Rickie Fowler Aspires To Be ‘Better Than He Ever Was’
Rickie Fowler isn’t satisfied with getting back to being the player he once was, he has much loftier expectations.
Rickie Fowler showed promising signs of life during the first round of the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship at TPC Potomac. Unfortunately, a day that had some great storylines were somewhat overshadowed by the outburst from Sergio Garcia on Thursday.
Meanwhile, both Jason Day, who takes the lead into the second round after an excellent opening 63, and Rickie Fowler, who opened with a quality 66 of his own, provided the inspirational undertones on a day that was plagued with more LIV Golf controversy.
Both Jason Day, and particularly Rickie Fowler have struggled during recent seasons, and seeing both showing encouraging signs during the opening round of this year’s Wells Fargo Championship was a welcome sight.
Ricke Fowler, whose last win came back in 2019, avoided a potential disaster on the Par 4, 6th hole during his opening round. Having driven his tee shot into the hazard right of the fairway Fowler was left dropping in the tee-box for his third, his ensuing third was also hooked right of the fairway but this time it found dry land allowing for a pitch out back into the fairway with his fourth.
The 33-year-old was left hitting his fifth from the fairway still some 133 yards out, it was at this point that Rickie Fowler conjured up a moment of magic as he holed out from the fairway to escape with a bogey.
“Yeah, it was a good 5. Just didn’t really fully commit to the tee shot. I mean, there’s plenty of room out there and we had a little breeze off the left and just started well right of where I was trying to and then drifted from there. Probably just got, like I said, a little away from the shot I should have been hitting. Same thing on the next shot, dropped on the front tee and was hitting 5-wood from there, chipped out, had a good number with wedge. Actually had a little bit of mud on the ball from hitting in the hazard and played it perfectly. It drifted right for me and I was just hoping to make 6 and get out of there, but 5 was a bonus,” Rickie described after his round.
Rickie Fowler’s Increbile Bogey-Save Kept His Round On Track
It was a pivotal moment during Rickie Fowler’s first round as he then went on a tear across his back nine recording three birdies and an eagle, this included a birdie on the last that would result in him posting a very nice 66 on Thursday. He sits just three shots adrift of Jason Day’s lead and will look to continue to build upon this momentum as he searches for a first made cut since the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March.
Things are vastly different for Fowler than the last time he played a PGA Tour event at TPC Potomac, back then he was ranked 8th in the World. His struggles since 2018 have been well documented, but according to Rickie he isn’t focused on getting back to the player he once was, he has higher aspirations.
“It’s not even getting back there, I’m trying to be better than I ever was. No one’s ever trying to go through changes to just get back to what was there or to kind of continue to stay the same, everyone’s trying to get better,” he responded when asked about the progress of getting back to being the player he once was.
Rickie believes that rediscovering his touch with the putter will be a key aspect during that process. He was once the best putter on Tour and it was the one club that he felt he could truly rely upon. “Unfortunately, through those last couple years, a club that I’ve been able to rely on for most of my career, putter, I’ve putted poorly, very poorly,” Fowler added.
Between 2014 and 2019 he ranked no worse than 64th on Tour with the putter and during the 2016-17 PGA season he was the best finishing 1st in putting. Fast forward to 2020 and Rickie Fowler finished the season 126th in that department, as for this year? it hasn’t gotten much better so far as he comes into this week’s Wells Fargo Championship ranked 184th.
The 2015 Players Champion doesn’t attribute his decline in putting as a direct result of all the time he has spent working on his swing, however.
“Not necessarily. Putting is something I’ve never really had to spend a whole lot of time on. I’ve always had great hands and feel and saw the greens really well. There’s been times where I feel like I’ve struggled starting the ball where I wanted to, but I was also not seeing the greens properly. So good luck making putts if either one of those are off, but that’s just kind of just hitting it and hoping. No, I’m in a lot better spot now with seeing the greens better and starting balls on line,” he said.
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Rickie gained almost three strokes on the greens during his first-round, so he certainly seems to be seeing things more clearly this week so far. It’s been a long time since Fowler found himself in contention but it would certainly appear as though he is heading in the right direction. On a day that was overshadowed by unsavory storylines, Rickie Fowler’s is the story we all truly needed.