Opinion & Analysis

Fowler falters on the big stage

Published

13 years ago

Mar 25, 2013

Coming off a bogey on No. 15, Rickie Fowler had to know it was time to make something happen.

He had closed within two shots of final-round playing partner Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational who, by all accounts, is back. And not just back winning, but would be back to his familiar spot at the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world with a win … unless Fowler could stop him.

Fowler had to know that Woods would make at least birdie on No. 16 — a wee par 5 if ever there was one. Woods had eagled it the day before on his way to a Saturday-evening lead, so Fowler knew what he had to do.

After their tee shots, the situation seemed to favor the 24-year-old. Woods drove his ball into a fairway bunker, while Fowler was 313 yards down the right center of the fairway.

That left Mr. Orange with 188 yards remaining to the flag — not more than a mid-iron for a player of Fowler’s length — but he wavered between clubs. When he finally did let his shot fly, it landed a few yards short of the putting surface and rolled back into the water hazard in front of the green. A mistake, yes, but nothing close to as damaging as what he did next.

Fowler took a drop in the fairway that left him 70 yards from the putting surface. But he fatted his wedge, making a second splash in No. 16’s water hazard.

His Tin-Cup moment finally ended when his sixth shot found dry land, albeit not the putting surface. His wedge shot flew well past the hole, but spun back onto the collar, just a few yards ahead of where his second shot landed before it rolled back into the water. After a poor putt, Fowler tapped in for a triple-bogey eight.

Woods, on the other hand, fed on Fowler’s mistake, carrying an iron to the back of the putting surface from his clean lie in the fairway bunker and two putting for birdie. He then stuck it close on No. 17, narrowly missing his birdie putt of about 15 feet.

To his credit, Fowler came back from a poor tee shot on No. 17 with a fine up-and-down from 23 yards to save par. He played No. 18 in textbook form, hitting the green and securing a massive two-putt from 66 feet with a knee-knocker from 3 feet. And his final-round 73 earned him a tie for third place, five strokes off a tie with Woods who has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational a record eight times.

Fowler has one of the best attitudes of any of the young players on PGA Tour, and there’s no doubt that he will bounce back from his bad hole at Bay Hill. But his track record this year on Sundays has been troubling.

He began the final round of the Honda Classic tied for fifth, but shot a 4-over 74 at PGA National to finish in a tie for 13th. Two weeks ago at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, Fowler shot a 78 on Sunday to drop from 16th to 35th place.

Fowler should congratulate himself for playing nearly even with the world’s best golfer for 67 holes on a course that Woods owns. But on the Tour, a golfer’s legacy is defined by how they play under pressure.

We’ve seen Fowler’s fire on several occasions, charging from behind to post a second-place finish at the 2012 Players Championship and 2011 British Open. He also beat Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a playoff at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship for his first and only victory on Tour.

But he’s yet to go out on Sunday in the final pairing and make it back to the clubhouse unscathed.

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Ronald Montesano

Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

18 Comments

Bill

Apr 7, 2013 at 9:15 am

Lots of excuses being made for Rickie. I like him, but he doesn’t have the mental toughness to be a consistent winner at this point. He HAS the talent. He’s got a great skill set and is a nice kid. He may or may not develop the thick skin to be a consistent threat to win but it isn’t there yet. That isn’t a criticism, just an observation.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 28, 2013 at 12:29 pm

By his own admission, he caught the iron (probably a 7 iron) a little heavy. That would explain the short. I’m convinced now that he was drawing it in from the right, slowed down his swing a bit and hit a chunk-draw. This explains why the ball appears to be headed straight at the flag when it comes up short.

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Jeff

Mar 28, 2013 at 12:04 pm

Fowler’s a good golfer and a good person. He’ll bounce back. He’s not Tiger and would admit that himself. I don’t think he lacks work ethic, even if he may not be the range hound that some others are. There are plenty of wins in his future, I’m confident of that. But I agree that he needs to learn from what happened this weekend on 16. It’s those moments that can make a good player great. He should also keep in mind that what happened on 16 has happened to all golfers on Tour. McIlroy, Mickelson, Els, even Woods, all have experienced bad misses that led to bad holes that cost them tournaments. Learn from it, and he will only get better.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 27, 2013 at 3:23 pm

There is pressure and there is Tiger-Pressure. Bob Jones would say they are in no way alike.

Rickie has a mighty powerful swing. It had been a few events since he was in contention, so consistent contention must be his goal.

If his experience in college and amateur golf was winning going away, it will take some time to learn how to win in the heat of a showdown.

People are amazed by Nicklaus’ record of second-place finishes in majors. That mentality allowed him to win as often as he did. He wasn’t going to beat himself, as Rickie did on Monday. If you took him down, fine. Tiger gets in front and gestures to come get him.

