Is this the week Rickie Fowler finally wins his 1st major?
Rickie Fowler, still chasing his first major championship opened the U.S. Open with a 5-under 66 to take a share of the lead
Every time Rickie Fowler comes to a major championship, he’s bombarded with the same question: when will he finally win one?
For all the times Fowler insists he’s not bothered by it, the lack of a major is a glaring omission on the resume of a player who has been among the most popular on the PGA Tour for the past decade.
The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach this week is Fowler’s 39th career start in a major, and after his first round on Thursday, he’s well on his way to putting those questions to rest.
Fowler made six birdies on his round to shoot a 5-under 66 and is currently in a tie for the lead with Xander Schauffele and Louis Oosthuizen.
Fowler got off to a quick start in his round, making a 20-foot birdie putt on the second hole. At the short par-4 fourth hole he left his approach 44 feet away but holed the putt to get to 2-under.
He made his third birdie on the par-3 seventh, spinning a wedge back to 10 feet right of the flag and rolling in the putt.
Fowler made his first bogey at the ninth when his putt for par narrowly slid past the hole, but made up for it after a good drive at the 11th left him just 112 yards to the flag.
He hit the approach shot to seven feet and converted the birdie opportunity to get back to 3-under on the round. At the par-514th, he got up-and-down from a buried lie in the greenside bunker, then made his sixth birdie of the round at the 15th.
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Fowler nearly found disaster on the closing hole when his approach shot to the par-5 went well left of the green and onto the beach, but he was able to save par from there to salvage a share of the lead.
The strong start to his U.S. Open puts Fowler in a position to finally shed the label of “best player never to win a major.” He’s enjoyed plenty of success in majors before, with 10 top-10 finishes in 38 career starts, including three runner-ups.
Since the start of 2017, Fowler has the third best cumulative score to par in the majors, behind just Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth, both of whom have won in that span.
But when asked earlier this week if he’s frustrated by his failure to win one, Fowler was quick to say he’s not worried about it.
“It’s a compliment in a way. I mean, there’s a lot of great players that have never won a major,” he said. “It’s not something I necessarily think about or worry about. I know that when the time is right it’s going to happen.
“I don’t necessarily put my life on it, looking at what success is. If I don’t win a major that’s not going to necessarily define me. Do I want to win a major? Yes. I would love to and knock out some more after that. But it’s not going to define who I am.”
The calm, cool conditions at Pebble Beach on Thursday left several players vying for the lead alongside Fowler. Rory McIlroy, fresh off a seven-shot win at the RBC Canadian Open last week, is two shots behind at 3-under.
Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell are all part of a group at 2-under.
And, of course, the afternoon wave that includes Koepka, Spieth and Tiger Woods is just beginning first-round play.