PGA Championship Power Rankings: Top ten at Quail Hollow

There’s something to be said for the power of positivity in golf. For Rickie Fowler, who for years had to hear about how his fame didn’t match his game, a return to the site of his first PGA Tour victory can’t be a bad way to spend a major week.

After two-plus years as one of the hottest up-and-comers in golf, Fowler took home the title at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship, beating Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a playoff at Quail Hollow. If you tried to pinpoint the beginning of Fowler’s rise to the top of the sport, you’d have to start right there in Charlotte.

There’s not much Fowler hasn’t done in his seven years on TOUR now. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2010 (narrowly edging out McIlroy), he’s spent most of the last two years inside the World Top Ten, and in 2014 he finished inside the top five in all four majors. He won a Presidents Cup in 2015, a Ryder Cup in 2016, and he represented the United States at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

There’s just one thing missing – his first major championship. Fowler has come close plenty of times. He even started well at both the Masters and U.S. Open this year, fading down the stretch in each. Last year at Quail Hollow, Fowler held the 54-hole lead before shooting two-over 74 on Sunday, missing a playoff by those two strokes.

Even though Fowler hasn’t brought home his first major yet, he’s had an impressive year, with one win and six other top-ten finishes in just 15 starts. If he can channel a little bit of that breakthrough adrenaline from 2012 this week, we could be crowning yet another first-time major winner on Sunday.