Poster boy all grown up
Fowler’s making a name for himself
Article: Bram Lerat, contributor
Every sport has their poster boy or girl who leads the sport in almost all aspects. These aspects could include athleticism, leadership or coming up clutch in the most needed times.
Yet, in Rickie Fowler’s case, these were not his roots to fame on the PGA Tour.
Rickie Fowler made a splash on the PGA Tour ever since he gained his playing card in 2010. Of course Fowler was good enough to play on the Tour but he was mostly known as the golfer who wore head to toe orange on Sundays while sporting an outdated Justin Bieber haircut.
Now, Fowler was no Tiger or Phil at the time in terms of performance yet he took golf to heights in terms of fashion. With a Puma clothing line modeled completely for him, Fowler styled the tour with flat brimmed hats and bright coloured outfits that challenged the traditional golf look.
After successfully taking the Tour by fashion storm and single handedly getting younger golfers more involved with his clothing line, Fowler is looking to not only dominate fashion but the performance aspect as well.
Fowler grabbed the attention of the golf world heading into the Fed-Ex Cup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup with his recent consistent play. Within his last five tournaments, Fowler has been inside the top 8 four times and has never had a worse finish than T13. What’s even more impressive is that three of those tournaments have been majors that have propelled him to be the best major player of the year in terms of scoring at -32.
To compliment his excellent recent play, Fowler placed T5 at The Masters and 3rd at the WGC Match Play this year. Some may simply call this a hot-streak; however Fowler has built an impressive 2014 resume that now gives him the opportunity to compete in the playoffs and Ryder Cup.
While Fowler hasn’t won this year, his performances as of late- and specifically in the majors- gives him the best chance to fuel the rivalry between himself and Rory Mcllroy. Both at only the age of 25 have made huge impacts on the sport, which now look to collide in this year’s final events.
McIlroy is the current world number one who has won his last three tournaments in dominating performances with no sign of slowing down for the playoffs. While Fowler is only 15th in the Fed-Ex Cup Rankings, it seems he is the only one who can keep up with the pace of Mcllroy. Fowler is no stranger to playing against the Northern Ireland native as his only two professional wins come when Mcllroy has finished as the runner up.
Mcllroy has quite the edge over Fowler in terms of career victories and performances, however it may be time for Fowler to not only have a strong playoff performance but also lead the Americans into battle against Mcllroy and the rest of Europe at the Ryder Cup. Although this type of consistency and leadership isn’t normal for Fowler, it may be just what the golf world and U.S. Ryder Cup team needs to solve Rory’s rolling train.
As golfers worldwide are focused on the superstar Rory Mcllroy and the injured Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler patiently sits in the background as a revamped golfer who turned down his flashiness and added determination and performance to his game.
