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HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS


January 4, 2013


Rickie Fowler


KAPALUA, HAWAII

RICKIE FOWLER:  After the up‑and‑down there, if it would have been prior to that, it would have been great.  But yeah, after the kind of strong winds that came through and the weather, felt like it was a smart decision.
Obviously Webb is probably the only one that may be a little bummed.  He obviously was out there playing well and had control of his golf ball.
I felt like I was playing pretty well up until we had to hit in some crazy weather on 8 and I ended up making double.  Other than that, 1‑over par, felt like it was pretty good over seven holes.

Q.  Can you give us an idea of what was happening on 8 when you were on that cliff?
RICKIE FOWLER:  Jason and I are both sitting there trying to wait it out as long as we could.  Obviously being first group out, we don't want to be holding guys up.  We are kind of the guinea pigs out front.
It started to calm down a little bit, so Jason went ahead and hit and I went behind him.  But walking, after I hit it in the hazard short and hearing the horn blow a minute later, it didn't make me happy, but it was brutal out there.
You definitely had to be hitting solid golf shots and picking the right times to hit.

Q.  Is it asking too much of the caddies to do 36 holes on this course tomorrow?
RICKIE FOWLER:  No, we pay 'em.  We've got to go.

Q.  It's a tough course to walk for 18?
RICKIE FOWLER:  Welcome to 2013.  Right back into the swing of things.
Most of the caddies, they are used to looping and I know we are coming off of a little bit of a break, so it might be a little tougher; any of the guys just walking normally.  And if we have any rain gear, umbrellas, bags are going to be heavy.
I just did a short little segment with the Steve Sands from Golf Channel and told him, there's going to be a lot of guys sleeping well tomorrow night if we make it 36.

Q.  Was there one shot short or long‑‑
RICKIE FOWLER:  I hit a good drive on 3 and it went 215.  Other than that, for the most part, I told my caddie, I really almost don't even need any numbers today.  It's more looking at the shot and seeing what the weather is, and just grab a club and pick the flight and hit it.  Numbers were kind of irrelevant at times.

Q.  This course demands imagination anyway, but is it fun to have an extra element?
RICKIE FOWLER:  No, it's a lot of fun, especially with the wind.  I think with the kind of rain and changing weather, it was kind of a little much.
But just with the wind alone, yeah, it makes it for fun, definitely use imagination.  Like I said, numbers kind of go out the window and kind of just use your imagination, find your way around the course.

Q.  Did it ever cross your mind to kind of say something about how bad it was, balancing with that being the rabbit out there, the pacesetter?
RICKIE FOWLER:  We were just kind of going with it.  We had not really had much trouble.
Dufner's putt rolled by on 2 a little bit, but it was the tough pin for the most part.  You were better off if you were below it.
I had a ball that rolled up the hill on 6 with a gust; so that was a few holes back from when we finished.  We didn't say anything.  We were just kind of toughening it out and like I said, kind of guinea pigs up front.
But I think it's a smart decision with what they did.  Obviously saying that, Webb is probably the only one that's unhappy with the start that he was off to.  But hopefully we can get some better weather tomorrow.  I know it's supposed to be similar but moving forward.

Q.  And 8?
RICKIE FOWLER:  I'm really glad that didn't count because after hitting that and hearing the horn blow a minute later as I'm walking off the tee made me a little upset.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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