Yahoo Sports Rickie Fowler before inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic: 'Everything’s really close to being back'
Rickie Fowler will hit the course this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, marking his first PGA Tour outing since his rough finish at the U.S. Open earlier this month.
While he’s had some impressive showings throughout the year, including a win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Fowler has struggled when it’s mattered — specifically at the past two majors.
Fowler was trending up ahead of the PGA Championship, finishing top-10 in consecutive appearances, including a fourth-place finish at the Masters. Yet once he hit the course at Bethpage Black, Fowler slipped. He finished tied for 36, and then missed the cut the next week at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Despite his poor finish at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, where he left Pebble Beach tied for 43rd, Fowler is confident heading into the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic this week in Detroit.
Most importantly, he said, he’s playing better at the right time in the PGA Tour schedule — with just more than a month left before the FedExCup Playoffs.
“I was a little off on the game I feel like PGA (Championship), Colonial time. Didn’t have many putts go in at the U.S. Open,” Fowler said, via the Golf Channel. “I feel like everything’s really close to being back where it was. You don’t want to just kind of coast to the finish line, you want to finish the race off hopefully with a really high note.”
Fowler is currently No. 10 in the FedExCup standings heading into the Rocket Mortgage Classic, sitting 1,002 points behind leader Matt Kuchar. He’s set to tee off with Charles Howell and Kevin Kisner on Thursday morning at the Detroit Country Club, which marks the first ever Tour event inside Detroit’s city limits.
While the event doesn’t have a formal host, Fowler has filled that role this week leading up to the first round, thanks to his longstanding endorsement from Quicken Loans. After a nine-hole practice round on Tuesday, he played in a three-hole challenge with Kid Rock, Blair O’Neal and Detroit Red Wings star Justin Abdelkader, per the report. He then played with Kid Rock again in the pro-am on Wednesday.
“It’s special to be a part of a tournament and kind of, I guess, in a little bit of a host role,” Fowler said, via the Golf Channel. “For me, it’s just been fun to see it all come together. There is some extra stuff that we do through the first few days, but like I said, I think it hasn’t really felt like work or anything like that where we feel like we’re invested in this event and we want to see it succeed.”
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