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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 3, 2019

Rickie Fowler

Scottsdale, Arizona

Q. You've been close a few times before.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, this one is a little more special. It's not just the normal event. I love the atmosphere here, I love the fans. They have always been great to me. The Thunderbirds have been nothing short of amazing to me, giving me a spot here when I was an am at Oklahoma State, like they did with Wolff this year. The Waste Management upping their title sponsorship again. They have been great here. But the amount of friends and family I have at this tournament, year after year, it's been kind of disappointing the times that I've been in contention and not been able to pull it off with everyone here. There's definitely more pressure at this event just because I want to get the win for a lot of other reasons, other than just myself. At the end of the day I'm going to go take care of you myself out there and glad I could do that today.

Q. And so finally now you move into the 7th spot in the FedExCup points. You got the Wyndham Rewards at the end of the regular season plus Presidents Cup year you're now in the top-10.
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, winning takes care of a lot. Like you just rattled off there's a lot of good things in there. Obviously it's nice to be back up in FedExCup points because when you don't play much in the fall you kind of start the calendar year pretty far behind the eight ball and playing catch up. So this is a nice start to get back kind of in the race for that. Like you said with the new Wyndham Rewards at the end of the regular season and get to go to Kapalua next year so that's never terrible.

Q. A wild Sunday for sure for Rickie Fowler at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. You go from a five-shot lead to trailing in the span of a couple holes. How did you steady yourself and ultimately go on to get the victory?
RICKIE FOWLER: It really wasn't fun there for a couple holes. I mean to have what happened on 5, but then 11 and kind of just rolled with the punches. The nice thing about going in with a 54-hole lead and having a bit of a cushion, it allows for mistakes. It would have been nice to be a little cleaner today. But other than the two penalties there on No. 5, I mean other than that, it was a pretty good round of golf, considering the conditions. And to step up after that, I feel like I played the last five holes pretty well. And so, yeah, it was just had to find a way to get it done. It wasn't very fun. It will be fun now, and it will be well worth it. Good learning experience. But, yeah, I don't want to have to go through that again.

Q. How were you able to draw deep with the second shot on 15 and then the tee shot on 17 which seemed to be the tournament for you down the stretch?
RICKIE FOWLER: I've been driving it well all week, making good swings. I just kind of had to put the really only the few bad swings I've had all week. There hasn't been many. So get rid of that, just step up, pick some good lines, don't try and be overly aggressive or anything. There on 15 we were just trying to hit it in the middle of the green. Really on 17 trying to hit it in the right center of the green and that one was just maybe it just turned a little bit off of there and end up in the left center. So obviously big shots, after -- I got criticized back in I think it was 2010 from laying up. I was at an uncomfortable yardage, so I definitely wasn't laying up today on 15. And I'm just happy. I mean I made some really good swings down the stretch to at least give myself the opportunity to finish it off.

Q. I know how special it is to have not just your parents, but your grandparents and fiance' Allison, to be here as well. To get a victory in front people that mean so much to you. What's that like?
RICKIE FOWLER: It's awesome. My dad, my grandpa, my grandma, and Allison's parents, they haven't seen me win yet. So the amount of times I've been in contention here, my dad's always been here, my grandparents have always been here. So it's always been pretty disappointing to have been there and feel like we were so close to getting them a win. So it's nice to finally get that done. I'm happy for now. But, yeah, it was good. Like I said, it was not fun out there today, but to be able to have everyone here to celebrate with and it will be a lot more fun from here on in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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