Of all the PGA Tour pro stars who haven’t pledged allegiance to Jay Monahan, the one who intrigues me most has gone from top 5 in the world to ranking No. 167 currently, plummeted from first in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2016 to 179th this season, and flamed out of the FedEx Cup Playoffs with a quintuple-bogey 9 on his final hole on Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
That would be the one, the only Rickie Fowler, who has been consistent in his position whenever asked about LIV Golf at the PGA Championship in May, the Memorial in June or after missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic a few weeks ago.
“I haven’t necessarily made a decision one way or the other,” Fowler said publicly for the first time at the PGA during a pre-tournament press conference. “I’ve mentioned in the past, do I currently think that the PGA Tour is the best place to play? I do. Do I think it can be better? Yes.”
“I would be in the same spot,” he said in Detroit. “Nothing has changed.”
Fowler confirmed that he’s been presented a mind-boggling number to jump ship to LIV without saying how crazy his offer was. Money drives many decisions in our lives and the likes of Brooks Koepka and Henrik Stenson have flipped like Simone Biles doing a Yurchenko double pike.
Fowler’s been rumored to be gone to LIV for months. As Fowler’s game has slumped – winless since the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open and just a total of two top-10 finishes to his credit in the last two seasons – some have suggested that the no-cut LIV lifestyle might appeal to him but I sense Fowler still wants to grind and at age 33 he believes he can add to his five Tour titles. He still wants to represent U.S. in team events again, and eventually be a team captain. Fowler doesn’t seem like the type to take the easy way out. He’s earned $41 million in official earnings and that doesn’t begin to include his many endorsements. Fowler is exempt this coming season, but even if he were to struggle to keep his card he would get plenty of starts as a past champion and be a slam dunk to receive a maximum of seven sponsor invites. He’s going to be a perennial top-10 finisher in the Tour’s PIP standings and be well compensated for being a fan favorite.
When I pressed him about his future plans, he said of the Tour, “This is where I plan to be. I would say there is stuff in the works now as far as the things the Tour is trying to do to evolve with kind of…
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