Rickie Fowler has drawn scrutiny for his FedEx Cup position with the six-time PGA Tour winner making his way into week two of the Playoffs after earning a significant chunk of points from Signature Events that he received sponsor’s invitations into.
The American has had a very solid season and advanced into the top 50 ahead of the likes of Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau and Jake Knapp.
However, Fowler only made it in by 70 points, which is far less than what he earned in the Memorial Tournament – where he bagged 176 FedEx Cup points after receiving a sponsor’s invite.
The Californian played exceptionally well at Muirfield Village to finish T7th and advanced into the top 50 after another excellent T6 finish at the FedEx St Jude Championship in week one of the Playoffs.
However, sponsor’s invites are controversial in today’s game and the majority of players who he beat out did not get the benefit of the invites.
Still, Fowler took advantage of his invites with great play and received the invitations due to his huge following and fanbase – which tournament organizers clearly believe will help drive TV ratings, media coverage and ticket sales.
I’ve had a number of emails after the original piece and our Facebook followers had a lot to say on the matter, too, with the majority of golf fans supporting Fowler and believing that he played well enough to justify the invites.
Here’s what golf fans are saying:
“Sponsor’s exemptions have been around a long time. Rickie made the most of his opportunities and played very well at the St. Jude. Glad to see him doing well.”
“Dude is golfing his ball.”
“He qualified on his own ball, back off. Besides being a crowd favorite because he’s a nice guy!”
“He made use of opportunities given…..if anyone else did it we’d be celebrating them.”
“What is earned is earned. So happy for Rickie, great golfer and wonderful role model for the game of golf.”
“If you don’t like results, change the requirements otherwise don’t complain. He did nothing against the rules.”
“Seize opportunities! F the critics! Keep it going, Rickie!”
“With so many vanilla players with not much personality, I’d probably fall on his side for being a big personality in the game, which the PGA needs given LIV have taken many of the star names. So if this…
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