How Rickie Fowler went from last in the field to setting his eyes on the FedExCup

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With the FedExCup Playoffs set to begin this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Rickie Fowler once again heads to Memphis. Last year, he was the very last man in the field, Mr. 125 on the number.

This year, he is a tournament winner, No. 9 overall in the FedExCup standings and an entirely new player.

“It’s definitely nice to be in a different position than last year,” said Fowler following a soggy pro-am round Wednesday at TPC Southwind. “We’re coming into this week with a little different outlook.”

Following a disastrous end to his 2022 campaign where he missed two cuts before backdooring his way into the Playoffs and finishing 64th at the FedEx St. Jude, Fowler knew something had to be done.

“After this week last year, we kind of had to look at a few things and decide where we wanted to go and ultimately what were going to be the best options to be where we are now,” said the 34-year-old Oklahoma State alum.

His exemptions were running thin, and the 2023 season was going to define his future on the PGA TOUR and in professional golf at large.

Eliminated from the Playoffs, Rickie made a call to former coach Butch Harmon in the fall of 2022 that kickstarted what will be looked back upon as a career revitalization. Harmon and Fowler knew what needed to be done and what major changes needed to be made to get Rickie out of his head and back into a swing that gave him the confidence to compete.

“When he called me, he had reached rock bottom, 185th in the world,’’ Harmon told Sports Illustrated. “Couldn’t make cuts. No consistency, no confidence in himself. We built his swing back to 2013. ... A flatter swing. He got stuck behind him. And so he went to work. A bigger turn, his club could get down the line and not laid off.’’

In the weeks of August 2022, Fowler implemented these swing changes and tried to rebuild his confidence, reminding himself of the player he once was.

Whatever he did worked.

Fowler came out of the gates fast to start the 2023 season, instantly showing a new approach to the game in his 15th season as a professional.

He finished T6 at the first event of the 2022-23 season, the Fortinet Championship. After a missed cut at the Shriners Children's Open (one of just two MCs this season) Fowler went to Japan, where he held at least a share of the lead after the second and third rounds of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP before finishing T2. This marked Fowler’s best result on TOUR since a runner-up at the 2019 Honda Classic.

He would go on to finish in the top 20 in 10 of his next 14 events.

Things came to a fever pitch at the U.S. Open, where Rickie became just the second player to card a 62 or better in major championship history and held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three round at Los Angeles Country Club.

This long road of reclamation nearly reached its peak at its most valuable opportunity, a major championship. However, it was not meant to be.

While he was ultimately usurped on Sunday, Fowler’s T5 finish marked his best result in a major since finishing runner-up at the 2018 Masters Tournament.

Instead, it was two weeks later in Detroit where Rickie would rejoin the winner’s circle, somewhere that seemed so far away during the doldrums of his multi-year slump.

Now, Rickie begins the Playoffs firmly in contention to win the FedExCup, something that seemed so obscure to even consider at this point last year.

“We’ve done a lot of good this year, and there’s certainly guys that have played better and won more, but after how the last few years have been, winning the FedExCup would mean a lot,” Fowler said Wednesday.

The sky's the limit for the new Fowler, who not only has the Playoffs on his mind but also the Ryder Cup that sits just a few weeks away.

“I think we’ve done a lot of good things this year and had a lot of success," he added, "but it kind of feels like we're just getting started.”