DETROIT – Rickie Fowler has his swagger back.
It’s been building since the start of the season when he opened with a T-6 in the season kickoff in Napa in September, played in the final group at the Zozo Championship in October, shot the first 62 in U.S. Open history earlier this month and shot 60 last Saturday at the Travelers Championship.
On Thursday, he made eight birdies and carded 5-under 67 at Detroit Golf Club, three strokes off the early lead set by Monday qualifier Peter Kuest at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
On a warm, hazy day, the pros picked apart the softened Donald Ross layout. Fowler’s round could’ve been even lower had he not finished with a pair of bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9.
“To be perfectly honest, I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly, so luckily I just got drug tested so I went straight in,” he said. “There weren’t many bathrooms the last five holes so I was a little shaky coming in, and not to necessarily blame the finish on that, but it didn’t help.”
Rickie rolling it in 🙌@RickieFowler joins the leaders at 6-under. pic.twitter.com/WTk8jrKh19
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2023
For the past few years, Fowler’s game has been shaky for other reasons.
He hasn’t won since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open, didn’t qualify for the Masters for the second straight year and his world ranking plummeted to No. 103 at the start of the year.
“Rickie never had scar tissue,” said Cobra equipment rep Ben Schomin. “He never struggled at any stage in his career. Never had been in a slump. He’s back and I think he’ll play better than he’s ever played. A lot of that will be because of what he’s learned going through this.”
Fowler worked tirelessly to regain his form. For a while, many of those hours proved to be fruitless but he says he’s a better player for them. Perhaps the best lesson he learned as he worked through his slump was this: “I appreciate the good times because I know they’re not going to last forever,” he said.
A year ago, Fowler missed the cut in the Motor City and his game was adrift. Asked to describe the difference between his game now and a year ago, he said, “It’s quite a bit different, just the confidence and self-belief and knowing what I’m capable of and what I’ve been doing and the consistency and kind of being able to build momentum,” he said. “That was something that I definitely didn’t have the last few years. Yeah, in a lot better spot.”
Fowler has improved to…
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