Rickie Fowler is back from his Olympic Vacation.
Back from his Excellent Adventure.
Back from bringing his “A” game to the Athletes Village and his “C” game to the golf course.
Rickie’s the headline player at the Wyndham Championship this week at Sedgefield, where the elderly Davis Love III surprised everyone with a win last year.
It’s Rickie’s last chance for victory in the 2016 regular season. It’s been a down year for Fowler, he’s drifted from No. 4 in the world down to No. 8. Best finish was a second at Phoenix and T4 at the Wells Fargo. Still, there’s enough money out there where some decent finishes in those WGC events help the bank account. Rickie’s bagged a tad north of $2.361 million this season, not bad for a guy who has had a down year.
Rickie’s got some decent company this week. Jim Furyk is there, so is PGA champ Jimmy Walker, Patrick Reed and Justin Thomas.
This might be the week to watch rookie Jon Rahm. He’s entered eight events since he turned pro, made eight cuts and bagged just north of $1 million and that has earned him full playing privileges for next season. He would rank 95th on the money list, ahead of Brian Harmon ($1,003,388).
This is the biggest week for the bubble guys — the players in the 120-130 range.
Morgan Hoffman sits at 122, Matt Jones at 123, Sean O’Hair at 124 and the magic 125 guy is Scott Stallings.
Whee Kim (126), Will Wilcox (127) and Greg Chalmers (128) are all battling for a playoff berth.
The top 125 get in.
The rest head to Web.com playoffs.
There’s a lot at stake, except for Rickie.
He might still be on vacation.
