2022 PGA Championship – Rickie Fowler is trying to find pieces of the past while staring into an uncertain future

TULSA, Okla. – Rickie Fowler does not provide much window to his soul.

That has always been his greatest strength, especially away from the golf course. He is measured, polite and never controversial – a marketing executive’s dream – which is one reason why he is such a ubiquitous commercial presence in our lives. for nearly a decade. He’s good at golf, that’s for sure, but no one in this game can build his popularity better while also sporting a world-friendly white canvas.

However, there were times when he just gave a small loophole. The second of PGA . Championship The week in the Southern Hills is one of those rare times. He says that at the end of the hour he is working with someone mentally on his game, just trying to accept negative thoughts as they come, then dismissing them before he can. He stood over the ball. However, he did not want to name the person.

“I don’t know if I want to throw names out there,” Fowler said. “I won’t mention names.”

It’s no secret that Fowler has struggled over the past few years. Once highly ranked at 4th in the world, he has dropped to 146th in the Official World Golf Ranking. In 9 starts in 2022, he missed 5 times. It’s been more than three years since he won a tournament. He’s on the field this week as he finished T-8 at the 2021 PGA Championship, but risks missing out on the next two majors without a strong kick-off this summer.

“Going through it, it’s never been fun,” Fowler said. “I really enjoyed it, as much as it was engaging. I definitely found myself – not that I ever loved the game or anything like that – but I did accept the brooding and aspect of just being take it every day and go out and enjoy it, even though we were in a pinch.”

Even before these disappointing results, Fowler remains a mystery in the game. While he doesn’t win at the same clip as some of his peers (five times in the last decade), he has an undeniable draw to fans, young and old. You can rarely watch golf on television without being bombarded with clips of him selling insurance or mortgages. He was picked into the featured groups on the PGA Tour Live so often, other players on the Tour started joking that it should be renamed Rickie Tour Live.

But the jokes – however frequent – never felt fueled by resentment or jealousy, in part because Fowler was always eager to celebrate the successes of his colleagues, often waiting around. playing field number 18 to congratulate someone on a win. Long before a TV show like “Ted Lasso” made acts of kindness seem great (instead of corny) again, Fowler was out there hugging people to win trophies, even even the ones he wanted so badly.

“There were so many times that I finished and signed my card, and that was all I could do,” Fowler said. “A friend wins and it’s great to see and celebrate it together. At the same time, it’s great to have friends by my side. It’s kind of like going back to the competition with friends and To me, there’s nothing better than knowing you hit your friends and you have the right to brag and you accept it when your friends hit you.”

Even if Fowler never returned to the form he had in 2014, when he finished in the top 5 in all four majors (only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods previously did), he believes the key to finding it again may lie in a visit from The Ghosts of Swings Past. When Fowler was on the Tour, he had one of the flattest backstrokes in golf, a move that generates a lot of power but sometimes doesn’t hold the way under pressure that he wants. Over the years, he’s made a number of significant changes while working with Butch Harmon – and to much success. But a few years back, with Harmon no longer teaching full-time, he and coach John Tillery revisited some elements of his old swing.

“There’s a reason that active swings can have some positions that look unorthodox, or anti-vanilla, have been successful,” says Tillery. “Obviously, guys want to make their movements as clean and repeatable as possible, but you don’t want to ignore or sacrifice the DNA that made it work in the process. My job is to help. he navigates that process according to what he already knows how to do.”

His current focus? Get him back on target as quickly as possible so his arms can’t go beyond his body when he’s back on the ball.

“There have been a lot of attempts to get the body or the club working properly or well in certain areas, even back… even though my swing is unorthodox, but through the sport. golfing in college and the first years I was on the Tour, my body worked a lot better than what I would say three or four years ago,” Fowler said. “So putting together some different things from different times, so that everything works together. That’s a long way off.”

There is still considerable question and speculation, about which tour Fowler will showcase whatever progress he has made. While he’s not one of the biggest names rumored to be interested in joining the LIV Golf tour, Fowler said on Monday that he’s undecided. In fact, he seems like someone who is very open to ideas.

“To be frank, I don’t necessarily have to make decisions one way or the other,” Fowler said. “I’ve mentioned it in the past… do I now think the PGA Tour is the best place to play? I do. I think it could be better? Yes. I’ve always viewed competition as a good thing. That’s the driving force of our game. You know, being able to play games with you guys at home, that’s how I’ve always grown up and competed. I think competition ultimately makes everyone good. more, whether it’s business or sports. So it’s exciting, that’s for sure.”

Five years ago, the threat of potentially losing Fowler to a rival golf tournament would have been a disastrous development for the future of the PGA Tour. Today, with the appearance of young stars like Scottie SchefflerJon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa (plus the Jordan Spieth reunion), Tour operators will likely lose less sleep over it. But to some extent, it still feels like an earthquake in the golf world. Fowler used to seem like he could be the magnet for young people to come to the PGA Tour, especially those who didn’t attend Tiger Woods’ tournament. His departure will greatly help LIV Golf’s long-term viability compared to a number of names mentioned, most of whom are players past the age of majority.

The PGA Tour has made it clear that they will not be granting release rights to play in LIV Tour events and that any players who have participated will be subject to a lifetime ban, something that is likely to be challenged in court. . Fowler said it would be nice to know if the ban actually took effect, but for some players the consequences might not matter. They will go regardless. He is, for now, still exploring his options.

“Are we independent contractors?” Fowler said. “I feel there needs to be some clarity between whether you’re an independent contractor or you’re essentially an employee.”

Not long ago, Fowler didn’t have to weigh such heavy issues, when it felt like he was the future of the PGA Tour and it was only a matter of time before he won his first major. His future seems limitless.

It still could be, at least in theory. Fowler insists he never lost his hunger for the game, even when he scored the lowest. He always wanted to kick the ball and never believed he would profit from leaving clubs away for weeks at a time.

“I have to work fast on the range, man,” Tillery said. “He’s always ready to hit the tee.”

Mastering his shot, relying more on instinct than on technical thinking, was part of his further development.

“I feel like there’s a lot of good things coming up here,” said Fowler.

Being able to go back to the past will help light the way forward.