Rickie Fowler States His Case For A Ryder Cup Spot

Kurt Breidenstein

799 days ago

Rickie Fowler returns to the winner’s circle for the first time in four years with a playoff victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. Fowler finished with a final score of 24 under par along with Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin. Fowler finished with a birdie on the first playoff hole to secure the victory. This is his sixth PGA Tour victory and first since the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. He takes home approximately $1.6 Million in prize money and most importantly, 500 FedEx Cup points to secure his spot in the year end playoffs.

1,610 days since his last victory on TOUR.@RickieFowler is back in the winner’s circle @RocketClassic! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6gyODcVQ6F

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 2, 2023

Recent Struggles

As noted above, this is Fowler’s first victory in four years. He had immense expectations after graduating from Oklahoma State University and a decorated amateur golf career where he spent 36 weeks as the top ranked amateur golfer in the world from 2007-2008. He won a couple amateur tournaments and played in multiple Walker Cups. His first PGA Tour came in 2012 and did not win again until 2015. He did win The Players Championship in 2015, which most fans and golfers consider the “fifth major.” But the past few years have been difficult for Fowler as some confidence and swing issues began to plague him. It got so bad that he had to begin qualifying for majors on his own and he had a stretch where he did not achieve a top-10 finish in nearly 30 straight events. While many professionals go through stretches like this in their career, this one was particularly brutal for Fowler.

Butch Harmon Returns

Fowler made the decision to bring back his old coach, the famed Butch Harmon. His resume speaks for itself and his rolodex of tour pros he has coached is thick. His most famous pupil is, of course, Tiger Woods whom he coached from 1993-2004. Other big names include Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, and Davis Love III. He did announce the a “semi” retirement from coaching in 2019 but since then has helped not only Fowler but also Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland and Nick Watney. Harmon is beloved by the tour professionals for not only his results but his honesty. He is very real with these pros and sometimes really applies the pressure on them to continue their greatness by changing bad habits, putting golf first and getting back to the basics of the swing. Fowler needed a reboot of his swing and mental aspect and that’s exactly what Harmon has instilled this time around. We saw this last month with his strong performance at the US Open that the changes were starting to improve his overall game.

Looking Ahead

With only one major left (The Open Championship in July) and the PGA TOUR playoffs on the horizon, Fowler has a chance to make an even bigger statement for his return to relevancy. He is expected to contend at The Open and in the playoffs but what he really wants is a return to the Ryder Cup, which will be played out this September at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy. The Ryder Cup is a bi-annual team golf event that pits America against Europe. The top six golfers from each respective team, in accrued points get an automatic spot on the team. The final six spots will be chosen by each team’s captain. Fowler currently sits at 12^thin the standings. Fowler has plenty of US Team appearances with Ryder Cup appearances in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018. He also has three Presidents Cup appearances. He also represented the United States in the 2016 Olympics where he finished T-37. If Fowler can secure another victory coming in and continued strong finishes, he should without a doubt be selected to represent the United States in this year’s Ryder Cup.