When was the last time Rickie Fowler won a tournament before 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic?
Rickie Fowler emerged from a tense three-way playoff to earn the victory in the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday, July 2. He's been on an impressive run of form of late, with three top-10 finishes since May.
Fowler finally broke through with a win, though it was anything but simple. He tied Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa at 24 under and had to go through that tense playoff to get his hands on the trophy.
Prior to that, it had been a long stretch without a victory for the popular PGA Tour star. It had even gotten so bad recently that Rickie Fowler was in danger of potentially losing his membership card.
Enter Butch Harmon, who tweaked his swing and helped Fowler turn it around to eventually earn his first win in over four years. Prior to the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he hadn't won since the WM Phoenix Open in 2019.
Rickie Fowler pleased with the win in Rocket Mortgage Classic
Rickie Fowler was asked about that dry spell following his win. According to Golf Digest, the American professional golfer said:
“It’s really hard to put it all into words. Honestly, a lot of good stuff this year. Been playing some really good golf so I knew it was just a matter of time with how I was playing.”
Fowler admitted that it had been tough coming so close (like in the US Open) but falling short.
“And um... and yeah, I’ve had a couple of tough weekends where I’ve had a chance. U.S. Open, didn’t get it done....But at the end of the day, get to hold her and hang with Mya, my wife," he continued.
He finished with one simple summary:
“Yeah, winning’s great, but there’s a lot more to life than that.”
Fortunately, Rickie Fowler has that mindset. It could not have been easy going four years between victories. Even before that, it had been a while. Over his 14-year pro career, he's won on the Tour six times including this weekend's Rocket Mortgage Classic:
- 2012 Wells Fargo Championship
- 2015 PLAYERS Championship
- 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship
- 2017 Honda Classic
- 2019 WM Phoenix Open
- 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic
Aside from his two wins in 2015, every win has been accompanied by a very dry spell, with none being worse than the gap between his two most recent wins.
Fowler had been playing extremely well, just not quite well enough to win. Now, he's earned that elusive victory and will look to build on it.
Rickie Fowler rose from 105 at the end of last year in the Official World Golf Rankings to 23 after the win. He's been on a steady improvement and it was capped off with a wondrous victory last night.
Fowler knows there's more to life than winning tournaments, but it must have felt good to finally break through. Even though golf is a game against the course, it can be difficult to routinely come in behind other players on the scorecard. Fortunately, that wasn't the case for the golfer last night.