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Cyd

Mar 26, 2013 at 11:22 am

Fowler is a good kid by all accounts. He hits the ball long and far, but his swing is causing him back problems and probably does not hold up well to the pressure.

Woods greatest attribute is his work ethic and mental toughness. While I am not an eldrick fan today’s younger pros could learn something from woods.

Fowler needs to go back to the drawing board, work his tail off to develop a swing that will not hurt his back and that will hold up under pressure.

All of today’s young pros get rich too fast and I believe their work ethic suffers, Rory comes to mind. Fowler, if he works hard enough can be something really special in the near future, if he wants it bad enough. He just needs to get to work doing it. If not, well he will just be another so so who made a living at golf, never accomplishing anything truly great.

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- Rj
  
  Mar 29, 2013 at 11:40 pm
  
  Please show and give the proper respect to someone of Eldrick a.k.a Tiger stature. Cyd did you notice that your name is in caps unlike that of which you did to Eldrick. For some strange reason your caps were on for Fowler. I will chalk it up to… Well I don’t have a reason for your moves. FYI… Never mind your not worth reprimanding.
  GO ELDRICK! Yes screaming loud..
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Ronald Montesano
    
    Mar 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm
    
    As long as there’s love for golfers, I’m happy.
    
    Reply Report comment
Troy Vayanos

Mar 26, 2013 at 7:11 am

You’re right Ronald Rickie has a fantastic attitude on and off the golf course. I think he’ll learn from this experience and it will improve his golf game moving forward.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 26, 2013 at 5:18 am

Oh, thank you for all your comments, by the way.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 26, 2013 at 5:18 am

J raises an important point that Stacy Lewis confirmed on the final leg of her march to #1. If you can keep the enjoyment level high in your job, you succeed regardless of the outcome. Both Rickie and Stacy still enjoy their chosen professions, which is laudable. In their fields, they cannot help but chase records…can the rest of us? Do records exist in our offices, classrooms, court rooms?

Records serve as a distraction or a goal, depending on the individual. Duval commented that, after winning the British Open, he paused to ask if that was all he would feel, if that was all there was.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 26, 2013 at 5:15 am

Everyone has the right to properly express her/his opinion in these comment boxes. Some people draw their role models from the famous, while others find motivation and inspiration in the mundane (that’s not a deprecatory term, by the way.)

One could say that Tiger modeled for youth by working hard to achieve his goals after his world came crashing down…Fine. One might write that Rickie has lived cleanly and modeled for youth by staying the course…Fine.

We all have our flaws. When the press gets interested and begins to sniff around, they tend to get exposed quickly.

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Ronald Montesano

Mar 26, 2013 at 5:12 am

Believe it or not, I don’t see yesterday as anything but a positive for Fowler. In his two professional victories (Korea and Quail Hollow) he triumphed over Rory McIlroy. Doubters would say “that was before McIlroy became Rory.” Well, Tiger yesterday was a Tiger we hadn’t confirmed seeing for 3.5 years. As the pundits say, Winning Tiger gives you no margin for victory.

Rickie will/had better take lessons away from Monday at Bay Hill. True, he botched a fairly standard approach, but we don’t know if the lie contributed. As Grant writes above, there is a chance that his lie affected the second approach.

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Grant

Mar 26, 2013 at 12:02 am

I’m pretty sure his drop did not bounce but remained in the indent where it dropped, making it pretty hard to hit the ball anything but fat. First shot sure the pressure got to him, but a bad break doesn’t give reason to criticize further. Noone else came close to putting pressure on Woods, consider that too.

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Tee Rex

Mar 25, 2013 at 10:43 pm

Lets talk role models…. Would you rather your children dressing and acting like Fowler or Woods. Fowler FTW in my books. Who cares if he wins only occasionally through his career – he seems like a good egg.

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- M
  
  Mar 26, 2013 at 12:21 am
  
  Kids role model should be their parents and not an athlete. Many famous people fall out of grace and sometimes that is just the sad part of humanity. Give it up, this is a golf forum and morality forum.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Blanco
    
    Mar 28, 2013 at 3:43 am
    
    You don’t get it… Tex Rex is the straightest arrow on earth. He knows what you did last summer.
    
    Reply Report comment
J

Mar 25, 2013 at 10:08 pm

Kid is young man… We fall into the trap of expecting alot out of young guys on Tour because of Tiger’s early success. He’s a great player…he is definately his own personality…doesn’t apologize for it…above everything else…no matter what… He always looks like he is having fun…good or bad…win or lose…bad shot or great…

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Randall

Mar 25, 2013 at 8:19 pm

Hard to concentrate on a bland white ball with bright orange engulfing your entire cortex

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