Rickie Fowler has a problem this season.
It is basically a major problem.
He hasn’t performed in a 2016 major, yet.
Fowler missed the cut at The Masters, then again at the U.S. Open. In between, he had the weekends off at The Players and The Memorial. That’s too many weekends off for a guy who told us he wanted to invade the Big Three and make it the “Big Four.”
That’s what he said after folks started tabbing Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy as the new “Big Three.”
That Big Three hasn’t been able to hold it together. Sure, Day is still No. 1, barely, Johnson has bumped Spieth down to three and McIlroy has been shown the door and he’s now No. 4.
So basically Rickie, you’ve got a lot of work to do.
Rickie has no problems off the course. He’s become just about everyone’s preferred pitchman — Farmer’s Insurance and Quicken Loans. He has that wonderful long-term deal with Puma-Cobra and now drives Mercedes-Benz cars when he’s driving because he’s also got a deal with private aviation provider Wheels Up.
So Fowler needs to step up next week at Royal Troon to end this “major slump” if you want to call it that. There’s something going on when a player of Fowler’s caliber can’t make a cut in the big ones.
Fowler also broke from standard golf protocol this week. You see, he is the defending champion at the Scottish Open but he decided not to show up at Castle Stuart to defend the title. That won’t sit well with the golf-appreciating Scots, especially when Fowler came up with the lame excuse of “schedule compression” as he termed it. Schedule compression? Fowler’s played a lot less this season, missing four huge weekends, two at majors and two at the Players and Memorial. That’s an extra eight days off!
Not showing up at Inverness this week? His buddy Phil Mickelson, who won at Castle Stuart in 2013 then won the Open Championship at Muirfield should have called his little buddy out with something like:
“Come on Rickie, what are you, some kind of wimp? Come and play and we can play a $1,000 Nassau beforehand!”
Nope, no wheels on the ground for Fowler at Inverness, it’s Wheels Up and over to Royal Troon.
It’s hard to say what motivates Fowler. He’s like the most popular kid back in school who wants everyone to like him. He’s the cool kid, the one who can front the band. Fowler’s bank account keeps getting bigger, his net worth is growing like a weed patch.
Even though Jason Day and Rory McIlroy have dropped out of the Olympic competition at Rio, Fowler would be a long-shot to get a medal.
There’s also the Ryder Cup coming up and Fowler’s been no ball of fire in that event with his 0-3-5 record.
Yes, Rickie Fowler impressed a lot of people when he finished no lower than fifth in all four majors in 2014 then came through at The Players in 2015.
This year?
Rickie’s had one really great season.
Off the golf course, that is.
