Childhood & Early Life
Rick Yutaka Fowler was born on December 13, 1988 in Murrieta, California to Rod Fowler, owner of a trucking company, and Lynn Fowler. Both his parents, as well as his sister Taylor, participate in bike riding games.
He followed his father to be a dirt racer, but following an accident while in high school, he gave up riding and learnt golf from his grandfather. He won the Western Junior in the summer of 2005 and went on to help the US win the 2007 Walker Cup.
During his senior year at Murrieta Valley High School, he won the SW League Final and helped his team in the state final in 2007. In October that year, while attending Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, he won the Fighting Illini Invitational by one stroke to register his first collegiate victory.
He won the Sunnehanna Amateur in June 2007, followed by the Players Amateur the next month, and defended his Sunnehanna Amateur title in 2008. In 2009, he once again helped the US defend the Walker Cup by winning all four matches, and finished third in the Sunnehanna Amateur.
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Career
Rickie Fowler made his professional debut in August 2009, playing in the Albertsons Boise Open on the Nationwide Tour. That month, he finished runner up in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.
In October 2009, he participated in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, his first professional PGA Tour event, finishing tied for 7th. The same month, he played at the Frys.com Open at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, in which he finished tied for second.
In November 2009, he got another T2 finish during an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour, the Pebble Beach Invitational, in which he was two shots behind the winner. In December, he finished T15 in qualifying school and earned his PGA Tour card for 2010.
He finished as the runner-up with a 15-under-par score at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at the TPC of Scottsdale course in February 2010. In June that year, he entered the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking with another runner-up finish at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
In October 2010, he became the youngest Ryder Cup player in the U.S. and second youngest overall after European golfer Sergio García. Despite making the mistake of forfeiting a hole in the first match-day, he made an impressive comeback on the final day, and subsequently bagged the 'Rookie of the Year' award.
He registered his most successful performance till date by finishing tied for 5th in The Open Championship in July 2011, followed by a T2 finish at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the following month. He finished the PGA Championship tied for 51st place with a six-over par total of 286, and posted two T52 finishes at the FedEx Cup playoff events to finish 43rd overall.
He secured his first professional win at the Kolon Korea Open during the OneAsia Tour in October 2011 and earned his first PGA Tour win in May 2012 at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte. With this win, he reached 24th world ranking and put up the fifth T2 finish of his career at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida the next week.
In the 2013 Australian PGA Championship, he again registered another T2 finish, being only four shots behind winner Adam Scott. In April 2014, he had a T5 finish at the Masters Tournament, following which he posted his career-best performance at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, finishing runner-up at −1.
He finished tied for second at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England in July 2014, followed by a tied for third finish at the PGA Championship in August. He moved to 10th world ranking with his 8th-place finish at The Tour Championship to secure 10 top-10 finishes in 2013-14.
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He went on to register his second PGA tour win in May 2015 with a playoff victory at The Players Championship. Following another win at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on the European Tour, he bagged his third PGA tour win at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second FedEx Cup Playoffs event, in September.
He clenched his first victory of 2016 by marginally defeating Belgium's Thomas Pieters with a final round of 69 shot at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the European Tour. He next finished runner-up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and ranked 37th at the 2016 Olympics.
He won The Honda Classic, his fourth PGA Tour win, on February 26, 2017 and regained his position in the world top 10 rankings. He secured his sixth top-5 finish in a major with a tie for fifth place at the 2017 U.S. Open in June, and despite a solid finish, ended up tied for fifth at the PGA Championship.
He finished runner-up at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November 2017, and won the Hero World Challenge in the following month. In 2018, he finished T11 with three birdies during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open and finished runner-up at the Masters Tournament with a 72-hole score of −14.
Awards & Achievements
Rickie Fowler became the third player, after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to have top-5 finishes in all four majors in one calendar year, even though he was the first not to win any. With his 12th tour runner-up finish at the OHL Classic, he became the 27th golfer in PGA Tour history to win $30,000,000 in Tour earnings.
He received the 'Ben Hogan Award' in 2008 and the 'Rookie of the Year' award in 2010.
Facts About Rickie Fowler
Rickie Fowler is known for his love of motocross and has even participated in amateur races in the past.
He has a passion for photography and often captures stunning images while traveling the world for golf tournaments.
Rickie is a huge fan of country music and has been spotted attending concerts and music festivals in his free time.
He is an avid skateboarder and enjoys hitting the skate park whenever he can to unwind and have some fun.
Rickie is a proud owner of multiple classic cars and enjoys collecting and restoring them in his spare time.
