RICKIE FOWLER
SILENCING HIS CRITICS
Birdie, eagle, birdie, eagle. It was Rickie Fowler’s polite way of telling his fellow professionals to keep their golf opinions rmly to themselves. After a weekend of high drama at the Players Championship, and a week of high controversy within the game, the “most overrated” man in golf left TPC Sawgrass in no doubt about his major credentials ahead of the US Open this June 18 to 21.
Standing alone on the island 17th green, Fowler holed out from ve feet to win the biggest title of his career, emphatically answering his critics by defeating the strongest eld in golf with a back-end blitz and a wry smile.
“I’d say this was a pretty big one,” smiled Fowler, just days after an anonymous poll of PGA Tour players labelled him, along with Ian Poulter, as the most overrated players on Tour.
But while winning a tournament that dresses up like a major represents a monumental occasion for the young Californian, who shunned his usual nal-day orange attire for a Mother’s Day-inspired outfit, the true test of his ability will be determined at Chambers Bay, scene of the game’s most brutal major.
Outside the ropes Fowler, in all his flamboyant glory, is widely regarded as a role model for future generations. Yet prior to his Players victory, across the PGA Tour locker rooms the rising American had been pinned as the poster boy of hype and exaggeration.
Despite slamming the door shut on his critical fellow professionals with his second Tour win, Fowler heads to Chambers Bay, and the unknown quantity of this US Open course, biting a tongue he is usually unafraid of wagging, as his place among golf’s elite acquires new interpretation. “I’ve just got to get one and the rest will follow,” says Fowler, who has now managed two PGA Tour victories after accumulating more than US$17 million in earnings during his six years as a pro. “Every time I play a solid round in a major, and the past few majors have been building blocks, I feel more and more comfortable. “From the Masters to the US Open to the British Open and then to the PGA Championship, each time has shown how I felt under the gun when being in contention at a major. “It builds confidence for me and I feel like it’s just a matter of time before I’m putting myself in great positions.” To the casual observer, this is media training 101. But for those who have followed Fowler’s rise from enthusiastic pretender to serious contender, the near-misses of 2014 were necessary parts of the bigger picture, seen as imperative steps up the golf ladder.
And who can forget that only two months ago stood Fowler, dressed in his striking Sunday orange uniform, anked by towering mahogany pine trees, assortments of yellow azaleas, pink dogwoods and flowering
Every time I play a solid round in a major ... I feel more comfortable.
peaches, effortlessly blending into Augusta National’s canvas of colour.
And that, on a record-breaking day at the Masters, was quite the problem.
Fading rather than shining, the affable young American faced media questions surrounding Jordan this and Rory that, serving up the game’s oldest adage in response, “The player to beat is yourself.”
Disparaging a 26-year-old for failing to win on the biggest stage perversely highlights the high regard in which Fowler is held, and for many is merely indicative of the changing levels of expectation in modern-day professional sport.
“No, I can de nitely see exactly what they are talking about,” acknowledged Fowler, understanding that with performance, comes great pressure. But to be branded overrated for such major shortcomings? “I guess top- ve nishes in four majors aren’t that good,” he added sarcastically. “But if I need any extra motivation and there’s a time where I need something to kind of give me a kick in the butt, then I can think of that and it will put me in the right frame of mind to go out there and take care of business.”
Celebrations aside, however, business this month comes in the shape of the untested, yet significantly tampered with Chambers Bay, host of the callous US Open, the most unforgiving major in the game.
The brief from USGA executive director Mike Davis is that “this is a one-of-a-kind site” for a US Open, advising the eld to study hard or fail fast in Washington state.
With tawny fescue grasses and intimidating sand dunes engulfing uneven fairway lies and green-complex undulation, the Pacific Northwest course, despite its modest history, will live up to its billing. Adhering to the narrative of US Open tracks being torturous, cruel and at times downright barbaric, the lengthy Chambers Bay will require distance off the tee, entwined with pinpoint accuracy to minimise the risk of errant shots nding the severely thick rough that surrounds the course.
History suggests that fortune ultimately favours the cautious, despite championship organisers desperately trying to lure swashbucklers
such as Fowler to be courageous on the grandest stage.
“You can play fearless but not reckless,” adds Fowler, who believes bravery to be more than just big hits and bold shots. “You can’t be afraid and you have to be ready to go hit the golf shot that you need to hit.
“Whether that’s playing safe to the right part of the green and just hitting aggressive shots there or actually going after some pins and making many birdies; it depends on the situation. But yeah, you have to believe in yourself because when you start worrying and showing fear, you’re going to go downhill.
