Rickie Fowler buried a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win a battle with Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa in Detroit and end a four-year victory drought at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“I knew it was just a matter of time with the way I was playing,” said Fowler, who notched his sixth career PGA Tour title.
It had been 1,610 days, or 4 years, 4 months, 29 days since his last win at the 2019 WM Phoenix Open, the longest victory drought of his Tour career.
Ten months ago, he was ranked No. 185 in the Official World Golf Ranking and barely qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Late last year, Fowler returned to working with his former instructor Butch Harmon and his game has made steady progress. He entered this week having finished in the top 20 in 12 of his 15 starts this year.
“It’s tough when you’re struggling for that long of a period of time,” said Fowler, noting that his play was building to this victory. “How I’ve played is some of the best if not the best I’ve felt about my game and on the course really ever.”
A champion once again 🏆
The winning moment for @RickieFowler @RocketClassic. pic.twitter.com/LEQ8f05gHN
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 2, 2023
After inclement weather in the forecast moved up final-round tee times at Detroit Golf Club and forced the use of preferred lies, the field dealt with intermittent showers and muggy conditions. Three players looking to end winless droughts emerged in a battle down the stretch, setting up for a thrilling finish.
Fowler, who held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, shot 64 on Saturday to claim a one-stroke lead. But he was 2-for-10 in converting 54- hole leads and almost let this one slip away too. He made birdie on three of his first seven holes, including a 46-footer at No. 2, to stretch his lead to two but failed to capitalize on the par 5s and lost the lead late on the back nine. When it mattered most, the 34-year-old out of Oklahoma State stiffed his approach at 18 to 3 feet.
“Our back was against the wall,” said Fowler of his dramatic 72nd-hole wedge from 147 yards. He cashed in the putt for 68.
A champion once again 🏆
The winning moment for @RickieFowler @RocketClassic. pic.twitter.com/LEQ8f05gHN
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 2, 2023
Returning to 18 for the first playoff hole, Fowler flared his drive right into trouble but he got relief from casual water and had a clean look at the green and knocked his approach to 11 feet, which turned out to be closest of the three playoff contestants.
Morikawa, who hadn’t won in two seasons and nearly two years – an eternity for the 26-year-old two-time major winner – shot a bogey-free 8-under 64.
“Playoffs suck when you’re on the wrong side of them,” Morikawa said. “You put everything you want into it and comes down to one hole, but that’s what golf is. You’ve got to perform, you’ve got to execute the shots.”
He erased a four-stroke deficit by making six birdies in his first 12 holes, and chipped close at the par-5 17th to become the first player to reach 24 under and grab the lead for the first time in the tournament. His birdie putt at 18 to tie the course record lipped out of the left side of the cup. His approach in the playoff airmailed the green and his birdie chip from just off the green came up short.
“I truly thought I hit the perfect shot and I just was a little juiced, went a little far,” Morikawa said of his second shot at the playoff hole.
Hadwin, 35, was seeking his first win since the 2017 Valspar Championship, a drought even longer than Fowler, something that wasn’t lost on Hadwin or his caddie Joe Cruz.
“I looked at Joe on I think 15 and said, ‘Why don’t we do this more often? This is fun,’ ” Hadwin recounted.
Hadwin, who shot a final-round 67, made it a three-way tie for the lead at 23 under with a birdie at 15 and tied Morikawa with a birdie at 17. His approach to 18 rolled off the green, but he got up and down to shoot 67 and join Morikawa at 24-under 264. Hadwin’s 22-foot birdie effort at the first playoff hole burned the left edge.
“That putt on the playoff there looked really good, just a little bit hard,” he said.
Fowler’s winning putt benefited from a free read from Hadwin, and he rolled it in and soaked in the moment.
“I was kind of just still and quiet and everyone was going crazy around me,” he said. “It was a nice moment just to kind of feel like the weight on my shoulders was finally off.”
