For one year, Rickie Fowler’s results in majors were as consistent as his garish fashion choices.
But that was three years ago when Fowler tied for 5th at the Masters, tied for 2nd at the U.S. Open and the British Open, and tied for 3rd at the PGA Championship.
Since then, golf's perennial next big thing hasn't posted a top 10 in any of the subsequent eight majors with his best finish a tie for 12th at Augusta National in 2015.
He bottomed out last year with a missed cut (80-73) at the Masters after being considered among the favorites. He also missed the cut at the U.S. Open (76-75), tied for 46th at the British Open and tied for 33rd at the PGA Championship.
So, he’s a little bit excited about teeing it up on Thursday in a bid to no longer be the best player yet to win a major.
“Last year was tough,” he said. “I just made some dumb mistakes that easily could have been avoided. I don’t have to — I don’t have to play my best golf around here to get it around the golf course and still find a way to score.
“Really kind of had to kick myself in the butt because I should have been playing on the weekend even with making a couple of mistakes, and I just happened to kind of compound them and take myself out from being able to have a chance to go into the weekend and play well. So, it’s kind of, it’s live and learn.”
Fowler seems to have learned from those mistakes, and is at Augusta National in good form.
He started the season with five top-six finishes in his first six events, including winning the Honda Classic with a 12-under 268. It was his fourth win since turning pro in 2009. It was his first time on the PGA Tour winning after holding a third-round lead.
“To win that early in the season on that golf course, and being out front and closing the deal, it has definitely helped and I think it showed from how well I’ve been swinging the past few weeks and then heading the right direction coming into this week,” Fowler said.
He followed that with three more finishes of tied for 16th or better, including finishing tied for third at last week's Shell Houston Open, where he finished 16-under.
For the season, Fowler has already banked almost $2.4 million while improving his FedEx Cup standing from 31st last season to eighth this season.
“It’s been kind of a fun trend in the first couple months getting ready for being here this week,” Fowler said.
Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, perhaps his timeline for winning a major isn’t as up-in-the-air as the date for the opening of the stadium in Atlanta.
Fowler thinks he can win because he said he is making a lot of birdies. He is seventh in birdie average (4.58) and first in scoring average (68.801). Though he's not making a lot of eagles (just two), he is making up for those lack of scoring chances by being ninth in putting and 28th in around the green.
“So having a lot of offense and a lot of that these last two tournaments is something that I want to feed off of, and if I can continue to do that here this week, a lot of birdies, maybe a couple of eagles in there, that’s going to be something that’s going to be very good around here,” he said.
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