Rickie Fowler took some time off from golf to spend time with his family, but he returned this week.
He will make his first start at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. This is also his first FedEx Cup fall event of the year.
This season wasn't his best, as he finished 110th in the FedEx Cup standings. His last appearance in the Tour for Open Championship was at Royal Troon in July.
Fowler finished that tournament in 71st place. Only nine players scored higher than him. Since then, nearly three months have passed without him starting on the PGA Tour.
The former Oklahoma State Cowboy and his wife Allison announced the birth of their second child, Nellie, in August 2024. It makes sense that he took a long vacation to help Maya and Nellie with the housework.
“I was happy to help in any way I could,” he said. “If you go from one to two, you can also do one together. Alison is on top of all of Nellie's stuff, as is Maya, but she can't be in two places at the same time.
His PGA Tour card is guaranteed through 2025, so he didn't necessarily have to play a lot over the past few months. Instead, he honed his cooking skills and increasingly helped care for his oldest, Maya.
“She was tough on us sometimes,” Fowler said of Maya. “She's a bundle of energy. She's always on the go and trying to catch up. I've had a lot of one-on-one bath time with Maya over the last two and a half months.”
“When Alison has to be with Nellie, it's much more one-on-one time. It's been fun. She tries to avoid as much as possible and see where those boundaries and limits are.” We've had to try to be as strict as possible in a way because she's at a stage where she's 2 and a half and almost 3. It must be a prank.”
Now that he's settled into a new routine at home, Fowler is gearing up to hit the road again. He said he plans to play this week and his next two matches will be in Las Vegas (Shriners Children's Open) and the ZOZO Championship.
Fowler felt the addition of the Sanderson Farms Championship would be beneficial.
“This game was something I was interested in, so I wanted to make sure I was ready to play,” he said. “Also, being able to take advantage of that means you want to know and feel that you can come here and go win, but at the same time put yourself in a better position to play well over the next few weeks. I want to.”
He said other players who usually attend the event bragged about the quality of Jackson Country Club's course. If golfers like the course, it can attract new players who usually need to add tournaments to their schedules.
Fowler will look to shake off the rust this week at Mississippi State. He, along with Jonathan Vegas and Lucas Glover, is scheduled to tee off Thursday at 1:45 p.m. ET.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