“If you play without fear and accept that some challenges and some mistakes are going to happen then you’re going to be a lot better off.”
Despite recording his best major nish at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, truth be told, Fowler has rarely been in US Open contention with even his tiedsecond placing last year a staggering eight shots behind wire-to-wire champion Martin Kaymer.
Like McIlroy in 2011, Kaymer ripped 155 other professionals apart from rst tee to closing putt during four days of dominance, becoming only the seventh player to annihilate the eld from start to nish in 119 years of US Open history.
Billed as “golf in its purest form”, ashes of excitement in the viewing galleries may be at a premium come tournament time however, but what can be guaranteed is that Chambers Bay requires imagination.
“I de nitely have enough offence,” adds Fowler, who rallied to Players success from a ve-shot deficit with arguably the greatest nish in the tournament’s 41-year history.
Nevertheless, the King of Ponte Vedra Beach is merely a prince in majors with the all-conquering Northern Irishman still the man to beat, followed closely by Masters hero Jordan Spieth, proven winners Phil Mickelson and Tigers Woods and, as always, the usual Australian contenders of Adam Scott and Jason Day.
Lurking somewhere on the fringe is Fowler; his ability respected but his killer instinct still questioned.
“I don’t feel like my game is any weaker than his or anything like that,” replies Fowler, when positioned directly against rival McIlroy,
You can’t be afraid and you have to be ready to hit the shot you
need to hit.
When I show up the week of a major, my game is basically in check and I can go figure out the course.
a player six months younger but four majors better off. “We’ve had some great battles and I’ve come out on top a couple times and he just happened to come out on top a few more times than me.
“But he has strengths that maybe outweigh mine. At times when he is on top of his driving game, that is when he is very tough to beat. So when he hits it 330 yards down the middle of the fairway, it frees up a lot of the rest of his game to go and play some fairly effortless golf. That may be one aspect of his game, that when he’s on, it’s something that I can’t match up with, as far as distance goes.”
While accepting McIlroy is “off and running” in terms of accumulating major trophies, Fowler’s continued bid to silence his own critics leads him to Chambers Bay with added motivation.
Widely regarded as a dignified member of the touring elite, Fowler’s thrill-seeking passion for all-action sports, coupled with his outgoing personality, have catapulted him into the minds, and columns, of the golf media. Living under such a spotlight ensures that the pride of becoming only the third player behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to have nished in the top- ve in all four majors in one calendar year is tinged by disappointment that he stands as the only man among the three not to win one.
“It’s tough looking back because I really wanted to win,” says Fowler, who recorded ten top-ten nishes during the 2013-’14 PGA Tour season.
Famed for his flamboyant personality and dazzling attire, Fowler’s ability to astonish makes him impossible to miss on Tour, where he continues to attract legions of fans to the game. Yet bright attire aside, the Florida-based player has spent most of his major Sundays in the shadows, chasing the advancing tails of Bubba Watson or Spieth at Augusta, Kaymer at Pinehurst and McIlroy at Hoylake.
“There’s been a few times where I’ve been just a little too far back,” assesses Fowler, quick to acknowledge his major nishes stemmed from strong back-nine rallies rather than full-frontal assaults. “The only tournament where I’ve been in great position was the PGA Championship. I really felt like I had it and that was the one that really hurt the most.”
Desperate to forge a legacy built on major success, rather than simply “my clothes and my hat”, 2014 represented a turning point for Fowler’s game, a game retooled around greater swing efficiency, improved course management and a stronger mental approach.
Six months into the new year and the momentum appeared to have slowed in comparison, but Fowler’s work with Butch Harmon, coach to a plethora of major winners throughout the years, paid dividends at TPC Sawgrass.
“Butch has been a big influence,” says Fowler, who joined forces with the world-renowned coach in early 2014. “I’m a lot more prepared to go tee it up Thursday than I ever have.
“During the tournaments my mental process before each shot has been a lot better and I’ve been able to kind of step into every shot. I’ve been working with Butch and cleaning some things up in the swing but also a lot of my work has been done in the weeks leading up to the majors, especially the week prior by playing in tournaments and going through a checklist to make sure my game is where I want it.
“That way when I show up the week of a major, my game is basically in check and I can go gure out the golf course and go through more of my mental approach.”
Setting trends on and off the fairway thanks to his unique sense of style, Fowler wants to be remembered for more than just his outrageous apparel.
Yet in keeping with his level-headed nature, for a player so young in the game, the golf fashionista accepts that when it comes to majors, just like the PGA Tour, his time will come.
“It doesn’t happen often where you just run away with a major or any tournament in particular, so being close and in contention is really all you can ask for.”