Opinion: Can We Finally Admit Rickie is Overrated?

“The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” 

― Chazz Palminteri, A Bronx Tale

Let me preface this writing to say the following: I really like Rickie Fowler. The man is tireless in his pursuit of giving back, he’s always seemingly striving to be a positive influence, and if he’s in the final round on a Sunday will be the first pro to walk up to the winner and congratulate them for their accomplishments.

Rickie Fowler is, by all accounts I’ve read and heard, a really good guy. I cheer for him. I want him to do well because of all of these things. The man has incredible talent.

That being said, Rickie Fowler is the most overhyped and overexposed TOUR player who, in all honesty, is a slightly better than average PGA Tour player when it comes to his record.

Since turning pro out of Oklahoma State’s massively successful golf program in 2009, the former number one amateur golfer in the world and PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year has won a total of nine professional events, with five on the PGA Tour: the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship, two in 2015 (The Players and Deutsche Bank), the 2017 Honda Classic, and the Waste Management in 2019.

The funny thing is I’ve been feeling this way about Rickie for many years. I see his face everywhere in TV commercials and social media advertising, and hell I just saw him in a new one for Corona beer this morning. (OK, his deal started in September and I missed it, but still).

I was also really hoping the 2019 Waste Management was going to catapult this pro to new heights, overcoming a really awful weather day and losing his four-stroke lead only to come back to win by two. I said to myself maybe, just maybe, this is Rickie’s rebirth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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But I was wrong. Rickie Fowler continues to be mired in professional mediocrity despite being one of the biggest faces in our game – add a MC this week in Phoenix to the resume. 

Sure, he currently sits in 62nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking as of the moment that I’m writing this article, but he was 53rd just a month ago. Fowler has also been on a precipitous decline since winning the unofficial Hero Championship in 2018 where he was 10th ranked.

Rickie has also played eight events in the current FedEx cup race and sits way back in 127th position, with no top-10’s and no wins. He finished 94th in FedEx points last year with two top-10’s. 

Fowler has been a disappointment as well on the international stage representing US golfers at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. He’s 2-4-5 overall in Ryder play and Presidents Cup showings have him over .500 by an eyelash.

And after day one at the 2021 Waste Management, Rickie sits in 119th place, 3-over par.

Yet every time I turn on the TV or golf media I see his face plastered over everything. Cobra clubs, Puma athletic wear, Farmers Insurance, Rocket Mortgage, Grant Thornton, Mercedes-Benz, and I guess we can add Corona beer to this mix as well.

In the last two weeks YouTube was flooded with Cobra releasing a limited 750 set run of his custom copper blades which are incredibly beautiful, own a tremendously thin razor’s edge top line and sole, and look smaller than a teaspoon. Given how bad he’s been playing in the last two seasons, maybe Rickie should consider other offerings because these look harder to hit than anything I’ve personally ever seen. These may fit his eye but they sure as hell don’t fit his current game.

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I’m from Philly. We had a quarterback who possessed a lot of skill, loads of talent, and improvisation skills that became a prototype for many of today’s signal callers. At the end of his NFL career he just never delivered the city a championship over a decade at the helm of the football team. He also had his face plastered across national TV and digital media campaigns for tons of products. He was a great pitch man with a mile-wide smile but left so many in my city with a decade long frown of nothing to show for it.

It’s time we admit that despite all of the talent in the world, that Rickie Fowler is heavily overrated and basically we’re looking at the PGA Tour’s Donovan McNabb. 

I’m sure Rickie’s making serious bank from his sponsors, and any of them are more than welcome to sponsor my column as I play Cobra clubs and may need to consider a mortgage in the near future. Hell, a Mercedes would be nice too (though I’m a Jeep Wrangler guy through and through).

But I just hope Rickie can prove he’s as good at golf as he is getting his face and likeness out there because the cold hard truth is Fowler’s not even close to living up to his constant superstar branding from Madison Avenue.

Cover Image via Instagram