LOS ANGELES — Rickie Fowler had been nibbling around the edges for the last few months. Is he finally ready to take a huge bite?
Fowler shot a 3-under 32 on his first nine holes (he started on No. 10 on Thursday) and then birdied the first, second and third holes to get to jump to the top of the leaderboard at 6 under at Los Angeles Country Club at the 2023 U.S. Open.
The most recent of Fowler’s five PGA Tour wins came in the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. He had missed the last two U.S. Opens.
This season, he’s posted eight top-10s in his last nine starts, with a missed cut at the PGA Championship the lone blemish during that run.
Three birdies in a row for @RickieFowler and he moves two clear of the field at LACC. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/y43K55UYAg
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 15, 2023
Fowler is 11th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings; he’s 45th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
There’s a long way to go still. Fowler has the last third of his first round to play and there’s 54 holes more after that. But, Fowler is continuing is solid play and hopes to be in contention for his first major this weekend.
After his Wednesday practice round, he told Golf Channel: “I obviously want to get back inside the winner’s circle. Now, it’s all about continuing the improvement.”
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