DETROIT — Rickie has his old swagger.
The momentum has been building ever since the beginning of the year. He shot the first U.S. Open 62 earlier this month, and shot 60 on Saturday last at the Travelers Championship.
He made eight birdies on Thursday and shot a 5-under-67 at Detroit Golf Club. This was three strokes behind the early leader, Peter Kuest, who qualified for the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Monday.
The pros ripped apart Donald Ross’ layout on a warm and hazy day. Fowler could have had an even worse round if he hadn’t finished with two bogeys on Nos. The 8th and 9th holes are bogeys.
He said, “To be honest, I needed to use the bathroom badly. Luckily, I was just drug-tested, so I went right in.” “There were not many bathrooms in the last five holes, so I was a bit shaky when I entered. Not to blame the finish, but it did not help.”
Rickie rolls it in @RickieFowler Joins the Leaders at 6-under. pic.twitter.com/WTk8jrKh19
PGA TOUR June 29th, 2023
Fowler has had a shaky game for the last few years.
He hasn’t been able to win since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. For the second year in a row, he failed to qualify for the Masters and his ranking dropped from No. He was ranked 103 when the year began.
“Rickie never had scar tissue,” said Cobra equipment rep Ben Schomin. “He was never in a difficult situation at any point of his career. Never been in a slump. He’s coming back, and I believe he will play better than ever before. “A lot of it will be due to what he has learned from this experience.”
Fowler put in a lot of effort to get back into shape. Fowler says that despite the fact that many of these hours were fruitless for a time, he is now a stronger player. He said that the most important lesson he took from his slump is to appreciate the good times, because he knew they wouldn’t last forever.
Fowler’s game was in a rut a year ago when he missed the cut at the Motor City. When asked to describe the differences between his game today and a year earlier, Fowler said: “It’s quite different. Just the confidence and self belief and knowing what I am capable of and what i’ve been doing, and the consistency and being able build momentum,” said he. “That was definitely something I didn’t have in the last few years.” “Yeah, I’m in a much better position.”
Fowler is now ranked No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. Fowler has improved to No. Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings is ranked 9th, and better reflects recent performances. In 12 of 15 starts, he has finished among the top 20. Fowler’s next goal is to return to the winners circle. But he just wants to remain within striking distance going into the weekend.
He said that all a player wants to do on a Friday is start the tournament in the right direction.
Recent good starts have eluded Collin Morikawa, a two-time major champion. He missed the Travelers cut last week in Hartford, Connecticut. He was very happy to shoot a bogey free 66 on Friday.
Morikawa is chasing his first PGA Tour victory since the British Open in 2021.
He said that his improvement was due to a small swing change he made in a practice session following his nine-hole pro am round on Wednesday.
Collin Morikawa takes off at the 15th green during the first round 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic held at Detroit Golf Club. (Photo: Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)
Two recent college stars are taking advantage of PGA Tour U – 2023 Haskins Award recipient Ludvig Aberg from Texas Tech and U.S. 2022 U.S. Sam Bennett, the Texas A&M Amateur champion, was among four players who shot 65. Aberg had a 9-under score after hitting all 14 fairways, but bogeyed his last two holes.
Kuest, 25, a BYU graduate, had limited status on Korn Ferry Tour. He hadn’t been able to get into an event this season because of his Q-school result, so he chose to pursue getting into tournaments in the big tour. He shot 64 after making four birdies on his first nine holes. When asked what he’d be doing if he hadn’t earned one of the four spots in the Rocket Mortgage Classic field on Monday, he replied, “Probably fishing in Utah.”
