familiarity with Valhalla? And how well do you think it fits your game? Is there any aspect that you think is conducive or problematic? RICKIE FOWLER: I've never been there. The most I've probably seen of the golf course is Tiger and Bob May. So I've got a lot of learning to do once I get there on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably play 18 Monday, kind of scoot around quickly. I think we have a match set up for Tuesday. I'm going to get most of my work done early on. So as far as how the course sets up for me, I don't know yet, but I'll do my prep pretty similar to what I did at The Open Championship. I played 18 Monday. We had a match on Tuesday. By the time Wednesday had come around, I just got a little bit of practice in, got some short game, and I felt I was pretty well prepared to go Thursday. Q. Rickie, pretty much since you started your career, you've been really visible and really popular. It's probably no secret to you that there were whispers years ago and even last year how much was style and how much was substance. Does it feel validating this year you've proved you're one of the elite golfers? And did any of that stuff ever get to you before? RICKIE FOWLER: No, it never really got to me. It was just being with Puma just allowed me to kind of just show off a little bit of me being me and that I'm not your typical golfer in a way. But I also wanted to do that on the course, and it was a bit of a struggle, especially when you talk about trying to make the 2012 Ryder Cup team, being hurt, and kind of a little bit of a low in my career so far as far as the performance in '12 and the first part of '13. But with where I'm at now, I definitely still want to be my own person as far as standing out and wearing fun clothing and doing my own thing there. And we do have a few other guys that have joined on with Puma, and it's fun to have some guys that are, I guess, similar to me as far as, I guess you could say characters, guys with some personality. But this year has been nice to go out and play some solid golf. I have missed quite a few cuts. But moving forward, I definitely want to look at normal events and WGCs to try and go in with the same mindset that I have with the Majors and see if I can play on that consistent level that I have with the Majors this year and make a little bit more of a statement and move up the world rankings and become a little bit more of a player that's there every week. Q. Have the Majors felt elevated to you this year the way you've performed? RICKIE FOWLER: They've been good, that's for sure. Not many guys have finished top five in the first three. I'm the only one this year. So that's pretty cool. It's cool to look at those stats. They've definitely given me a lot of confidence this year, but I want to do more. Being there in contention, I feel like, outside of Rory and Martin, take them away, and it's a pretty good battle for a win there. So we're really close to getting one of those, and I'm looking forward to being in contention a little more often at regular PGA Tour events. Not that the level of play is any lower. It's still playing against the best players in the world. But this year has definitely been a step in the right direction. Q. In what ways, other than your personal style, did you feel like you were not a typical golfer? When you were younger, did that ever feel like a big strike against the game for you? RICKIE FOWLER: Well, as far as me being different than, I'd say, the typical golfer, I'd say most or a lot of guys probably had some sort of playing privileges at maybe a private club or something like that. I wasn't a real member of a golf course until I joined maybe the Medalist a couple of years ago. I grew up on a local public driving range where my dad used to‑‑ near the sand and gravel company where he used to haul them sand and rock for the parking lot and trade that out for golf balls for me to hit. And then I also grew up riding and racing dirt bikes. There's not many guys here that will throw a leg over a dirt bike right now. I haven't jumped out of an airplane yet, but that's happening very soon. There's not many guys out here who will do that, and there's probably not many guys who have been in an F‑16, messed around up there. So, yeah, I'm an adrenaline junkie, and I wouldn't say there's very many of those guys out here on the extreme side. Q. To follow up on the extreme answer there, if you're involved in all this stuff, doesn't golf look dorky for an adrenaline junkie? RICKIE FOWLER: Yes and no. It's‑‑ I get a similar feeling when I'm either going for like a reachable or a drivable par 4 or going for a par 5 in two. You get a little bit of a rush going. That's the fun part of being in contention, get the blood pumping a little bit and adrenaline going. But it is a little different. I think being in those situations, where I grew up riding and racing dirt bikes and being in a little bit more extreme situations, being up in the air doing stuff that planes don't normally do, in a way makes me feel more comfortable in some of the situations maybe as far as being in contention in big situations just because I've probably scared myself a little bit more than is possible on a golf course. Q. Were you scared at all during your traffic accident or car accident? RICKIE FOWLER: No. I was good to go. I was calm, took care of everything, played well the next two weeks. Q. It worked out. Stitches, though? How many? Or staples? RICKIE FOWLER: There was some stuff, but everything's remained off the record. Q. We won't tell anybody. RICKIE FOWLER: This thing's live right here. Q. Before I hand it to Marla, what are the details of the plane jump? RICKIE FOWLER: No details yet. Could be something with Red Bull or I know some guys have gone with the SEALs out in San Diego. It's always been a bucket list thing for me to go skydiving. So it will happen. Q. How long is your bucket list? Is it very lengthy? RICKIE FOWLER: I mean, I'm sure I could keep adding to it as far as things that I find intriguing and fun to do, maybe fun for me, maybe not fun for some others. Yeah, like skydiving. I know down the road I want to do‑‑ get into more racing on the car side of things. Go diving, cage diving with great whites or something. That would be fun. I could keep going. Q. IndyCar or‑‑ RICKIE FOWLER: F1. F1 would be cool. Drive an F1 car. I don't