Rickie Fowler THE CJ CUP

RIDGELAND, S.C. – Rickie Fowler, hot off a runner-up finish at last week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan, finished up a long practice session at Congaree Golf Club Tuesday and exhibited genuine excitement when he learned his grouping for Thursday’s opening round at the CJ CUP in South Carolina.

Fowler will play alongside 2021-22 FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy, his south Florida neighbor, and South Korea’s Tom Kim, golf’s fresh-faced, 20-year-old rocket ship. (A bonus: Kim has Fowler’s good friend and former caddie, Joe Skovron, on his bag.)

It wasn’t that long ago, or so it seems, that Fowler was the kid strapped to the PGA TOUR launch pad. The high-flying California motocross daredevil and gunslinging Oklahoma State Cowboy was the game’s resident star in waiting. He certainly has had shining moments, winning five PGA TOUR titles, including THE PLAYERS, earning more than $42 million, becoming a highly sought-after pitchman and performing on U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams. He may reside at 106thin the Official World Golf Ranking, but he is a first-team A-lister. As needle-movers go, few can move it more than Rickie.

Fowler will turn 34 in December, and he finds himself in a different mode in this season of his career. Fowler is busily rebuilding and rebooting after a few dismal campaigns defined mostly by struggle. Fowler made 60 starts over his last three seasons starting in 2019-20, and finished in the top 10 four times. (Consider that in 2014, he was top-5 in all four major championships.)

Outside of golf, Fowler said his life could not be better. He and his wife have an 11-month-old daughter who fills their lives with joy. The hard work on the golf course, even through challenging times, never has stopped, and lately, finally, there is real optimism in his tank. (“You’ve seen that Rickie wants to get back to where he was and play at a high level again,” said Billy Horschel, Fowler’s former Walker Cup teammate.)

Fowler’s solid performance in Japan, where he lost by a shot to Keegan Bradley, came on top of a tie for sixth at the season-opening Fortinet Championship in Napa. It’s early days, as they say, but in 10 rounds this season Fowler has yet to shoot anything higher than 70.

When the charter from Japan touched down Monday morning and Fowler, wanting to stay awake and adjust to his new time zone, just walked the golf course at Congaree to see it, his mind, understandably, was in a pretty good place.

“It’s just nice to see some things head in the right direction, to start to build some momentum and confidence,” he said. “That’s definitely something we struggled with the last few years. I might have a good week here or there, but nothing ever back-to-back, or able to build on a good week, anything like that. It (the finish at ZOZO) was definitely good to see.”

There are two keys to Fowler's improved play. In a word, Fowler seems to have simplified the many swing thoughts and new feels that seemed to complicate his long game, or at least prevent it from feeling natural. He returned to the tutelage of the sage Butch Harmon, the man with whom he started this journey. Fowler said he feels terrible that things did not work out with coach John Tillery, who had been teaching him for a period. They certainly worked at it. He said his days with Tillery, and all he learned, have been a sturdy bridge to start up with Harmon again.

“I can’t say enough good things about him (Tillery),” Fowler said. “We were living and dying with it together, and I really wouldn’t be in this position that I am now, playing, and being able to do the stuff with Butch, without learning all the stuff that I did with Tillery. It’s a bummer that we didn’t have the success that we wanted, but it also kind of laid the groundwork for right now.”

His work with Harmon has led him to a steeper swing plane with his left arm that gets his hands in a better spot, gives him more room to swing, and makes his swing far more efficient. More importantly, Fowler’s confidence in his putting has returned, too. That’s huge. He led Strokes Gained: Putting in 2016-17, and finished as high as 13thfour seasons ago, but he has been completely lost on the greens the last two seasons. In 2021-22, he was 161st in the category. That will put pressure on every nook and corner of one’s game.

He doesn’t have a great explanation why it seems to be so improved of late, and didn’t putt great on Sunday, when he might have put forth a better challenge to Bradley, who also hadn’t won in a few seasons. But since going to a new putter in Memphis, his final start of last season – where Fowler opened with 65 – the putting has started to build, like a burgeoning drumbeat.

So the swirling swing thoughts are reserved only for practice sessions, and the mindset on competition days is “Let’s go play golf.” That, and the 10-footers are starting to find the hole. That combination can ease a golfer’s mind in real time.

“That (improved putting) frees up so much from just getting to the green,” he said. “That’s something that, the last couple of years, I never had that ... to let myself free up.”

The CJ CUP will be Fowler’s last start of 2022. He loves to play in Mexico, at Mayakoba, but his good friend Justin Thomas is getting married that week in November, and Fowler is a groomsman. So he will play this week and carry his positive vibes into 2023.

Give Fowler credit. Through the tough times, his chin seldom dropped, and he never has not been shy discussing the process of his long climb back. He carries some pretty good perspective to the struggling times he has endured with class.

“This isn’t life out here. This is part of life; it’s what we get to do,” Fowler said. “It’s fun, though not all the time. Looking back, it wasn’t an enjoyable time, but it’s part of it, and it’s ultimately how you come out on the back end, and how you get through it. ... If handled and done the right way, it's only going to make you better.”

And Fowler, if nothing else, is better, and just bold enough to harbor aspirations that, in his mid-30s, he can be better than ever.