Rickie Fowler

Rickie Fowler
Fowler in July 2010
Personal information
Full name	Rick Yutaka Fowler
Born	(1988-12-13) December 13, 1988 (age 23) Murrieta, California
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg; 11 st)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Jupiter, Florida
Career
College	Oklahoma State University
Turned professional	2009
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	2
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T27: 2012
U.S. Open	T60: 2008
The Open Championship	T5: 2011
PGA Championship	T51: 2011
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour Rookie of the Year	2010

Rick Yutaka Fowler (born December 13, 1988) is an American professional golfer. He was the number one ranked amateur golfer in the world for 36 weeks in 2007 and 2008.

Amateur career

Fowler was born and raised in Murrieta, California,^[1] where he went to Murrieta Valley High School. For years he played only on a driving range and is almost entirely self-taught. During his freshman year in high school, he posted an all-time course record of 62 at his home course, SCGA, in Murrieta, California.^{[citation needed]} In his senior year in high school, Fowler won the SW League Final with a total score of 64–69=133, and led his team to the state final in 2007. After high school he attended Oklahoma State University. He posted his first collegiate victory at the Fighting Illini Invitational hosted by the University of Illinois on October 1, 2007, by shooting a 203 (70-63-70) to win the tournament by one stroke.^[2]

In the summer of 2005 Fowler won the Western Junior and competed in the U.S. Amateur, where he was defeated by the eventual champion Richie Ramsay.

In 2006 Fowler shot a 137 for two rounds at the U.S. Junior Amateur and was knocked out in the second round of match play. The championship was won by Philip Francis.

Fowler represented the United States in its victory at the 2007 Walker Cup. His record was 2–0 in foursomes and 1–1 in singles making his overall record 3–1. Billy Horschel was his partner for both of their foursome victories. That year Fowler won the Sunnehanna Amateur in June and the Players Amateur in July.

In 2008 Fowler repeated as Sunnehanna Amateur champion. In the first round of the U.S. Open, Fowler shot a −1 (70) and was in a tie for 7th place. He was one of three amateurs to make the cut, along with Derek Fathauer and Michael Thompson. He ended the tournament tied for 60th. In October 2008 Fowler played on the Eisenhower Trophy team that finished second.

In 2009 Fowler made his second and last appearance in the Walker Cup. He won all four matches in which he played as the U.S. won by a seven-point margin. His partner in both foursomes matches was Bud Cauley. He also finished third in the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2009.

Professional career

After the Walker Cup, Fowler turned professional and played the Albertsons Boise Open on the Nationwide Tour for his pro debut.^[3] In September 2009, it was announced that Fowler signed a multi-year equipment deal with Titleist.^[4] He also signed a clothing deal with Puma in the same month.^[5] He has since signed a deal with Rolex.

Fowler's first PGA Tour event as a professional was the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he finished tied for seventh.^[6] His second PGA Tour event was at the Frys.com Open played at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. He finished tied for second after losing to Troy Matteson in a threeway playoff that included Jamie Lovemark. Fowler's score of 18 under par included a hole in one on the fifth hole in his final round. Fowler also notched an eagle in each of his four rounds.^[7]

In December 2009, Fowler successfully gained a 2010 PGA Tour card through qualifying school, finishing T15.^[8]

2010

In February 2010 Fowler finished second at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a score of 15 under par at the TPC of Scottsdale course in Scottsdale, Arizona. In June 2010 Fowler notched his third PGA Tour runner-up finish at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Fowler entered the final round in the lead, before shooting a 73 to finish behind tournament winner, Justin Rose, who recorded his first PGA Tour victory. This performance took Fowler into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

In September 2010 he was chosen as a captain's pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.^[9] At age 21 years and 9 months when the matches began, Fowler became the youngest U.S. Ryder Cup player of all time, and only European Sergio García was younger when he made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999. Fowler forfeited a hole during foursomes competition on the first match day because of a rules violation, by taking a permissible free drop from muddy conditions in an improper location, a mistake U.S. captain Corey Pavin attributed to Fowler's inexperience.^[10] On the final day of the competition in his singles match against Edoardo Molinari, Fowler birdied the last 4 holes to halve the match after having been 4 down after 12 holes.^[11]

Fowler won the Rookie of the Year award,^[12] controversially claiming the award over Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.^[13][14]

2011

In July 2011 Fowler tied the 54-hole lead at the AT&T National, but an early double bogey on Sunday derailed his opportunity for his first PGA Tour win. Two weeks later Fowler recorded his most successful result to date in a major tournament by finishing tied for 5th in The Open Championship at Royal St George's.^[15] In August, Fowler finished in a tie for second at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational behind winner Adam Scott, lifting him to 28 in the world rankings.^[16]

At the 2011 PGA Championship Fowler carded 74–69–75–68 to finish with a six-over par total of 286, finishing in a tie for 51st place. Early on the third day Fowler rocketed up the leaderboard with three birdies in the first five holes only to falter later in the round with two triple bogeys, effectively ending his hopes of a first major championship and PGA tour win.^[17]

At the first FedEx Cup playoff event, Fowler finished T52 at The Barclays in the last week in August. The following week he again finished T52 at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second FedEx Cup playoff event, after carding a disappointing six over par final round 77. At that point Fowler was positioned 37 in the FedEx Cup points standings and required a strong performance at the BMW Championship to qualify in the top thirty for the The Tour Championship; a performance which eluded him, finishing in 48th place. In finishing 43rd in the FedEx Cup, Fowler earned a $132,000 bonus.^[18]

In October Fowler enjoyed his first professional win with victory in the OneAsia Tour's Kolon Korea Open, securing a six shot victory over Rory McIlroy.

Fowler ended 2011 ranked 32nd on the Official World Golf Ranking.^[19]

In September 2011 Fowler, alongside Graeme McDowell, was part of the PGA Tour's These Guys are Good campaign.^[20][21]

2012

Fowler won the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 6, 2012 on the first extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. Replaying the 18th hole, he defeated Rory McIlroy and D. A. Points with a birdie to gain his first PGA Tour win. Fowler shot a 69 (–3) in the final round to finish in a three-way tie after 72 holes at Quail Hollow Club. This win enabled Fowler to break the Top 25 in the world, placing him at number 24. The following week at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Fowler played the final hole at -11 under par and had a birdie opportunity to bring him within one of leader and eventual winner Matt Kuchar. However, Fowler pushed his putt to the right and finished in a tie for second, his fifth second place finish of his career.

Personal

Fowler resides in Jupiter, Florida; he moved to Florida from Las Vegas when the 2010 season ended.^[22] Fowler's middle name, Yutaka, comes from his maternal grandfather, who is Japanese.^[23] His maternal grandmother is Navajo.^[24] On the final day of a golf tournament Fowler wears orange^[25] in honor of Oklahoma State University.^[26]

Fowler is one of four golfers in the "Golf Boys" group along with fellow PGA Tour players Ben Crane, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan. The Golf Boys released a YouTube video of the song "Oh Oh Oh" on the eve of the 2011 U.S. Open. Farmers Insurance is donating $1,000 for every 100,000 views of the video. The charitable proceeds will support both Farmers and Ben Crane charitable initiatives.^[27]

In 2012 Fowler filmed a commercial for Crowne Plaza Hotels entitled "It's Good to be Rickie" and featured golf commentator, Ian Baker Finch.

Amateur wins

• 2005 Western Junior
• 2007 Sunnehanna Amateur, Players Amateur
• 2008 Sunnehanna Amateur, Big 12 Championship

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	May 6, 2012	Wells Fargo Championship	–14 (66-72-67-69=274)	Playoff	Rory McIlroy, D. A. Points

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2009	Frys.com Open	Troy Matteson, Jamie Lovemark	Matteson won with birdie on second extra hole
2	2012	Wells Fargo Championship	Rory McIlroy, D. A. Points	Won with birdie on first extra hole

OneAsia Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Oct 9, 2011	Kolon Korea Open	–16 (67-70-63-68=268)	6 strokes	Rory McIlroy

Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Results in World Golf Championships

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

PGA Tour career summary

• official as of May 13, 2012 ^[28]

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 2007 (winners), 2009 (winners)
• Palmer Cup: 2008
• Eisenhower Trophy: 2008 (individual winner)

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 2010

Equipment

• Driver: Cobra AMP 8.5 (open position) | Mitsubishi White Board 73X
• Fairway: Adams Super XTD Hybrid 15*, Cobra Amp 15*, Ping i20 15* (he has been trying different 3 woods each week)
• Hybrids: Adams Pro Black 20*
• Irons: Cobra AMP Pro RF prototype 4-9 | Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
• Wedge: Titleist Vokey Spin Milled C-C 47, 51, 55, 59
• Putter: Scotty Cameron GoLo 34 inches
• Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

See also

• 2009 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates

References

External links

• Official website
• Profile on Oklahoma State's official site
• Rickie Fowler at the PGA Tour official site
• Rickie Fowler at the Official World Golf Ranking official site

v t e United States Ryder Cup team – 2010 Stewart Cink · Rickie Fowler · Jim Furyk · Dustin Johnson · Zach Johnson · Matt Kuchar · Hunter Mahan · Phil Mickelson · Jeff Overton · Steve Stricker · Bubba Watson · Tiger Woods Corey Pavin (non-playing captain) Lost: 13.5 – 14.5