think it would take too long to be an actual guy that could go race F1, but have a chance to drive an F1 car would be pretty cool. Q. I can't resist one more question about the touching the trophy thing. Did you say, when you first did it, did you say, Oh, my God, I've jinxed myself? Or did you never believe in it? RICKIE FOWLER: No, I've never been a big believer in the jinx thing of that, and Phil kind of solidified that. It's more of a mental block, I would say. Some guys just use it as an excuse to stay away. I know Keegan is very for it. It's like there's a glow around the Claret Jug that he can't get within like an inch. He can get close to look at it, but we didn't want to push him into it. Something bad might have happened. No, it's just‑‑ some guys have some stronger superstitions than others. I've just tried to really just stay away from it and live life a bit. Q. You hear you or anybody else talk about setting up their schedule, their game for the Majors. I was curious what exactly that means for you. Was it a mental thing? Was it a certain thing in your game? What is it? RICKIE FOWLER: You're talking about setting up for the Majors? Q. Yeah. RICKIE FOWLER: This year really just looked at‑‑ as far as the first one for me being Augusta and working with Butch, December we made it clear that the game plan was to have everything ready to be in contention at Augusta. Obviously, didn't play great starting out, and match play was a big step for me and really getting comfortable the week prior to these Majors was the biggest thing. Playing at Houston, playing‑‑ this was the first year that I played at Memphis, and then playing the Scottish Open was the first time for me. The weeks leading up, as far as kind of going through a checklist to make sure I was there mentally, making sure I was going through the process for golf shots, making sure certain shots felt comfortable. Playing the Scottish Open leading up to the British Open was helpful as far as being in similar conditions. Memphis put me in a position where I had to drive the golf ball a bit there and get ready for Pinehurst. But being able to go through the checklist as far as the golf swing and mental aspect really made me feel comfortable going into the Majors, made me feel that I was prepared and ready to go once I was ready to tee it up Thursday. Q. You look pretty comfortable with the swing changes now that Butch has made. Is there one area or one thing that you're still struggling with or really working hard on? RICKIE FOWLER: Finding the golf ball at the bottom‑‑ no. Everything's been good. It's been, I'd say, really good since the back nine Friday at Memorial. I ended up missing the cut by one, but I think I shot 3 or 4 under to at least give myself a chance there. Then went on and played well at Memphis. It's kind of been almost‑‑ what's that, a month and a half now or so, almost two months. The thing I'd say, for me, that I still have to concentrate on and be aware of is the pace of the swing and the transition at the top. If I stay in good rhythm and good tempo, everything falls into place. If I get a little quick, that's when the club tends to get just a little behind me and timing gets off. So it's really just come to a timing issue and staying, as long as I focus on the first kind of little bit of the takeaway of the swing and make sure I stay, I guess, in just good rhythm. Talk about a deliberate takeaway, and from there it's kind of everything goes and falls into place. Q. You were throwing out some pretty big numbers from around January to probably April‑ish. RICKIE FOWLER: They weren't that big. How big? I don't even remember. Q. Was there any concern when those big scores would show up out of nowhere? And secondly‑‑ and, again, going back to the start of the year, you weren't making anything putting‑wise. I wonder if that was the product of putting swing together, and when swing came together, did the putting aspect become easier? RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah. The big numbers, a lot of times, it was a combination. As far as the golf swing and ball striking was pretty good early in the year. Like you mentioned, the second part, I wasn't really making anything. Wasn't ‑‑ not making anything and then not chipping it close enough, not getting the ball up and down. Those are the big moments that can really change the momentum of a round. I just struggled, I felt like, more with putting rounds together and piecing day after day together than I did really actually playing golf. I felt like I was playing fine and put myself in good position, just wasn't able to kind of get the momentum going. That definitely changed at match play. But I did spend this year, probably since I first hit balls with Butch at The Open last year, the amount of time I've spent actually working on the game since my back has been healthy and playing without any pain, it's been the most time I've ever practiced, and most of that was spent on full swing, working on the golf swing. So whether it was from spending a lot of time there, as far as the putting and short game, I think I just lost a little bit of touch and feel and my eyes were a bit off. I think it was either end of January or beginning of February, I went down and saw Paul at Scotty's studio down in San Marcos, got some work with him on camera. It took about probably a month before my eyes were really back on, and that's when I was making putts at the match play, and that's when things started coming back together. A lot of it was from putting. If I could chip it to 4 feet but my eyes weren't very good, I would struggle to really see the putt how I wanted to. So once the putting started coming around, it made things a lot easier and took a lot of stress off the rest of the game. Q. How do you fix your eye? RICKIE FOWLER: You stick a needle‑‑ no. I'm sure, as far as setup goes, my hips were open. My shoulders were shut. My head was behind the ball. So it's hard to see the line of the putt when your setup's not in the same position you're used to or if it's a little off. So I started using‑‑ I started putting with a line more often, which before, the line on the ball never looked like it was lined up where I wanted to go. The line doesn't lie. It's lined up where I put it down. It doesn't change from when I stand up and get up over the ball. So I struggled with seeing that