Rickie Fowler and John Tillery

[RedWings1]

I believe I heard on SiriusXM Golf last year that he had eye surgery one or maybe two times.
Maybe that surgery didn't go so well and add that to all the other factors and it can all go down hill really fast.
He was also on with the Carl & Dennis Paulson show a few months ago talking about being real close to having it all back together and should be seeing real good results in tourneys soon.

I hope he gets its back!

[Cincy_Ken]

1 hour ago, kwainio said:

If you want a real sobering look, he's been the 5th worst player SG in the Top 150 over the past 3 months. The putting has fallen off a cliff. Really really bad.

 

https://datagolf.com/true-sg-query

Thanks for the link; I hadn't seen that before.

 

3 months is a pretty short time especially considering December is off for all these guys.  If you change the filter to 12 months he's middle of the pack same SG on the green as JT.  His putting isn't as good as it used to be but it isn't the reason he hasn't been a top 100 golfer for most of the last year.  His all around game just isn't good enough and hasn't been for a few years.

[bladehunter]

These low tier guys win the Players in a playoff all the time 🤦‍♂️

[bladehunter]

41 minutes ago, RedWings1 said:

I believe I heard on SiriusXM Golf last year that he had eye surgery one or maybe two times.
Maybe that surgery didn't go so well and add that to all the other factors and it can all go down hill really fast.
He was also on with the Carl & Dennis Paulson show a few months ago talking about being real close to having it all back together and should be seeing real good results in tourneys soon.

I hope he gets its back!

Yep. I think those glasses he’s wearing might be prescription? Can’t remember.  At any rate he’s been battling eyes while doing a stupid thing like leaving Butch.  

[Cincy_Ken]

4 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Yep. I think those glasses he’s wearing might be prescription? Can’t remember.  At any rate he’s been battling eyes while doing a stupid thing like leaving Butch.  

Butch retired I believe.

[leftyshindig]

I'm a big Rickie fan. One thing that I can't comprehend is how bad his putting has gotten. Maybe with all the attention on his full swing work, he forgot to put the time in on the greens?

[RedWings1]

17 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Yep. I think those glasses he’s wearing might be prescription? Can’t remember.  At any rate he’s been battling eyes while doing a stupid thing like leaving Butch.  

I wouldnt leave the Harmons either but I'm a pretty sure Butch said he was retiring and no longer traveling to tourneys except for a few select ones. Maybe that's why he moved to Tillery because at the time Claude was heavy with Keopka.

[nichho]

That shot he hit on 17 earlier today was nothing to do with putting. He was a mile wide on 16 (I believe) but the one on 17, the commentator on the course called it when he said Fowler was so far right he nearly missed the water. He wasn't joking.

[dropkicked]

Rickie, found a woman to love, got married and had a child.. His focus has narrowed away from Golf..  I personally like the guy and hope his passion for golf returns and he knock out a few more wins.

[bladehunter]

32 minutes ago, Cincy_Ken said:

Butch retired I believe.

Yep I think so.  But still had the Harmon team so to speak. Weird to leave that. 

[Les Strokes]

Also, Rickie seems to make terrible decisions on course. E.G. going for the green in two on 18 yesterday. If he analyzed how many times he made bogey or worse on par 5's against how many eagles he has made, it must be very lop-sided. Those double's have really cost him over the years. 

[iutodd]

32 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

These low tier guys win the Players in a playoff all the time 🤦‍♂️

 

The guy spent 6 years inside the top 25 in the world from 2014-2019 (by the year-end rankings).  He had 5 PGA Tour Wins and 2 Euro Tour wins in that time.  He also had like 50 top tens and 9 T2 finishes.  He was in contention a lot.  Should he have won more?  Like - I dunno.  Sure.  Why not.  If he had 10 wins would we feel any different right now?  If he had one more win and it was a Major?  

 

Has his drop-off been very large?  Sure.  Is he with the "right" coach?  Who the hell knows.  I do think he's "close".  He was leading the CJ Cup just a few months ago after all.  Would a switch to another coach instantly get him back to what he was?  Impossible to say.

 

He's right on the cut line for this weekend after making it last week right on the line.

[Kenbone]

That's what he gets for challenging the Ursa Entanglement!

[bladehunter]

4 minutes ago, iutodd said:

 

The guy spent 6 years inside the top 25 in the world from 2014-2019 (by the year-end rankings).  He had 5 PGA Tour Wins and 2 Euro Tour wins in that time.  He also had like 50 top tens and 9 T2 finishes.  He was in contention a lot.  Should he have won more?  Like - I dunno.  Sure.  Why not.  If he had 10 wins would we feel any different right now?  If he had one more win and it was a Major?  

 

Has his drop-off been very large?  Sure.  Is he with the "right" coach?  Who the hell knows.  I do think he's "close".  He was leading the CJ Cup just a few months ago after all.  Would a switch to another coach instantly get him back to what he was?  Impossible to say.

 

He's right on the cut line for this weekend after making it last week right on the line.

Oh I agree. My post was sarcasm.  He’s well above journeyman talent.  Now the want to needs to be proven again. But it can be done. 

[iutodd]

2 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Oh I agree. My post was sarcasm.  He’s well above journeyman talent.  Now the want to needs to be proven again. But it can be done. 

 

Sorry I meant to indicate that I agreed with your sarcasm!   My brain is all over the place today.

[onthebogeytrain]

43 minutes ago, nichho said:

That shot he hit on 17 earlier today was nothing to do with putting. He was a mile wide on 16 (I believe) but the one on 17, the commentator on the course called it when he said Fowler was so far right he nearly missed the water. He wasn't joking.

That was a horrendous shot. That is one of his biggest issues the last few years, IMO. He will have stretches where his ball striking is back and he is making a few putts, but will derail it with a double or triple with a miss you just can't have. Like yesterday blocked it right at 18 into the water, today blocked it right on 17. He has to be finding a far higher percentage of penalty areas that he was previously. Constantly torpedoing any momentum he builds for himself.

[Cincy_Ken]

6 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Oh I agree. My post was sarcasm.  He’s well above journeyman talent.  Now the want to needs to be proven again. But it can be done. 

Martin Kaymer 08-14 was only finished the year outside the top 30 once including finishing 3, 4, 12, and 13.  He was number 1 and won two majors and the Players.  His peak was as long as Fowlers and much higher.  He hasn't finished in the top 70 since 2016.  Sometimes these guys who have great runs turn into journeymen.  

[kwainio]

1 hour ago, Cincy_Ken said:

Thanks for the link; I hadn't seen that before.

 

3 months is a pretty short time especially considering December is off for all these guys.  If you change the filter to 12 months he's middle of the pack same SG on the green as JT.  His putting isn't as good as it used to be but it isn't the reason he hasn't been a top 100 golfer for most of the last year.  His all around game just isn't good enough and hasn't been for a few years.

 

I mean not really. JT is 2nd SG Tee to Green in the past 12 months and 1st in the past 6 months. Rickie is 29th T2G over the past 6 months (one spot behind Morikawa 🤔), which is really good. And if you take a deeper look at Rickie's peak seasons he's hasn't fallen *that* far off T2G, it's just the putting is truly horrific.

 

Right now Rickie is the second worst putter in the top 150 over the past 6 months and over the past two years Will Zalatoris is putting better.. and uh Rickie does not hit the ball like Zalatoris.

 

All of this goes to show how important putting is at this level. I hope he gets it back.

[MK7Golf21]

3 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

 

Tiger and Sean Foley.

 

It's about the equivalent to that. I honestly think he got too bogged down on the technical stuff with Tillery. That rarely works 

[onthebogeytrain]

5 minutes ago, kwainio said:

 

I mean not really. JT is 2nd SG Tee to Green in the past 12 months and 1st in the past 6 months. Rickie is 29th T2G over the past 6 months (one spot behind Morikawa 🤔), which is really good. And if you take a deeper look at Rickie's peak seasons he's hasn't fallen *that* far off T2G, it's just the putting is truly horrific.

 

Right now Rickie is the second worst putter in the top 150 over the past 6 months and over the past two years Will Zalatoris is putting better.. and uh Rickie does not hit the ball like Zalatoris.

 

All of this goes to show how important putting is at this level. I hope he gets it back.

Interesting stuff. So would you disagree with my blaming it on the move to Tillery? The timing is just what makes it seem that way. Went to him in late 2019... that's about when the slump started

[Krt22]

26 minutes ago, onthebogeytrain said:

That was a horrendous shot. That is one of his biggest issues the last few years, IMO. He will have stretches where his ball striking is back and he is making a few putts, but will derail it with a double or triple with a miss you just can't have. Like yesterday blocked it right at 18 into the water, today blocked it right on 17. He has to be finding a far higher percentage of penalty areas that he was previously. Constantly torpedoing any momentum he builds for himself.

That honestly has been his game forever. In the past he just did a better job at mitigating those blow up holes. Now he is not mitigating them as well, on top of piss poor putting.

