PGA Tour professional 5 time winner Rickie Fowler speaks with the media following an opening round of -7 at The American Express. Fowler talks the current state of his game and 2020 goals including winning the elusive first major championship.
PGA Tour: Rickie Fowler speaks on his return to The American Express and first round takeaways
Q. Always going to be a good day when you can put five birdies in a row on the scorecard. 7-under in your opening round at La Quinta. Overall what are your takeaways from today?
RICKIE FOWLER: It’s a good start. Obviously you look at scores it’s usually pretty low the week out here, especially when you look at weather like this and the conditions of the courses. Conditions are perfect here at La Quinta. Greens are about the best that we see all year. So, no, I got in a good spot where — Joe was giving me some good reads out there, so I made some good putts out there on the front nine. Lost a little steam on the back, but 7-under is a good start and so looking forward to kind of piecing the rest together the next couple days and getting into a good position for Sunday.
Q. It’s been a little while since we’ve seen you out here at Palm Springs. What brought you back to this course making sure you had this on your schedule in 2020?
RICKIE FOWLER: I just thought it would be a good kind of work couple weeks. I’ve been out here staying at the Madison Club since last Tuesday, so been able to get a lot of work in. And two events that I played well at, that I struggled as of late at Farmers down at Torrey, so I wanted to make sure that I was ready to go for Torrey. And then, like I said, with having good weather and good conditions out here, I feel like you can get a lot of good work on your game. So that was kind of first priority, but at the same time you don’t want to show up at a tournament and just go and play and see what you have, you want to go and get in contention. So I think we have done a good job so far and I like where the game’s at.
Fowler talks finally winning a major:
Q. I remember you made some comments in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions that one of your goals, of course, like it always has been, is getting a major. Obviously you know what you need to do, play well getting multiple wins, another goal that you have, but when it comes to the short-term stretch, playing three events in a row, do you have any short-term goals?
RICKIE FOWLER: First and foremost getting in contention here. Like I said, I think we’re off to a good start with that, but you need to make a lot of birdies this week. So that would be early. And then for me is to finally play well again at Farmers. I haven’t played the weekend a whole lot in the last five or six years. And then we all know I play well in Phoenix. So I think we’re going to have a good chance of getting a win in my first three full-field events of the year. So, yeah, if we’re able to be there on Sunday with a trophy at the end of these three weeks I would be happen with that.
Q. You got to back up that acting performance for Farmers, speaking of that video that we saw recently, that was funny.
RICKIE FOWLER: It was really hot that day unfortunately, too. I was wearing kind of a fat suit and a beard. It was fun though. I think I’m a better player than caddie though.
Q. How would you assess your game today?
RICKIE FOWLER: I’m happy with it. Really made sure we just kind of settled in and got things going out there. I feel like we did a good job of that and once the golf course really opens up once you get to the back-to-back par-5s on the front I was able to take advantage of those and kind of get the round going from there. The scores are typically pretty low out here when the weather’s this good, the golf courses are in great condition. So, yeah, basically just executed the game plan pretty well. And obviously you can always look at a round of golf and it could be better, but I’m happy with the start today.
Q. You had a pretty good birdie game today and the last time you were here was 2014. What made you want to come back here and play in the American Express this year?
RICKIE FOWLER: For me just looking at — typically it’s really good weather here, the courses are in great shape and I feel like starting last week I was going to be able to spend time — I’ve been over here for over a week I’ve been staying over at Madison Club since last Tuesday — so for me I thought it was a great way to work on the game, get ready for the season, two of my favorite tournaments coming up being Farmers and Scottsdale. Those are two events — I play really well always in Scottsdale, Farmers I’ve had success but not as much as of late, so I thought playing the week before, making sure the game’s in a good spot would help me play better there. So I always like spending more time in southern California when I can, being from here and now I’m not getting as much time here, so it was fun to be able to add this and spend a little time in the desert.
Q. Were there certain things you were working on during that week and did you see those pay off today?
RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, I’m still working on stuff. I’m still working on things out there on the course. Been working a lot on the body and the swing. And I felt pretty good about it today, got a lot of work in, like I said, over the last week leading up to this event. So, yeah, I’m definitely happy with where it’s at. It can still get better but nice to see some putts go in.
Q. Pro-am formats are different though because you’ve got to have some patience in addition to pulling the trigger when it’s your turn. How does this, getting back to this tournament in this format, how do you like it?
RICKIE FOWLER: It’s great. I feel like you get paired with a lot of cool people. There’s a lot of, especially with American Express being the partner now, I feel like there’s a lot of — there’s some heavy hitters out here — but some fun guys to play with. Actually I spent some time with Steve, the CEO, yesterday and played some golf. But, no, I think it’s fun, it’s a very relaxed format and you’re on golf courses that are in perfect shape, great weather, so, no, it’s a good fun week.
Q. As you look at 2020 in its entirety how do you not look too far ahead to take care of goals that are more immediate? How do you sort of look at your year that way?
RICKIE FOWLER: Really focus on the stretches at hand. Right now it would be a three-week stretch with this week and then San Diego and Scottsdale. So adding this to hopefully play better at Farmers. Them being a partner of mine, it’s, it hasn’t been the best thing for me not being there on the weekends a few times in the last few times, so that’s the great thing, just focus on these three weeks, ultimately focus on this one, one at a time and one day, one shot at a time like everyone says, but I think we took care of business today.
La Quinta, California
January 16, 2020
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports