Ryder Cup 2023: Rickie Fowler wins Rocket Mortgage Classic

While the primary reward for winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday is winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic, there was a secondary focus for Rickie Fowler after a run of terrific play so far in 2023: Finding his way onto the 2023 United States Ryder Cup team when the biennial event is played in Rome later this September.

Fowler's play has certainly been good enough to warrant a look. He played well at the majors, finished in the top 10 in three of his last four events and rose to No. 35 in the Official World Golf Rankings (and -- perhaps more importantly -- No. 10 in the Data Golf rankings). His golf over the last three months has been better statistically than every American except for Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

Fowler hit an errant tee shot way right in the playoff and after a drop, his approach from 184 landed 12 feet from the cup. Morikawa was inches long on his approach and instead of having the ball spin back to the hole, it bounced into the rough.

“I truly thought I hit the perfect shot," Morikawa said. "It just was a little juiced, went a little far and just didn’t have the putter in the hand. Not that the chip wasn’t possible, but would have been nice to have the putter in the hand.”

Hadwin missed a 22-foot putt and Morikawa his chip, opening the door for Fowler to close out the tournament before thunderstorms rolled over Detroit.

On his final hole of the last round, Fowler pinned an approach shot from 145 yards out to within three feet, setting up a birdie putt that put him into a three-way tie atop the leaderboard with Morikawa and Hadwin.

The playoff hole started inauspiciously after Fowler's tee shot sailed far right. He was forced to drop and his approach from about 180 yards landed safely on the green, setting up the tournament-clinching birdie putt.

From the lowest of lows last summer when he fell outside the top 150 to Sunday’s high at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Fowler remained the same: even keeled and magnanimous. Through the good but mostly bad over the last two years- fowler was unchanged.

“I think some people when they go through (struggles), you kind of become like a shell of yourself and you go through maybe some mental torture when you're playing golf,” said Max Homa, who has endured his share of adversity on the golf course. “He's just stayed the same Rickie and I think that helps,because then once game coms back, you’re still comfortable.”

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Sarah H

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