proper line. Like I said, it took about a month to really work on that. I worked on the putting aids that are near the eye line. So I was able to get visual feedback as far as where my head was, where my eyes were in relation to the ball, making sure my shoulders were square. So on a day‑to‑day basis I was able to look down at that, making sure I was in the same setup position every day, and not to where I started letting the head creep further and further back. That's where your eyes start to get off because you're seeing one way, you're aiming over here. So I was trying to get in a repetition of working on that on a daily basis and I was set up properly. It wasn't that my mechanics or anything were wrong, I was just setting up poorly, causing myself to be off visually, and then I wasn't able to make a good confident stroke. Q. I just learned yesterday that your grandfather on your mother's side spent some time in an internment camp during the World War II years. I was wondering if you could talk about that and what you've learned from him. And also, whether you think that, as a low point in American history, has given you a more complex or subtle idea of what it means to be an American. RICKIE FOWLER: My grandpa has probably been one of the most influential people in my life, as far as my immediate family. Outside that, my coach that I grew up with, Barry, but my grandpa is the one that got me started playing golf. He's the one that took me to the driving range. That's really all it took. He was the one that got me there and kept pushing me along. But I'd say my grandpa and my mom, they're the ones that really kind of were around me the most, as far as on the golf course. My mom would get me to tournaments and everything, but my grandpa helped with the whole process of getting me started and the way I kind of looked at the game and how I handled myself and how I behaved. And seeing how he was as a person, what he had been through. Obviously, I didn't‑‑ I had no clue at that age, up until I started‑‑ I think I did a couple of reports on it through school, just where there was a history class or stuff, when we had to do different things, I'd pick stuff like that. I think I did‑‑ I know I did one on the internment camps for sure because I think it was my great‑‑ it would be my great‑great aunt, who was my grandpa's mom's sister, she was a big artist during that time. An author wrote a book, so I did a big book report on that, as far as what went on in the internment camps. My grandpa was young, but obviously he still went through it. I think he was about 6 when he went in. My grandma, on the other hand, is Navajo Indian, which during World War II, the Navajos were there for the code talking. So it's kind of odd that those two sides came together with my grandpa being Japanese, my grandma being Navajo, and then they end up together 15 years later. So it was cool to look back, and it's definitely a big part of who I am with the Native side and the Japanese side. Q. Following up on your grandpa, do you remember stories from when you were young or just like to quit whining and stuff like that? RICKIE FOWLER: Not necessarily. Between my grandpa and my mom and my dad as well, because he would go‑‑ we'd play closest to the pin for an ice cream or a soda or something like that, we'd have fun with it. But as far as the three of them, mainly my grandpa and my mom, they made it very clear that, as far as any anger or if a club was thrown or broken, by any means, that club was gone. So I kind of liked my golf clubs, and they weren't thrown or broken. I made sure I kept them all. Q. Someone said, if golf is suffering, it's because your age group, as Doug says, sees golf as dorky. Do you buy into that? What can golf do to make it more interesting to the adrenaline junkies and people of your generation? RICKIE FOWLER: Obviously, I don't view it that way. It's always going to be where some people view it that way. There's some people who don't like baseball or who don't like football or don't like basketball. There's people that like me. There's people that hate me. I'm going to have haters no matter what I do. There's people that are going to think golf's dorky forever, but it's just the way it is. You're not going to get everyone to be out playing golf. I feel like golf's in a great spot. I'm not sure how they get the statistics and everything, but I know all my buddies who are riders, from surf boarders to wake boarders to ride BMX, they all love to go to the driving range and hit balls and play golf and goof around. They enjoy kind of going and hanging out with buddies, whether they have a drink or what not, they have fun being out on the golf course and playing around. Most of them are not very good, but they have fun doing it. I think with social media, people have seen that a bit more often. I think that you're going to see a growth soon with our generation, and especially younger generation, with seeing how excited the kids are at events. Some of the more junior clinics and junior programs that are coming up, there's some great little junior programs down in Jupiter where I'm at. They have some clubs that are putting together teams. One of the ones my neighbor plays on, a local team that's out of one of the golf courses down there, and the head pro runs it. It's almost like‑‑ in a way, they have a clinic and practice every week, and then they have matches up against other clubs in the area. It's a way of making it cool and fun. The team name is the Shipwreckers. I've been out there for a couple of practices. I've beat them in putting competitions. I mean, I can't let them beat me. That wouldn't be good. So stuff like that where there's programs that's, I think, run more in the local area. The First Tee and everything is great, they have the local sections, but as far as within the clubs and within the area of local golf courses of, say, ten courses in the area. But down there in Jupiter, the head pro, Neil Lockie, the one that runs the one out of Jonathan's Landing, it's a group of 15, 20 kids, and I think they take 6 or 8 and go play against another local team. It's a fun way for the kids to go have some competition and have fun with golf. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time, Rickie. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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