Rickie Fowler blew off the WGC Match Play last week and also skipped his typical early trip to Augusta National for some pre-Masters practice.
What he did do was get together with Butch Harmon at the Lochinvar Golf Club in Houston to do some serious prep work.
A fast start at the Houston Open is nothing new for Rickie. He shot 64 on day one last year on his way to a T3 finish.
On Thursday, Fowler’s putter took center stage at the rain-soaked Houston Golf Club and he drained 169 feet of putts and that translated into seven birdies and an opening round 66.
He’s right in the thick of it. Lucas Glover and Kevin Tway posted 65s early and tour rookie Sam Ryder was eight-under through 15 holes when they called it due to darkness after overnight rains pushed tee times back a couple of hours.
With the field playing lift-clean-and-place due to the sloppy conditions, scores were really low.
Four other big names in the field — Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson — all came in with four-under par 68s.
By the time the first round is complete Friday morning, there should be more than 100 players under par for the first 18 holes.
As for Fowler, he was happy with his day’s effort.
“I prefer it (a good round) to be Thursday or Friday, that way you’re not trying to play from behind the eight-ball. I made a good par putt on the fifth hole to keep the round going, then made two long ones after that. It was a good day on the greens. Nice to have the putter coming around because it was something that was great last year. I feel like it’s always been one of my strongest parts when it gets going.”
