Where in the World has Rickie Fowler Gone?

Golf is quite the fickle sport, you and I both know this. It is the ultimate balance of one day you have it, next day you don’t. This goes for recreational players, amateurs, and the pros alike, including one of my favorites, Rickie Fowler.

Remember about a decade or so ago when we had this new crop of twenty somethings waiting to challenge and take the mantle from likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson? Guys like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler were just bursting onto the scene.

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They were the ones that were ushering in a new generation, and for the most part, I think they have successfully done that. While Johnson, McIlroy, and Day are all major champions, one of these things is not like the others.

There was a time when Fowler was flying high. 2015 was easily his best year. Fowler notched two wins, including The Players Championship, had seven Top 10s, finished 4th in the FedEx Cup standings and was ranked 5th in the World Golf Rankings.

It seemed he was well on his way to becoming a staple on Sunday’s, including majors. It looked like Fowler was going to break through and finally win a major in 2017.

He had a stretch where he finished in the Top 5 in three of four majors. I thought for sure that he would’ve put the green jacket on at the 2018 Masters, but he was outlasted by Patrick Reed on that Sunday in April.

Since then Fowler has just three Top 10s in majors, and did not even qualify for for the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines. He’s already missed twelve cuts in twenty starts this year.

You can look at his finishes, and they don’t look good at all. You look at his metrics and they do him even less favors.

You could certainly make the argument that the game is maybe becoming too long for him. Early in his career, Rickie Fowler hung around the 30s in terms of driving distance.

Now, with guys like Bryson DeChambeau that try to hit the ball all the way to Mars off the tee, Fowler as of the Travelers Championship ranks tied for 84th off the tee. It’s not just with driving the ball either, scoring, putting, hazard saves are nowhere near what he was doing five years ago.

Watching Rickie Fowler is kind of painful for me. He’s such a nice dude, he has a great personality, and all of the talent i the world.

He’s only 32 years old, You have to believe the old Rickie Fowler is still in there somewhere, and with Phil Mickelson resetting the clock on how old you can be and still win, there’s still plenty of time for him.

Next. 2021 Travelers Championship: Winners and Losers from Connecticut. dark

I think I might be chalking this one up to “it’s just golf”, as to why he’s been so bad. Fowler and his wife Allison recently announced that they’re expecting their first child, and who knows, maybe that’s the kind of thing that he needs to reset the system a bit.

Hopefully Rickie Fowler will find his way out of the wilderness in the near future. Golf is more fun when Rickie is playing well.

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