Rickie Fowler revived his career in 2023, winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic and posting eight top-10 finishes. The win in Detroit was their first since 2019.
But that success hasn’t carried over into 2024, at least not yet. He missed the cut at American Express and finished fourth from last at Sentry.
Nevertheless, Fowler finally rediscovered his form in the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He shot a 5-under 67 at Spyglass Hill, including zero bogeys.
“[I have been] I’ve been trying to work a little bit in the last few weeks,” Fowler admitted.
“Hitting the ball wasn’t very good. So I’ve been working on [that], but I now have a new driver available for use with my Cobra and so far I’m very happy with it. I hope you can see that I drove half decently…
“One of the biggest things was getting back to hitting the ball in the middle of the face with a square clubface. That’s something I’ve struggled with a little bit the last few weeks.”
Fowler had no trouble finding the center of his face as he paraded around Spyglass Hill Thursday. He is tied for sixth place, four strokes behind sole leader Thomas Detrie, who shot a 9-under 63 on Thursday.
His strong play Thursday can be attributed to his recent work with legendary coach Butch Harmon.
Mr. Fowler did not visit him in Las Vegas last month, but Mr. Herman provided insight, answered questions and exchanged videos. Herman has been in contact with Fowler “quite a bit,” which has definitely helped his play and boosted his confidence.
That should help get Fowler out of his recent funk and maybe even push him into the winner’s circle on Sunday.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
