There's not been much stopping Rickie Fowler of late but, after going on another tear of low scoring at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he was hampered by a bathroom emergency.
The 34-year-old, who shot a 60 at the Travelers last week to follow up on that opening 62 at the US Open, was seven-under after 16 holes before back-to-back bogeys slowed things down. And he revealed afterwards that it wasn't a cold putter or a misplaced swing that had hindered his progress.
"To be perfectly honest, I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly, so luckily I just got drug tested so I went straight in. There weren't many bathrooms the last five holes so I was a little shaky coming in, and not to necessarily blame the finish on that, but it didn't help," explained Fowler.
Needless to say this will only be a short-term problem and Fowler's star is very much on the ascendancy. A year ago, at the same tournament, he would miss the cut and go on to finish the season in 133rd on the FedEx standings. This year has seen a huge turnaround in his fortunes, aided by the reunion with coach Butch Harmon.
"It's quite a bit different, just the confidence and self-belief and knowing what I'm capable of and what I've been doing and the consistency and kind of being able to build momentum. That was something that I definitely didn't have the last few years.
"Butch is great at just being a golf coach. It's not all about swing. So keeping it fairly simple, kind of one or two things that you focus on swing-wise. That's more in warm-up and practice, and have that one or so swing thought that you kind of go with out there.
"I finished tied for sixth or so in Napa to start the year. That was kind of the first step in the right direction. Then was in the final group in Japan. So having the couple finishes in the fall that I did kind of gave me something to lean on and build off of. That was a start, and then to continue it once we got back going in January."
This season Fowler has made 17/19 cuts with seven top-10s in there, including a tie for fifth at LA Country Club. He's now in 16th spot on the Ryder Cup rankings and, with six captain's picks in place, there is a chance of him returning to a competition that he has graced four times, the last of which was in Paris in 2018.
"I've kept up with or checked on points here or there, but it's not like breaking down points to see, oh, I need to finish this to move to a certain spot. Not having much or many points from last year on there doesn't exactly help me. Just keep doing what I'm doing, keep trying to play well and get some good finishes and we'll see where we end up."
