USA TODAY International Edition
Pressure grows on Fowler to seal deal
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. Rickie Fowler is right.
It is, indeed, time for him to close the deal.
The young star is once again in position to win after a steady procession of outstanding golf around the Champion Course on a toasty Saturday during the third round of the Honda Classic. Fowler scampered away from the field with a bogey- free, 5- under- par 65 and heads into Sunday’s final round at 13 under and four shots clear of his nearest competitor, Tyrrell Hatton ( 66).
This is Fowler’s tournament to lose. Following his second consecutive 66 on Friday, he said as much by telling the world it was time to close out a tournament.
He grew tired of coming up short on three occasions last year after he won the Abu Dhabi Classic. The two- shot lead with two to play that he blew at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The 74 he shot in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte to fall into a share of fourth. The disastrous back- nine 39 in The Barclays that took him from the lead into a tie for seventh.
“I think Fowler really needs this win,” NBC analyst Johnny Miller said. “He knows he’s the best player at the top of that leaderboard. He’s got a chance to be a great player, and right now he’s a ‘ wannabe’ a bit in that regard with just three wins. A win tomorrow could set him off to a great year.”
The recent trend is just the latest adversity facing Fowler, 28, who has six professional wins but none in nearly 14 months.
Back in his younger days, he was criticized for having more flash than substance. That he was unworthy of all his fame because of his lack of victories. Then he was overrated, as one survey of his peers said just two years ago.
While not saying so publicly, he used the criticism as fuel, never more so than in 2015 after the survey came out the week ahead of The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event. Fowler went out and won the tournament, coming up with big shots when “my back was against the wall down the stretch and in the playoff,” he said.
Joe Skovron, Fowler’s longtime caddie, was there on the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass when Fowler closed out that deal. He saw how much it meant to him. And he knows how much last year’s shortcomings stung him.
“But he deals with it and moves on,” Skovron said. “He has something special inside him when adversity is in front of him, and that’s why he’s had a lot of success and that’s why he’ll have a lot more success.”
One of his biggest foes come Sunday will be Mother Nature. After three relatively calm days, gusts reaching 20- 25 mph are expected.
The four- shot cushion helps, but if he doesn’t hold on Sunday, he’ll hear about it Monday. And until he does close one out.
“I definitely need to put myself in this position more often, which is just going to lead to me winning more often,” Fowler said.