[kwainio]

Just now, onthebogeytrain said:

Interesting stuff. So would you disagree with my blaming it on the move to Tillery? The timing is just what makes it seem that way. Went to him in late 2019... that's about when the slump started

 

I mean I dunno. He was pretty good in the 2019-2020 season, not peak Rickie but 31st SG total. The 2020-2021 season his approach play went REALLY downhill, along with his putting. But over the past 6 months he's seemed to have corrected the approach play but... the putting has gotten even worse. 

 

I will note, he's still unbelievable around the green, that has been super consistent.

[t4t3r]

Some of the responses to these types of threads make me think many have not watched golf for more than a couple years. @bladehunter said it perfectly - lower-tier players don’t win the Players, in a crazy playoff no less. That’s more of a major than the PGA imo.  

 

Much of the hype, whether warranted or not, has been put on Rickie by the media. So many people blast the media every week for how they handle pro athletes, but then want to use that ammo as proof that someone is overrated. You can’t have it both ways.

 

Rickie is one of the best ambassadors for golf and growing the game that has ever played on Tour. The guy has signed autographs after missing the US Open qualifier, after rounds, practice rounds etc etc.  He’s fantastic with kids, media, Ryder Cup appearances, the list goes on.

 

He’s obviously been struggling with his game, but he’s still young and has time to get back on track. Almost every pro golfer goes through a slump at least once in their career. He’s also gotten married and had a kid in the last couple years - that’s enough to change many pro athletes perspectives.

[kwainio]

I'm not exactly sure of the situation now, but if you want my vote, Reed going to Leadbetter and now with PXG has been pretty disastrous. He has literally lost 11 yards OTT this season! 11!

[Zitlow]

Rickie has lost his Mojo, he'll find it again. 

[iutodd]

2 hours ago, Krt22 said:

That honestly has been his game forever. In the past he just did a better job at mitigating those blow up holes. Now he is not mitigating them as well, on top of piss poor putting.

 

Yeah - he had three double bogeys in 36 holes this week...and he finished at +2 and made the cut.

 

So he played 33 holes in -4 and 3 holes in +6. 

 

What's weird about this week is that he's done fine on the greens.  The instant stats on pgatour.com say he gained 1.090 strokes putting in round one and a whopping 3.809 strokes today in round two.  He's fourth in the field SG: putting this week!  (It's his tee-to-green game that sucks - he's lost like 4 strokes.)

 

So maybe the new putter is working??

 

When he finished T3 at the CJ Cup he led the field in SG: Tee to Green.

 

So like...there is reason to think he's "close".

[ChipStrokes]

1 hour ago, t4t3r said:

Some of the responses to these types of threads make me think many have not watched golf for more than a couple years. @bladehunter said it perfectly - lower-tier players don’t win the Players, in a crazy playoff no less. That’s more of a major than the PGA imo.  

 

Much of the hype, whether warranted or not, has been put on Rickie by the media. So many people blast the media every week for how they handle pro athletes, but then want to use that ammo as proof that someone is overrated. You can’t have it both ways.

 

Rickie is one of the best ambassadors for golf and growing the game that has ever played on Tour. The guy has signed autographs after missing the US Open qualifier, after rounds, practice rounds etc etc.  He’s fantastic with kids, media, Ryder Cup appearances, the list goes on.

 

He’s obviously been struggling with his game, but he’s still young and has time to get back on track. Almost every pro golfer goes through a slump at least once in their career. He’s also gotten married and had a kid in the last couple years - that’s enough to change many pro athletes perspectives.

whatever you say, Rickie. 

[MUNIGRIT]

Rickie couldn't handle Butch asking him if he wanted to a major champion or a Kardashian. He is/was already wealthy and living the life so motivation is easy to slide on. Other life ventures for Rick.

[freeze16172002]

A previous poster talk about the year Rickie was top 5 in all 4 majors. To me that open my eyes to his desire. He showed no frustration with not winning one instead worn it like a badge of honor. Rickie spent a large part of his career inside the top 15 in world rankings without being a prolific winner and he was rewarded with fame and fortune.  Where could he actually get back too when he wasnt a top winner to begin with

Edited February 26, 2022 by freeze16172002

[grm24]

5 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Yep. I think those glasses he’s wearing might be prescription? Can’t remember.  At any rate he’s been battling eyes while doing a stupid thing like leaving Butch.  

Yes they are prescription.

 

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/06/04/pga-tour-rickie-fowler-prescription-sunglasses/