Rickie Fowler tries to find the golfer he used to be
NAPA, Calif. — The game forced him to be here.
Rickie Fowler normally wouldn’t be in the season’s opening golf event, the Fortinet, where the kids, the rookies, get their shot at making shots.
But it was a matter of … is desperation too strong a word?
Fowler was no Tiger Woods, but in a way he was the next best thing. In a short stretch of years, Rickie finished second in the Masters, second in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open.
It was only a matter of time and patience until he became a major champion. Or so we were told. Or so he believed.
Fowler, now 33, still doesn’t have that major. And although he does have five victories as a pro, including the 2015 Players Championship, the recent years have been a struggle.
It’s as if he’s had to relearn the game. Or himself.
Once fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings, Fowler tumbled to 178th. He changed teaching pros — returning to Butch Harmon, who once worked with Tiger — and changed caddies.
And changed his routine, forgoing any bit of relaxation to return to the Tour as early as possible, in the hope the situation can be corrected.
“Not going through the playoffs,” conceded Fowler, “and not being in the Presidents Cup, that’s been really the only reason I haven’t been to Napa yet.”
The words verbatim mean the opposite, but it’s just a figure of speech. We understand what Rickie was driving at: “Until now, my golf was so good I didn’t need to be at this event two weeks after the Tour Championship. Now I do.”
You’re alone in golf: you and your caddy and the clubs, which used to be your friends but now are enemies. No relief pitchers. No backup quarterbacks. Just you flailing (or so you imagine) and groping. And those putts that used to find the bottom of the cup.
No wonder even the very accomplished pros use instructors. And psychologists.
Thursday’s opening round was delayed an hour and a half at the start, so many of the entrants didn’t finish. Fowler did, shooting a 5-under-par 67. He was not displeased.
“Bogey free,” he pointed out. “For the most part, that wasn’t necessarily an issue other than one hole. I had to make a 15-footer for par after I hit it in a bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.”
Two days earlier, Fowler told Cameron Morfit of PGA Tour publications, “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I’m arguably as healthy and strong as I’ve ever been. The home life couldn’t be better. Our little one is great.”
Sounds excellent, but so did all the comments a few years back forecasting brilliance for Fowler.
“A good step in the right direction,” Fowler said of his first round of the new season. ”Not that we haven’t been doing that in the past. But just trying to get back to being more consistent.
“I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t be just those weeks. There needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing, just getting back to playing consistent golf and having chances to win.”
As he had, not all that long ago.