Despite one top-20 finish this season, Rickie Fowler squeaked into the FedEx Cup playoffs by earning the last slot into the field for this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.
But before Fowler went to Memphis, he made a move by parting ways with caddy Joe Skovron, who is a childhood friend that was on his bag since turning pro in 2009. He was replaced by Ben Schomin, who caddied for Bryson DeChambeau last year.
Whether that was the reason or not, Fowler came out of the gate strong in the opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, firing a 5-under 65 to sit tied for eighth place.
The last player to qualify for the Playoffs is making the most of it.@RickieFowler gets to 5-under after an eagle on No. 16. pic.twitter.com/VT400aZj1V
— Pga Tour (@PGATOUR) August 11, 2022
After his round, Fowler said:
“I felt great… It was more so going into this week not having Joe with me, obviously an amazing partnership over the years, but it was going to be more about me taking ownership and putting more of a workload on myself and more accountability. I still had plenty of [Skovron’s] voice and one-liners and stuff in my head, so he wasn’t on the bag but he was definitely present.”
In this interview with Golf Magazine, Fowler said that his putting, more than anything, has been the cause of his recent struggles. He played with a new putter on Thursday, which was his fifth in tournament play this year.
“It was a new putter that Scotty [Cameron] had just come out with. Drew, one of the reps who was a teammate of mine at Oklahoma State, he just happened to have it out on the putting green on Tuesday. Hit a couple putts with it, everything looked good, felt good. Messed with it a little bit more yesterday and decided to give it a shot. There was a lot of good out there today. Actually, a lot of really good putts. Left a couple short, but other than that, some of it was just a little off on read.”
Fowler, a five-time PGA Tour winner, still has some work to do, as he was projected to be 84th in the standings after Thursday’s round. He will need to be in the top 70 after this tournament to qualify for next week’s BMW Championship.
Cover Image Via GolfSinglePlayer
