On the verge of 30, Rickie Fowler eyes his prime

NASSAU. Bahamas – In two weeks, Rickie Fowler no longer will be a 20-something. His birthday on Dec. 13 will be his 30th, and with that milestone comes a change in perception. Gone are the days of being considered of the TOUR’s young guns who represent the game’s future. Now the time has arrived to craft his legacy.

The clock, whether symbolic or real, is ticking.

“I’ve always heard that 30s were your prime,” Fowler said on the eve of his title defense at this week’s Hero World Challenge. “So we’re just getting into it.”

But does that ticking clock come with an increased sense of urgency? Not yet, said Fowler, who has four PGA TOUR wins since getting his card in 2010.

While the 2015 PLAYERS Championship remains his signature victory, Fowler has yet to reach the lofty heights of still-in-their-mid-20s friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who’ve collected two FedExCups, four majors and 19 overall TOUR wins in the last four seasons. The comparisons may be a bit unfair, but the difference in pace can’t be discounted.

“I look at the next 5-10 years as the time to take advantage of things and make sure that we’re not sitting back and just relaxing,” Fowler said. “Go out and take care of what we want to take care of and see what can happen.”

Fowler comes off a 2017-18 season in which he recorded six top-10 finishes in 20 starts, including two seconds (one of which was the Masters). It was, in his words, a “fairly consistent” season. “Put myself in contention a lot, put myself in great positions at the majors,” he added. “Just never got the job done.”

Now as he turns 30, it’s time to start completing more jobs. He insists, though, that his definition of a successful season has not changed.

“I think as long as you’re always seeing improvement and it’s not just based off wins,” he said. “Yes, I want to win more. If I went off of my checklist or what I ultimately want to do, I haven’t had a successful season.

“So I want to win more majors. I want to win more golf tournaments. But in golf, other than Tiger winning at a 30 percent rate, that doesn’t just happen. So you have to kind of look at the glass half full, especially if you’re talking about staying motivated and keep wanting to move forward. If you look at the negatives or downside of not winning, man, it’s going to be a long road. …

“I’ve just always tried to go kind of a glass half-full, keep moving forward.”

So get ready for a big push the next 10 years for Fowler. His legacy is on the line. When he celebrates his 40th birthday on Dec. 13, 2028, he’ll have a much better understanding of how he rates as a pro golfer.

“I would say 40s is a little bit more of where we’d look at prime … in the rearview mirror. So I’m looking forward to these next 5-10 years of taking advantage of them and making them count.”

STENSON AND HIS CADDIE: Henrik Stenson will continue to work with new caddie Scott Vail while he takes a break from Gareth Lord, who has been on Stenson’s bag since 2013.

Stenson and Vail first worked together at the European Tour event in Dubai two weeks ago. Stenson said the partnership could remain for the foreseeable future.

“There’s a high chance Scotty will continue,” Stenson said Wednesday. “We’re in the dating stage. We’ll see where it takes us.”

Stenson, who took five weeks off after playing the Ryder Cup, finished tied for 12th in Dubai.

LAST MAN IN: Keegan Bradley wasn’t originally scheduled to compete in the Hero World Challenge, but he got the last-minute invite when Tommy Fleetwood withdrew. It’ll be his first start in this event since 2015, when he finished when the host course was Isleworth in Florida.

“Coming to this tournament’s a no-brainer for us,” said Bradley, who won the BMW Championship during the FedExCup Playoffs. “It’s a real testament to how you’ve played not only this year, but over the past two years because of how the world ranking points work. It’s a big deal to play in this tournament. It’s a great way to close out the year, a great place to come.”

Bradley didn’t even mind the additional travel, even though it’s already been a busy fall of travel. He made the trip to Malaysia to play the CIMB Classic, flew back to the U.S. for a week, then flew back to Asia for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China.

Asked why he didn’t just go ahead and play THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea while he was already in Asia, Bradley just shrugged.

“Now looking back on it, it might have been a mistake,” he said.

WINNERS IN THE FIELD: Of the 18 players in Albany this week, two already have posted wins on the PGA TOUR – Xander Schauffele (at WGC-HSBC Champions) and Bryson DeChambeau (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open). Both players are ranked inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings.