Oh please say it ain’t so.
No way time has passed this quickly!
How can it be? How can the PGA Tour’s teen idol — Rickie Fowler — be so old?
Like it or not, Rickie’s no longer in his 20s — he hit the big Three-Oh on Thursday.
They celebrated in his palatial mansion on the Loxahatchee River up in the northern edge of Palm Beach County.
Rickie had buddy Justin Thomas there along with another former Oklahoma State player — Brad Gehl — who plays on the Latino America Tour.
Rickie’s fiancée was there — the photogenic Allison Stokke along with the LPGA’s most popular American player — Michelle Wie. If there’s a party, Michelle will be there.
The party spilled out to Fowler’s boat and they most likely cruised the intercoastal waterway, a lot more calm this time of year, more calm than the Atlantic, which can get choppy in December.
Seems Rickie shook off this turning-30 thing. He pronounced that the 30s are supposed to be one’s prime in the world of golf.
“I look at the next five to 10 years as the time to take advantage of things and make sure that we’re not sitting back and just relaxing,’ Fowler said. ‘Go out and take care of what we want to take care of and see what can happen.
” I want to win more majors. I want to win more golf tournaments. But in golf, other than Tiger (Woods) winning at a 30 per cent rate, that doesn’t just happen. So you have to kind of look at the glass half full, especially if you’re talking about staying motivated and keep wanting to move forward. If you look at the negatives or downside of not winning, man, it’s going to be a long road. I’ve just always tried to go kind of a glass half-full, keep moving forward.”
Couldn’t help notice that Rickie referred to “more” majors. Note to Rickie, you haven’t won one yet and there lies the head-scratcher for this young talent who has finished second in every one of the four majors.
Hard to believe this will be Rickie’s 10th season on the PGA Tour. He was Rookie Of The Year way back in 2010.
The part he’s taken most grief for is the number of PGA Tour wins — four to be exact. Bryson DeChambeau has already passed him with five and Bryson’s only logged two full seasons out there.
Underachiever?
Maybe as far as golf is concerned but he over-achieved when he proposed this past year to Allison Stokke. There’s your major, Rickie!
The celebration will most likely continue on into the weekend. No reason for it not to.
Rickie’s got nowhere he needs to be, it’s that time of the year.
Aside from shorter haircuts, it doesn’t look like Rickie’s aged all that much over the past decade.
Life’s been good to the tour’s version of Peter Pan.
Which leads us to wonder what the next 10 seasons may hold in store for Rickie Fowler?
For a 30-year-old, Rickie’s done pretty well for himself. He’s won more than $34 million on tour, banked around $10 million in endorsem
2 Comments
baxter cepeda
Im not surprised Rickie has not actually won a major, and his second place finishes are nothing short of a miracle.
Nothing against Rickie whos overall game is truly as good as anyone.
But he is short in a sport which has allowed its technology and course setups to conspire to give 6foot 5” men a clear advantage; or at least guys who can crank the mph on clubhead and ball 5-10 Mph over Rickie, ala Rory and DJ. Jordan deals with the same issue.
Of course rickie could be a bit straighter but being a steady eddie is not his MO. He has the spirit of seve, Phil, Tiger in a sport which no longer rewards that; instead rewarding the longest with a driver and a decent wedge too often, including in majors.
If golf finds a way to test its top players the way it did before the turn of the millennia, which it generally needs to do, Rickie will love his 30s win rate.
If not Rickie will continue to struggle for big wins brcause there will always be at least one in form bomber setting major scoring standards.
The good news is Fowler will likely still do his thing of being the tour pro setting the standard for “getting it”.
I literally feel cooler being in my 30s now just because Rickie is too.
Tom Edrington
Rickie will be just fine, will be interesting to see when he and Allison set a date to get hitched!