Tiger makes the cut, but not much else

CROMWELL, Conn. – As uncomfortable as it was to struggle with his game, Rickie Fowler had a firm grasp of perspective. It’s the nature of golf, he knew, and he was surrounded by great friends who shared that knowledge and could commiserate. Always, Fowler embraced the belief that things would turn around, and sure enough, he enters this week’s Travelers Championship buffeted by several layers of positive news. On a personal front, he and wife Allison announced Tuesday that they were expecting their first child, a daughter, in November. Fowler, 32, said they knew about the pregnancy in mid-March but the joy has really hit home since they made it public. “I was more excited to be able to share with people and see and hear their excitement,” said Fowler, who married Allison in 2019. Nothing surpasses that personal-life thrill, of course, but Fowler concedes that it’s nice, too, to know that his golf-life is trending upward. He was T8 (PGA Championship) and T11 (the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday) in his most recent starts, the first time since January of 2020 that he has posted back-to-back top-15 finishes. To show how rough the ride has been, consider that at this point in June of 2019, Fowler was in familiar territory, anchored at No. 14 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Today, he’s 91st. “A lot of work was put in over the last year, year-and-a-half,” said Fowler. “But the last few months have been a bit more of just going out and not working so much about the swing, but just playing golf and hitting shots.” Nowhere does the uptick in his golf world transcend more flavorfully than in the knowledge of his confirmed spot in the upcoming Open Championship (July 15-18, Royal St. George’s). It wasn’t fun for Fowler to answer so many questions about missing the Masters in April or last week’s U.S. Open, but he graciously accepted it as part of the landscape. Thanks to a strong performance at Royal Portrush in 2019, Fowler finished T6 in the Open Championship and that exemption was carried over when the R&A canceled the 2020 Open because of the pandemic. “It’s great (to be in),” said Fowler, whose streak of 39 consecutive starts in the major championships was halted when he missed this year’s Masters. Instead of basking in the aura of Augusta National, he watched Sunday’s final round at Tiger Woods’ house. He then failed to get through a final qualifier for the U.S. Open, so while friends and colleagues took on the Torrey Pines challenge, Fowler played morning rounds at local courses in the Jupiter, Florida, area. Not how he envisioned his Father’s Day weekend being spent, but his emotions are firmly set in a favorable mode. “Especially going over to (the Open) where I’ve had a lot of success. I love playing links. It’s the type of golf that you have a lot of options and it’s more about picking out what shot you want to hit and playing golf and not working about how the swing looks. “It’s just executing shots.” Simple stuff, said Fowler, who prepares for his first appearance at the Travelers Championship since 2013, then looks forward to next week when he is the face of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His personal life and professional world seem to be in sync, which is a good thing for one of the PGA TOUR’s most upbeat personalities. “With the finishes I’m coming off, I definitely expect myself to be up there and continue to ride the wave that we have started.”

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