Fowl’ language
Rickie talks too positively of another Major defeat
RICKIE Fowler walked off the 18th hole Sunday at Erin Hills sounding like he was perfectly satisfied with what had just taken place. And that was maddening. “It was nice to finish with some good swings … make a birdie at the last as well,’’ Fowler said.
Those were Fowler’s first words as he stood before reporters for his post-round interview. Finishing with “good swings’’ and a birdie on the 72nd hole in a tournament he had a great chance to win meant as much as doing those things in a Tuesday practice round.
They were empty accomplishments.
“It was a tough day out there,’’ Fowler said.
Not for Brooks Koepka, who seized the moment like it might be the last tournament he’d ever play, birdieing Nos. 14, 15 and 16 on his way to his runaway U.S. Open victory, the first major-championship of his career.
This is not intended to be an indictment of Fowler. I don’t question his desire to break through and win a major. I just wanted to hear more fire out of him after shooting an indifferent even-par 72 in the final round to tie for fifth after starting the day two shots out of the lead against a leaderboard that was not stocked with seasoned major championship winners.
Fowler, not Koepka or Brian Har- man or Justin Thomas or Tommy Fleetwood, was the most accomplished player in contention entering Sunday’s final round. This was his major championship to seize.
“If you look at the negatives too much, you’re going to be stuck doing that the whole time,’’ Fowler said. “I felt like I did a lot of good things, especially in the first round [shooting 65]. It was a good week. I think I might have gotten another top 5 snuck in there.’’
Yes, he sure did get another top-5 finish. It was his sixth career top-5 finish in a major, fifth since 2014. While that’s an admirable accom- plishment, it also should be looked at as another opportunity lost. Top-5 finishes, after all, do little to enhance your legacy in the game. Ask Tiger Woods how many top 5s he has and he’ll look at you cross-eyed.
Fowler won’t concede to it publicly because it’s not his way, but his failure to close out major championships is becoming a thing for him. It’s fast becoming a narrative to his career, much the way it did for Sergio Garcia before he broke through and won the Masters in April.
A problem for players like Fowler, Thomas, Keegan Bradley and a number of the younger stars not named Spieth, Day, McIlroy or Dustin Johnson is this: They not only are fighting the pressure to perform, the deepening pool of competition and the golf courses, but they, too, are fighting human nature.
These young players are so wealthy, thanks to the ballooning purses on the PGA Tour and the millions in endorsements, and their lives are so swank (flying private, living in mansions, vacationing wherever they’d like) that it can’t help but take some edge away from their competitiveness.
This is not to say the likes of Fowler and his contemporaries don’t want to win, but it is to say that they don’t have to win to keep up their cushy lifestyles. Fowler, for example, is 34th on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list with $27,524,196 in earnings — and that doesn’t include his lucrative endorsements.
When a reporter praised Harman for his runner-up finish, pointing out that he’d never made a U.S. Open cut before, Harman — who entered the final round with a one-shot lead and, like Fowler, could manage nothing better than a Sunday 72 — said: “My first re- sponse to that is I don’t believe in moral victories.’’
“I had an opportunity today and I didn’t get it done,’’ Harman said. Bravo, Brian. “I had some good stuff early in the week and contended, and [Sunday] when I was under the gun, didn’t have my best stuff,’’ said Bill Haas, who finished tied with Fowler at 10-under. “I can take a lot of good away from it.’’ Bravo, Bill. I don’t expect Fowler to dwell on negatives, because he’s a positive guy. But the things Harman and Haas said are things I wanted to hear out of Fowler.
“No real negatives,’’ Fowler said of his week.
That’s either a delusional or disingenuous take — unless he’s content stockpiling more top-5 finishes, more millions, fancy cars, boats and Instagram fame.