Why is Rickie Fowler not playing in the John Deere Classic? Real reason explored

Rickie Fowler is on top of the golf world right now. He's coming off the first victory in over four years last weekend at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and has been in excellent form of late. He was in danger of losing his PGA Tour membership a few months ago but has turned it around in epic fashion.

So why isn't he riding that high and his excellent form into the John Deere Classic? A lot of top golfers are not in the field for this particular event. This is largely because it has the unfortunate distinction of coming right before the Open Championship.

Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and many others, including Fowler, are not participating this weekend to prepare for the Open next weekend. It should be noted that Fowler has not specifically stated his intentions on skipping the Classic, but this is a common practice in the sport.

Fowler may be the reigning winner and in good form, but he'd likely prefer to prioritize doing well at the Open Championship rather than potentially winning this weekend in a depleted field.

The golfer met with Butch Harmon earlier this year to tinker with his swing and it has turned him into a force to reckon with on the course. It seems as if he'd prefer to save his talents and energy for the fourth and final major of the season next weekend at Royal Liverpool.

Additionally, last weekend's victory was emotional. He hadn't won in a long time and had been searching for a victory that kept eluding him. It was emotionally draining and he had to go to a three-way playoff to win, so it was physically draining as well. Time off will do him well.

Rickie Fowler explains celebration after win at Rocket Mortgage

Rickie Fowler won the Rocket Mortgage Classic last weekend after a thrilling and tense playoff. He, Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa had tied at 24 under and entered a playoff where Fowler landed a putt to win.

Even though it was just a regular tournament, Fowler looked so relieved that he'd won and didn't celebrate in accordance with what he'd done. He explained the celebration, or lack thereof to Smylie Kaufman.

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Fowler said:

"I didn't really see it until the last couple of feet because it was only 12 feet or so. I hit the putt and by the time I look up, it's already halfway. It looks good, but it's poa...you can catch a footprint, it can bump... It should be good and then went in the right center and that was just kind of the huge relief. I had no planned celebration or anything like that. It was just like, 'Thank you, it's finally over.'"

It had been four years and four months since his last win in 2019. He had been mostly down during those four years, but was on an upward swing recently. He was still searching for a victory, though. When Rickie Fowler finally got it, he could finally breathe.