Rickie Fowler, John Catlin gain spots in PGA Championship
Granted: By the PGA of America, exemptions into its PGA Championship to two players who are trending in opposite directions. The PGA announced that Americans Rickie Fowler and John Catlin will have spots in the 103rd PGA, to be played May 20-23 at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in South Carolina. Fowler, 32, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, hasn’t won in more than two years and recently dropped out of the top 100 in the world ranking and sits at No. 111. Two years ago, Fowler entered the PGA Championship at No. 10 in the world. He did not play in last month’s Masters, which was the first major championship that he missed in 11 years. Catlin, 30, has authored a meteoric rise on the European Tour, with three victories in the past eight months. Catlin, who like Fowler grew up in California, surged to a career-high No. 79 in the Official World Golf Ranking after he won the recent Austrian Open. He entered this week at No. 82. The PGA will be his first start in a major championship. And, as Morning Read’s Alex Miceli wrote, Catlin also has played his way into consideration for an at-large pick in the Ryder Cup, according to U.S. captain Steve Stricker ("It's time to right a Ryder wrong," April 29).
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