Rickie Fowler Is in a Place He Hasn’t Been in Since 2010 and Is in Serious Danger of Missing The Masters
The longtime question surrounding PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler was when he would finally break through and win a major championship. But as The Masters approaches, the question is now whether or not Fowler will even be in attendance at Augusta National in a few weeks as he currently isn’t even qualified to take part in the first major of 2021, which just happens to be a major in which he’s finished in the top 10 on three occasions.
Fowler hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in more than two years — his last win came at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February 2019 — and hasn’t had a top-10 finish since January 2020 when he finished tied for 10th at the American Express Championship. He continues to drop in the world rankings, had yet another disappointing finish over the weekend at the Honda Classic, and now has to win his next start to avoid missing out on a major championship for the first time in more than 10 years.
Rickie Fowler had yet another disappointing finish at The Honda Classic
Playing his eighth tournament in nine weeks, Rickie Fowler came into the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with high hopes and played decent golf over the first two days, shooting rounds of 70 and 68 to head into the weekend at 2-under.
However, Saturday proved to be a different story as Fowler posted an 8-over round of 78, obviously eliminating any chance he had to win the tournament, before closing things out with a 1-over 71 to finish the week at 7-over.
Of the 68 players who made the cut, Fowler finished tied for 65th, which was sadly an improvement over his last two starts as he missed the cut last week at The Players and finished 72nd the week before at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. His best finish thus far in 2021 was a tie for 20th at The Genesis Invitational.
Rickie Fowler hasn’t missed The Masters since 2010
Since turning professional in 2009, Rickie Fowler has missed out on The Masters just once, that coming in 2010, his first full season on the PGA Tour.
In the 10 appearances the 32-year-old has made at Augusta National, he’s missed out on the weekend just once, that coming in 2016, and has finished in the top 10 on three occasions. In 2014, a season in which he finished in the top five of all four major championships, Fowler finished tied for fifth. Three years later, in 2018, he took solo second, finishing just one shot behind winner Patrick Reed, and then tied for ninth in 2019.
Fowler tied for 29th at the 2020 edition of The Masters, which, of course, was played back in November after being postponed last spring due to COVID-19.
He’s dropped to 90th in the world and has to win his lone remaining start before Augusta to qualify for The Masters
As Rickie Fowler is currently ranked 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking, his lowest ranking since February 2010, he doesn’t qualify to participate in this week’s WGC-Match Play event and also isn’t in the field for the PGA Tour’s opposite-field event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, in the Dominican Republic.
He has, however, committed to the final PGA Tour stop before The Masters, the Valero Texas Open, but nothing short of a victory will get him into the field at Augusta. Fowler’s only appearance at TPC San Antonio came two years ago when he finished tied for 19th.
If Rickie Fowler misses out on The Masters, his streak of consecutive major championships played will end at 41. The last one he missed out on was the 2010 U.S. Open.
