Rickie Fowler Needs To Buck Trend To Win Rocket Mortgage
Rickie Fowler will need to put an end to this specific trend if he hopes to emerge victorious on Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
If not now, when? That will be the question many may be asking themselves about Rickie Fowler and his opportunity to end a lengthy winless drought on Sunday at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.
The 8-time career winner’s return to prominence in 2023 has been immensely impressive. Rickie Fowler ended 2022 ranked outside of the top 100 in the Official World Ranking for the first time since the end of 2009. He came into this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic ranked 35th.
The 34-year-old Fowler can thank his incredibly consistent play throughout 2023 for his surge back up the World ranks. Rickie has played in 15 events in 2023 and finished top 10 or better in five of them. He has finished inside of the top 20 in 12 of his 15 starts this year without having registered a win as of yet.
His performances at the recent U.S. Open in Los Angeles and last week’s Travelers Championship, however, suggest that a win may be just around the corner. Fowler has another great opportunity to end the winning drought this week.
Rounds of 67-65 and 64 over the first three days in Detroit see Rocket Mortgage ambassador Fowler sitting atop the leaderboard heading into the final round. Yet, there is one trend he will need to buck on Sunday if he is to indeed end a winless streak that stretches back to the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Can Rickie Fowler buck trend at Rocket Mortgage Classic?
Fowler has been extremely consistent throughout the majority of this year but his performances on Sunday have continually let him down thus far. Rickie ranks 59th on the PGA Tour this season in Round 4 Scoring Average (69.88).
He has broken 70 three times in his last seven starts during his final rounds. Simply put, that won’t cut it on Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Fowler knows it.
“I’m still going to have to play some solid golf tomorrow because there’s plenty of guys right behind me,” Fowler said following his round on Saturday. “It’s not like I have an eight-shot lead or anything like that where I can just go cruise.”
Detroit Golf Club has annually ranked as one of the easiest courses on tour since the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s debut in 2019. Three of the event’s last four winners have reached 23-under par or lower.
That doesn’t look like it will be changing anytime soon.
Rickie Fowler sits at 20-under with an entire round left to play and per Data Golf, the field has averaged at least 1.5 strokes under par over the first three rounds of this year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. That number was an eye-opening -3.05 during Saturday’s third round.
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Fowler has a great opportunity to notch a well-deserved win in Detroit on Sunday, but if he is to at long last finally end the winless drought, he will need to buck that final-round trend.