Rickie Fowler hits reset button at Sanderson Farms Championship

Rickie Fowler has been busy.

We just haven’t seen him.

“Well, it's been a while,” said Fowler, who's making his tournament debut at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. “It's nearly three months now.”

What’s he been up to? A lot, as it turns out. Cooking. Fatherhood. Trying to redirect his oldest daughter, Maya, nearly 3, as she tests the boundaries of the new family dynamic.

After doing little more than make the cut at The Open Championship in July, Fowler was on course to miss the FedExCup Playoffs, but instead of frantically adding tournaments to his schedule, the six-time PGA TOUR winner shut down his season.

He had bigger things to think about.

He and his wife Allison welcomed their second child, Nellie, in early August, and with their oldest, Maya, they now had to figure out how to live as a family of four, not three.

Instead of grinding all the way through the Wyndham Championship, the last full-field event of the season, Fowler accepted his distant place down the FedExCup standings (outside the top 100) and posted a picture of himself with his burgeoning family on social media. The caption: “My family!! Right where I’m supposed to be. Welcome to the crew Nellie."

Fowler has done a lot in golf, regularly (but not always) representing the U.S. in the Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups since 2010. He won THE PLAYERS Championship in 2015.

He has come close at majors, emerged from a slump to win last year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, and has long been one of the most recognizable American players.

There are seasons of a man’s life, though, so when given the choice of chasing a potential Playoffs berth or staying home to wait for the arrival of his second daughter, Fowler didn’t exactly need to weigh the pros and cons of each choice. He shut it down.

The result of that has been one of the longest breaks of his career, one that he’s happily filled with other pursuits beyond just figuring out bedtimes and feedings.

“I feel like the cooking game went to another level,” he said. “I felt like I was decent before, but my wife and I used to cook a lot together, and having a little one that she kind of had to be on duty at all times with, that put a lot more of the cooking duties on me.”

Among his go-to menu items, he said, were brisket, corn bread and “soul” slaw.

He also focused on his work in the gym, he added.

From the Sanderson, where he hopes to knock off the rust, he said he will play the Shriners Children’s Open and the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.

What kind of golf he might produce is anyone’s guess. After breaking a lengthy slump at the Rocket Mortgage last year, Fowler has had no top-10 finishes in 20 PGA TOUR starts this year. His best results: T18 at the RBC Heritage, T20 at the Travelers Championship. He’s outside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, Approach to Green, and Putting, and he's making several equipment changes this week.

In every respect, Fowler, 35, seems to be trying to hit the reset button.

“Having won last year, I'm safe on certain things, but there's definitely things for me to play for,” he said. “Obviously to win and put myself in a better situation, get myself back in a good spot world ranking-wise (he’s 70th), ultimately stay inside top 125, be in THE PLAYERS. Plenty to play for, but at the same time, it's not life or death.”

If was odd to pack his suitcase for this week, he added, but it was time. He’s on his own, no family. He’s heard good things about The Country Club of Jackson.

“It kind of feels a little bit like a fresh start,” he said. “Excited to kind of get back into it, just play a few events, the remainder of the fall and December, and get ready for next year.”