Dublin, Ohio – Bad play is a special hell for a professional golfer, unless you’re someone like Ricky Fowler – a hugely popular player who carries the weight of his expectations along with the added pressure of an audience whose support teeters on the edge of adoration and claim.
Every famous player felt the burden of playing for the audience while competing for himself. The late Arnold Palmer once spoke of the pressures of taking good shots and the resulting sense of desperation that sometimes overwhelmed him as he tried. Lord knows that when Tiger Woods faced his struggles, especially that peculiar period when he was fighting a potato chipper, there was nowhere to hide, all his fault was a cause of national hand strife. and titles.
Fowler may not have a Palmer or Woods record, but he does have a following. His popularity transcends a once respectable but unremarkable profession. However, in the past, the California native could have made consistent appearances on the leaderboards and enough fireworks to win here and there in proportion to five PGA Tour titles. This has enabled him to maintain a high global ranking and a steady presence in the disciplines – not to mention his commercial appeal.
Every golfer suffers falls, but the game’s favorite fans suffer twice – for themselves and for the showrooms. Jordan Spieth knows it. He experienced a sense of fulfillment and not just his own when he went through a period in which nearly four years did not win.
“Yeah, it’s hard to deal with that sense of letting people down,” Fowler said Thursday after opening the Memorial Championships with a 70-under-two margin. fight. “I know the fans want me to play well, but nobody wants that more than I do myself. You know, I’m trying. I’m trying as hard as I can.”
Fowler plays a memorial on the sponsor’s exemption as he dropped to 135th in the rankings and 112th in the FedEx Cup standings, not high enough for an exemption in one of the tour’s three elite invitations. His invitation completed the invitations sweep, where he also earned the Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational in his name, not his numbers.
Stardom has its benefits, but it can’t get the ball into the cup. Last year, for the first time since turning pro, Fowler failed to make the FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing 134th in the standings when he advanced the 125th best.
His most recent win came at the WM Phoenix Open 2019, the last year he featured in all four majors. Fowler, 33, has competed in just three majors in the past two years and faces a sectional playoff for the US Open on Monday in Florida, choosing to try his luck on his home course, The Bear’s Club, which happens to be Southern golf. Jack Nicklaus, host of the memorial. Last year, Fowler failed to get out of the county in Columbus.
“I thought I’d better play a golf course I was familiar with,” he said in choosing to hop on a plane on Sunday rather than stay in Ohio. At least he’s planning to make the cut this week, which he’s not entirely taken for granted, and he’s made it nine out of 15 times this season.
He barely played at Muirfield Village Golf Club, the place where he finished second in his rookie year. On Wednesday he stayed in bed all day with a fever of 103 degrees, but came out on Thursday morning in good enough shape to control, despite battling a cold and congestion.
At least he wasn’t fighting his golf, which only produced two Top 10 games in the last two seasons together. Although he finished a ghost, Fowler was generally pleased with his overall efforts in the revamped Muirfield Village layout.
“I managed my way decently,” he said. “It was fine, but nothing special. I mean, I would definitely take it, especially since I don’t have the full strength or the full strength.”
Fowler signed autographs for 20 minutes after the tour and then spent another 20 minutes with reporters. He is good with his responsibilities as a “name” player. It has always been. This is an important part of his allure, along with his hip attire, and early in his career, doormats (in the parlance of golf rules) were incompatible.
He’s always been one of the cool kids on the tours, and definitely one of the coolest. But he still has to perform well enough to stay on the Tour.
Not that he has no option to play, you know, elsewhere. In the PGA Championship, where he finished a T-23, he seemed open to the idea of, or at least contemplating, participating in a LIV Golf Series competition. He’s still interested, but has decided to move the inaugural event next week in London. “We kindly had conversations with them for a long time,” he revealed. “It’s definitely something to look at, you know, at this point it wasn’t the right decision or move for me. But I’m leaving the options open and kind of seeing how it goes.”
Maybe how things work out depends on how he plays. Isn’t it always?
“It’s been a problem not being where I know I ought to be, but when I’m at home, I feel bad. I’m not sitting at home and doing nothing, you know?” Fowler said. “I enjoy the process of trying to get better, and hopefully it will eventually lead to much better results. In the meantime, I am trying to embrace the ups and downs.”
Meanwhile, he enjoys fan support. It’s a blessing. It’s a curse too. Because perhaps in response he is trying too hard. He nodded in agreement, but then offered in return. “No one puts pressure on me more than I put on myself.
“Everyone deals with some kind of adversity, whether it’s in sports, in life, or anything else,” he added. “It’s more about how you come back than that. If people want to see me play well, that’s great, because I want to play well. And then we’ll all be happy.”
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