CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | There was an extended moment Sunday afternoon when it felt as though the PGA Tour had invested in a time machine and taken its world back to 2012.
There was Brandt Snedeker, the 2012 FedEx Cup champion, winning the opposite-field OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic, and at Quail Hollow Club there was Rickie Fowler with a share of the lead midway through the final nine holes of the signature Truist Championship, 14 years after his breakthrough victory here.
Snedeker’s hair is gone but Fowler’s instantly recognizable locks are still there, sprouting from beneath his orange cap in the Sunday sunshine as he chased his first tour victory in nearly three years and just his second in seven years.
It felt like old times at Quail Hollow, Fowler in his orange shirt, almost stoically going from one shot to another, playing his way to the top of the board after starting the final round seven strokes behind.
Ultimately, Fowler finished two strokes behind emerging talent and new Truist champion Kristoffer Reitan, his closing 65 not quite enough. Thirty minutes after finishing, Fowler was still thinking about the 5-foot birdie putt that slid left of the hole at the par-4 16th and a bogey at the dangerous 18th when he misjudged the wind on his approach shot.
It was Fowler’s second top-five finish since he won the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic but his third consecutive top-10 finish this season. It helped temper his disappointment.
“Bummed not to be in a position to maybe be in a playoff or having a chance to win. But at the same time if you would have told me at seven back that I was going to be out front and have a chance to post [his score], yeah, a lot of really good stuff this week,” said Fowler, who tied for second with Nicolai Højgaard at 13-under-par 271.
Beginning last Tuesday, Fowler started to feel the effects of a sinus infection and it was bad enough that he took a measure of pride in the 3-over-par 74 he shot in the opening round.
“There were times [Thursday] I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hit the hole from a few feet,” Fowler said Friday, his recovery complete and aided by a brilliant 8-under-par 63 in Round 2 that changed his weekend outlook.
“I was trying to pull from a handful of years ago.”
Rickie Fowler
Fowler still seems perpetually young but he’s 37 years old now and the father of two daughters with his wife, Allison. All three were at his side when he finished Sunday afternoon, completing a happy Mother’s Day picture.
As a reminder of time’s inevitable effects, Fowler and his friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth – golf’s golden boys a decade ago – have won a combined two tournaments in the four years since Thomas won his second PGA Championship in 2022. Fowler has his win in Detroit nearly three years ago, Thomas has the 2025 RBC Heritage and Spieth is still on the hunt.
On a relatively quiet Sunday, Fowler provided the emotional juice as the names on the leaderboard rolled around like marbles spilled on a tile floor.
Rickie Fowler was seeking a second victory at Quail Hollow.
ANDREW REDINGTON, GETTY IMAGES
Fowler shot 5-under-par 30 on the first nine holes and the leaders had come his direction.
“That's kind of when it was like, all right, we got nine holes in front of us, let’s go have some fun and there was a lot of good stuff. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but hit a lot of quality golf shots,” Fowler said.
He couldn’t convert after the brilliant 6-iron into the 16th green, he escaped the watery 17th with par after another solid 6-iron. Wishing he’d hit the same club one more time at 18, Fowler didn’t get the help from the gentle breeze he anticipated, leading to a bogey from the left greenside rough, effectively locking him out from winning at Quail Hollow for a second time.
“I was trying to pull from a handful of years ago,” Fowler said.
He also tapped into his motocross days, spending Saturday evening watching his friend Ken Roczen win the AMA Supercross championship. Fowler, of course, grew up riding bikes and competing in the rambunctious sport that seems a world away from golf.
“I’ve always been a die-hard moto fan, so to see a buddy of mine accomplish something that he’s been working at for quite a while and he’s dealt with some injuries that for some other people could have potentially been career-ending. So to see that kind of all come together was pretty cool … that definitely helped me on course today,” Fowler said.
Fowler limits his bike riding now to taking his daughters on slow spins from time to time when he visits his parents in California but the tug to get back on a bike and mix it up with his friends remains.
“It’s not really worth me getting on a track. To have fun I would need to, you have to push the limits a little bit,” Fowler said, a smile creasing his face.
“I tell people in golf terms it’s like telling a scratch handicap to go out and shoot like 88 or 90 and call that having fun. Some of the best feelings and best times have been on a bike, but I’ll leave it to my buddies that do it for a living and I’ll stick to smashing a golf ball around.”
Like old times at Quail Hollow.
Top: Rickie Fowler lost his Sunday lead in Charlotte.
