THE 153RD OPEN

July 18, 2025

Rickie Fowler

Mixed Zone

Q. You're a regular visitor to Northern Ireland over the years. What's it like out there, the atmosphere, because everyone is excited to see all these world-class golfers?

RICKIE FOWLER: It's fun. It's great being able to come back after being here in 2019. I think this place is a great test of golf. I've enjoyed my time here. Obviously a good finish back in '19 and off to a decent start this week.

I know a lot of guys really just enjoy this golf course, enjoy the fans over here, enjoy the town of Portrush as well as down the road Portstewart. I played over there on Friday, and especially when you get the weather we had over the weekend and leading into the week, and so far we haven't had too much rain. So it's a good place.

Q. You had a lot of support out there this morning.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, we had a handful of people. I didn't expect a bunch to show up at a 7:08 tee time, but I was surprised there were a couple people with their little ones out, and having little ones myself, that's tough to make happen because you don't just wake up, roll out and show up at 7:00. That's some serious commitment.

Q. A little bit of an up-and-down round. Did you find it hard to get into a rhythm a little bit?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I got out of position a couple times. Wasn't swinging as well today as I was yesterday. Kind of had to fight my way around a little bit. I think we did a decent job of managing that and not making any big numbers.

It's definitely tricky out there if you're a little bit off or get out of position a bit. But it's a good test.

Q. What do you think is the biggest challenge at Portrush in terms of what you're thinking about for the weekend?

RICKIE FOWLER: It doesn't take much to get yourself in an interesting spot. I feel like a lot of the greens or a lot of holes typically give you kind of one side where you're okay, or at least have a chance, and then there's others where you might have a slim chance but you can turn a poorly executed shot into -- you're hoping for bogey sometimes, but you can turn them into doubles and more if you try and maybe get too much out of it or get, as some of us call it, a little too cute.

You have to think your way around this place, even some of the shorter holes. No. 11 I made bogey the last two days, and it's basically like making par, I feel like, there.

Yeah, it's good. I enjoy it because it demands a lot out of you, hitting different shots, high, low, left, right, especially when the wind is up.

Q. Did you hit a lot of drivers today?

RICKIE FOWLER: I hit a few. I want to say I probably hit maybe four.

Q. Seems like with the way the course is laid out, some of the forced carries and then the runouts, it can get a little tight. We've seen guys on even par-5s hit less than driver. Wondering about the strategy off the tee.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, you can hit quite a few drivers if you want to. I typically don't hit many drivers in left-to-right wind. That's why I carry a mini. I draw it a lot easier. I'm able to hold it better. I didn't do a great job of that today. But at least they were somewhat in play.

I may hit less drivers than some. But like I said, there's plenty of options to do it, but really no matter what club you hit, you have to hit it at least within reason, a quality golf shot.

Q. You've spoken about your affinity for this style of play. Why do you think that is?

RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like I've always been creative and had a good imagination when it comes to hitting golf shots. Growing up on a flat driving range, kind of had to picture different things and hit different shots. Over here there's obstacles out there, but you have to at times be able to see the shot and you have to execute it as well.

But I find it a lot of fun, this place being a little bit different because it's a little more in the air than a lot of links courses. But there's always a few different shots you can hit, and then you can make all of them work, but it's sticking to the one you pick and executing. I find it fun because there's so many different variables from how much the ball bounces, whether it's downwind, using the wind or not. I think it's the variables part of it as well as you throw the wind in there, and then I'm not a big fan of the rain, but that's a big variable when it comes into play.

Q. Stylistically how different is it from the type of shots that you're hitting week in and week out?

RICKIE FOWLER: You can still hit some fairly stock shots to what we hit back home. There's plenty of times where keeping it simple is probably your best bet. Like I said, not trying to get too cute or trying to pull off the hero shot. But being able to flight the ball or hit it up, downwind and then being able to hold it both ways to be able to use the wind, you don't necessarily have to, but at the right times it can be a huge benefit.

Q. Are you doing anything differently off this kind of turf than a lot of the golf we see over the States when it comes to chipping?

RICKIE FOWLER: Not really. Good delivery is still good delivery. It doesn't matter if you're on firm, soft, grainy. If you can chip off grainy Bermuda at home in Florida, anything is possible. This is a bit tighter and firmer, but still, the initial contact, that's basically for me still the same because you're not really -- should be making kind of ball in ground contact roughly about the same time, hopefully ball before ground slightly. So in that case, the surface shouldn't play as big of a factor with that. Certain shots, obviously in the fairway, it's not like -- it's tough to hit flop shots when you have that much bounce and different things.

I would say a lot more square face or not as open as maybe at home because of how much you expose the bounce and what that could lead to because a 10-yard shot could go 40 if you don't execute properly.

Q. You have success with your Jailbird putter, now you have a LAB. What do you like about it?

RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like it has a lot of the characteristics of the Jailbird, just a shorter length and a lighter static weight. The Jailbird is still a great putter. I've found over the years all putters work. It's whether you believe it or not. I've been happy with the LAB and had success with it. But yeah, at the end of the day they all work. Right now, this is what I'm seeing the line with best and feel like is my best chance of making putts. Sometimes things change. There's guys that use putters forever, and sometimes putters start to look a little differently to you or maybe be a little off to your eye, and a big thing at setup is you want something that looks right. If it starts to look wrong, I'll look for the one that looks right.