Rickie Fowler Is in Austin With Hopes of His Next Trip Being to Augusta
As he tumbled down the world rankings and struggled to regain his form, Rickie Fowler was also not-so-suddenly on the outside looking in at the major championships.
He played in just one major last year, the PGA Championship, and hasn’t competed at the Masters since 2020.
And that’s the main reason he is competing at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship this week.
“We are here to basically try and get ourselves back in Augusta," Fowler said at Austin Country Club during a news conference on Tuesday.
Fowler finished second to Patrick Reed at the 2018 Masters and in 2014 was top five in all four majors. But you can’t win these tournaments if you are not in them and Fowler—who has not won on the PGA Tour since 2019—has struggled with swing changes in recent years.
He fell out of the top 100 in the world at the end of 2021 and last year switched caddies and coaches, going back to instructor Butch Harmon, a move that has paid off with some better results.
Fowler has three top-10s this year and tied for 13th at the Players Championship, climbing to No. 59 in the world. The top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking after this week get an invitation to the Masters. (Fowler is No. 43 in the SI World Golf Ranking.)
“I knew I needed to come here and play well," Fowler said. “I wasn't sure of exactly what I needed to do. The nice thing with the kind of world rankings and what's coming off, really, anything I do that puts points on the board is only going to move me up from here moving forward.
“So my short-term goal is to obviously get myself back in Augusta. If that doesn't happen, we're going to continue to move forward and be in a good position."
According to projections, Fowler would need to make it through pool play and likely into the final eight in order to earn enough points to move into the top 50. And Fowler is not part of an easy group.
Jon Rahm, past champion Billy Horschel and Keith Mitchell are the players he will go up against over the next three days with only one player advancing to the weekend.
“We have a tough group the first three days," Fowler said. “But, hey, that's what you are going to face in match play and everyone here—unlike a lot of other sports ... match play in golf is a bit of a tossup. Yes, the No. 1 seed against the No. 64 seed is—No. 1's going to win the majority of the time, but it's 18 holes and anything can really happen."
If Fowler does not earn enough ranking points to get the top 50 Masters invitation, he will play next week’s Valero Texas Open, where a final spot awaits a winner.
Short of all that, Fowler is simply happy to see progress. There have been so low times on the course, a good bit of searching and now some results that are trending in the right direction.
“It’s definitely been a lot better being able to kind of build some momentum and ultimately build some confidence," Fowler said. “The last few weeks I really haven't felt that great with the swing. But what I've been able to get out of those weeks shows a little bit more state of the game and how I'm feeling. I'm doing a lot better of being able to salvage what's maybe a poor round or a poor week and kind of turning those into better than where they have been, whether they're a missed cut or finishing in the back of the pack.
“Top 20s and top 10s are still good out here on the PGA Tour. I'm looking forward to getting back to where I'm feeling better with the swing because if we can finish where we have been, not feeling great, I'm looking forward to when things are feeling really good."