ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2026

Rickie Fowler

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. We had some players say that -- Justin kind of said that the greens are getting towards Friday kind of firm. How did you find the course today?

RICKIE FOWLER: It was tricky. The greens this afternoon were obviously with, we have enough guys, to get a little crusty and crispy around the holes where obviously a lot of guys have walked. So, yeah, it was tricky. Wind was kind of gusting up here and there with the storm kind of rolling through. It wasn't easy. You had to kind of play defense a lot.

Q. How would you assess your round out there?

RICKIE FOWLER: I'm happy with it. Could have gotten a little bit more out of it, but pars were good. It was tough to get the ball close. You had to take advantage of the par-5s. We got two of those. Kind of a bonus on 17. Nice little love tap from Arnie on 18.

Q. Par was good at 18, wasn't it?

RICKIE FOWLER: Pars are always a good score at 18.

Q. What did you have for your second shot there?

RICKIE FOWLER: I had 128 front. Really that's all I was focusing on there. I was aiming it front left corner, trying to fly it 130. Swing path and everything was in the right direction. Face must have been just a little bit open, and just kind of squirted right out of rough. I was playing for a little bit of that, but we had the wind off the right and thought I had a little bit of a buffer. Came out a lot further right than I thought it might and wind didn't move it. So needed a little assist from Arnie.

Q. When you get a break like that do you just take it as a one off or do you take it as a sign of like, hey, I'm going to have a good week, it's going to be a fun week because something potentially bad turned into good?

RICKIE FOWLER: Right, it definitely doesn't hurt. A lot of times -- I'll remember that one. Most of the time you remember all the bad breaks you get. No, when you do get good ones, when you're able to take advantage of it like that and save par. Where if I hit it in the water, good chance I make 5. But pretty easy to make a 6 from there as well. So, yeah, no, when you do get a good break it feels good when you're able to actually take advantage of that and nice to keep a clean card and finish off the round.

Q. Especially at 18, right.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah.