Rickie Fowler aiming to stay patient in defence of Players Championship title
Thursday 12 May 2016 19:30, UK
Rickie Fowler is hoping another week of "patience and accuracy" will lead to him becoming the first man in history to successfully defending the Players Championship title.
Fowler edged out Kevin Kisner to clinch his second PGA Tour title after a thrilling final-round charge last year, when he carded four birdies and an eagle over the closing six holes in regulation and birdied the 17th three times on the day.
The young American was in position to win his second Wells Fargo Championship crown last week before closing with a disappointing 74 to finish two shots off the pace, but he believes a return to the scene of his career-best performance at TPC Sawgrass will repair his confidence.
"You have to be pretty spot on here, it's a very fine line at this golf course. The targets and the driving areas are very small, you don't have much room," said Fowler, who is well aware that no player had won back-to-back since the tournament's inception in 1974.
"You're playing against the best players in the world, so someone's got to break it at some point," he added.
"It's definitely special to be back, and it feels like coming back home. I was here just over a month ago for media day and I got to spend a little time around 16, 17 and 18, and it was fun to go out there and get around the course for the first time since last year.
"Looking back to last year, I think patience is a big key. You look at the US Open, that's probably one of the biggest things on a week like that - having patience on one of the toughest set-ups, and you have to look at a place like this as well. The way it's set up and playing against the best players in the world. The more patient you can be, the better.
"Having some course knowledge definitely helps, but more so if you're on top of your game makes it a lot easier. If you're driving the ball well, it frees you up a lot more to actually be able to hit the greens and have control of the golf ball going into the greens.
"If you start missing fairways, then you're hitting it into some funky lies around greens and it's just tough to play this golf course from anywhere but the fairway and the green.
"I feel like the combination of knowing the golf course a bit better and also growing as a golfer and continuing to get better, a bit more efficient and better at controlling my game when I'm not completely on over the past couple years, has definitely been a big key to playing better these past few years."
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