MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rickie Fowler, the last golfer to qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, was poised to play another week in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Then he reached TPC Southwind’s No. 18 on Saturday afternoon.
Fowler carded a quintuple bogey 9 on the par-4 hole, tied for the highest score he has registered during a PGA Tour event. He finished with a 2-over 72 and sits at 2-under heading into the final round.
That means Fowler, at the moment things went off the rails, might have been one shot off from where he needed to be in order to qualify for next week’s second leg of the playoff at the BMW Championship. The Golf Channel said Fowler had to finish in the top 11 or better in Memphis to move on. A PGA Tour official clarified that Fowler would actually need to finish in at least a tie for 8th this week, based on its current projections.
Fowler took the gallery on No. 18 on quite the adventure.
He hit his tee shot into the water, then dropped 221 yards from the pin. He then hit his penalty shot into the water as well and took another drop 181 yards from the hole. He followed that up with a poor approach shot that landed 53 feet from the hole. His sixth shot, a chip from the fairway, landed in the rough. His seventh shot finally ended up on the green.
He missed a six-foot putt long before registering the second quintuple bogey of his PGA Tour career.
When Fowler walked off the course Saturday, he had gone from the top 20 of the leaderboard to tied for 60th in the tournament in a matter of one hole. Barring a dramatic performance on Sunday, his PGA Tour season will likely end in Memphis.
Contact Damichael Cole at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @damichaelc.
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