2023 U.S. Open: Fowler, Clark Share Co-Lead Thru 54 Holes

Thru 54 holes of the 2023 United States Open Championship at Los Angeles Country Club, the former Oklahoma State Cowboys in Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark (both) share the leaderboard’s top spot at 10 under par.

Entering Sunday’s final round, the pride of Northern Ireland in Rory McIlroy finds himself in third place at 9 under par while American Scottie Scheffler, who finished his third round with an astonishing eagle on 17 and a birdie on 18 in order to vault himself into fourth-place (alone) at 7 under-par each headline the list of the leader’s nearest chasers.

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Prior to the completion of today’s third round within the 2023 US Open, Fowler hadn’t been in the driver’s seat thru 54 holes (sitting atop the leaderboard thru 3 rounds) at any single PGA-Tour regular event (or major championship) since the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

In a similar (winning) fashion to his triumphs at the 2019 Phoenix Open, Fowler hopes to find himself with the winning trophy in hand at the completion of the 2023 U.S. Open on Sunday evening. As Fowler hinted at during his post- U.S. Open third-round press conference, there’s a lot of work to be done in order to claim his first major championship with 18 holes (still) left to play.

Thru 54 holes of the 2023 U.S. Open, Fowler sits in the leading position (alongside Clark) off the backs of (his), having both the 36-hole and 18-hole lead. Within his (most) recent tournament victory, Fowler won the 2019 Phoenix Open in wire-to-wire fashion (held the lead after every round).

Since Rickie’s last victory (PHX Open 2019 ), the multiple-time PGA Tour winner lost his game during a stretch of poor play, which spanned close to 3-and-a-half years. When Rickie’s game reached its lowest point (during that stretch) in the early fall of 2022, his official world golf ranking (OWGR) was (as low as) 178.

During his winning years, Rickie worked with the world’s most accomplished swing/player-coach in the entire game of golf in Butch Harmon. In the latter half of 2019 (as many players often do), Fowler parted ways with Butch in order to seek the services of a swing/player-coach who could take Fowler’s game to the next level.

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For the next 3 years, Fowler (dramatically) changed his swing with (new) swing coach John Tillery and saw his game change with it (in a fashion most unfortunate). A couple of weeks prior to the 2022 Zozo Championship within the PGA Tour’s fall schedule, Fowler decided to part-ways with Tillery in order to rejoin forces with Butch. For Fowler, the (immediate and favorable) results were obvious and not coincidental.

Within his lone top-10 finish of the 2022 season and his best finish since his runner-up finish at the 2019 Honda Classic, Fowler kicked off his second-stint working alongside Harmon with a flurry by way of a second-place finish in the 2022 ZoZo.

At Fowler’s lowest of lows, his swing appeared very laid-off, out-of-sequence, and (too) similar to his swing during his younger years in the early 2010s. As we’re all familiar with, Fowler’s swing life cycle (from 2009 to 2022) had completed a bad circle. Working with Butch, Fowler saw his game ascend to top-10/20-levels for half of a decade by adding verticality to the plane of his backswing.

During Fowler’s first few years on tour, his swing plane was extremely low in relation to his (more vertical) swing plane now and during his winning years. Given Rickie’s (vast) successes while under Butch’s tutelage, it’s fair to ask why Fowler ditched the world’s best swing coach (Harmon) in late-2019. Like the rest of us (maniacal golfers), Rickie went searching for the wrong ingredients within his own quest to improve.

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After focusing on his long game (too much) from 2019-2022, Rickie’s downfall was exacerbated by losing his world-class touch on the putting greens.

To be fair, anyone blaming John Tillery for Rickie’s poor play is making a reckless, groundless claim. At the end of the day, Fowler sought Tillery’s services in order to re-find the flatter swing he used in his first few years on Tour (not working with Butch). Moreover, there’s only one person who’s responsible for Rickie Fowler’s golf game: Rickie Fowler.

During Rickie’s best years on tour (2014-2019), the Puma-sponsored, fan-favorite enjoyed four victories on the PGA Tour (2015 Players, 2015 Deutsche Bank, 2017 Honda, 2019 Waste Management), two victories on the European Tour (2015 Aberdeen Scottish Open, 2016 Abu Dhabi HSBC), and one (limited-field) unofficial PGA-Tour victory at Tiger’s event (2017 Hero World Challenge).

Although he didn’t win a single event in 2014, Fowler finished in the field’s top-5 of all four major championships. In 2012, Fowler (first) put the professional golf world on notice by winning his first PGA Tour event at the 2012 Wells Fargo. The scene which followed Fowler’s opening act at Quail Hollow in 2012 was revolutionary from multiple standpoints in the world of golf.

Rickie Fowler single-handedly inspired a new generation of trendy golfers (who are) wearing flat brims, bright colors, and matching pants/shoes/hats/belts/shirts thru uniformity in color. More than that, Fowler’s status as an accomplished dirt biker (when he first broke onto the PGA Tour scene) at the junior/national levels helped pave the way for a (newer) cooler (brand of) golfer to emerge throughout all levels within the game.

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Without Rickie, golfers (today) wouldn’t be wearing the (same) kind of flat-brims (that were once considered) better suited for NBA players such as Allen Iverson. Without Rickie, golfers wouldn’t be wearing their hair at shoulder-length and rocking sentimental necklaces dangling from their necks as they make mighty lashes at the golf ball.

Back in (early) 2015, the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie Of The Year, Rickie Fowler, and Englishman Ian Poulter (both) shared the title of the most overrated player in professional golf (as voted on by their peers). Undeterred, Rickie (responded to such criticism) silenced his peers by winning the 2015 Players in dramatic fashion after stuffing his tee shot (during a playoff) on the (famous) par 3-17th at TPC Sawgrass to 4 feet to the tucked-right hole location.

Thru this display of remarkable courage and fearlessness, Rickie gifted golf fans around the world the type of moment that mimicked a mammoth-sized “Dikembe Mutombo wag-of-the-finger.” Meanwhile, Poulter responded to the disrespectful poll (conducted by his peers) by holding his own while representing Team Europe in the bi-annual Ryder Cup (exhibition) matches. If it were me, I would’ve rather been in Fowler’s shoes. After all, the Players actually counts.

In the greatest land of all the lands, the United States Open Championship is the world’s most democratic tournament and counts (means) more than any other (single) tournament.

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Whatever happens, I’ll be pulling for Rickie from start to finish during Sunday’s final round. Cheers, Rickie, for all you do in the name of the game we all love. It truly wouldn’t be the same without you.

As (co-leader) Wyndham Clark’s (late) mother used to tell her son before tournaments, “Play big.”

Play big, Rickie. Play big, and play hard.

C’MON RICKIE!!!!

Cover Image Via Irish Mirror