Sean Zak
Rickie Fowler is back in contention through 54 holes at the Cognizant Classic.
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We are in the throes of letter-writing season on the PGA Tour, where four sponsor exemption spots are there for the, uh, begging into Signature Events with $20 million purses. You want in? You gotta write a letter. Much like Rafa Campos did for next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Campos’ letter, according to GolfWeek, impressed Sam Saunders — Arnold Palmer’s grandson — and the event committee so much that his writing efforts earned Campos one of those prized four spots. Notably not getting one of those invites is Rickie Fowler (as well as fellow fan-favorite Jordan Spieth).
Fowler has earned sponsor invites into multiple Signature Events this season, an indication of how much sponsors are keen to make the most of Fowler’s popularity. But has his play deserved it? Outside of one T4 finish in the fall series, Fowler’s last top 10 in a Tour event came at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
Fortunately for Fowler, it’s not all about play. Sponsors are free to invite any PGA Tour member they like, staying within a few reasonable parameters. And Fowler has been widely considered a net-positive invite in the past. He earned a spot in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am a month ago, as well as the Genesis Invitational a couple weeks later. But his interest in another free spot at next week’s event was denied in favor of Campos, Min Woo Lee, Mackenzie Hughes and Justin Rose.
Why?
“Rickie had gotten a couple of opportunities for exemptions in the elevated events already,” Saunders told Adam Schupak, “and that was something that had to be taken into consideration. You want other players to get opportunities. There’s a lot of players on the PGA Tour. And, you know, not everyone may be household names, but it’s about trying to provide the best competition.”
Sponsors (and the Tour itself) received criticism last year when some of the same players were receiving a dominant majority of the invites. Adam Scott and Webb Simpson were chief among them. Simpson didn’t do much with those spots, but Scott did, playing well enough to finish in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup last year, ensuring he won’t have to write any letters in 2025.
It may just be one Signature Event’s preference — we’ll find out when the RBC Heritage confirms its invites during Masters week — but either way, Fowler seemed to understand it well, event if he doesn’t love it. When asked about the rejection, Fowler invoked the classic, two-word phrase Tour pros often use: play better.
“At the end of the day, play better,” he said Friday at the Cognizant Classic. “It would be a lot easier just having played well last year and earned my way into these events. Been very fortunate and very thankful to Steve John at Pebble and AT&T to get a spot there and Tiger and Genesis to get the one at Torrey. But it’s tough to try and get all of them. Being able to get some of them is great.
“Yeah, it is what it is. Like I said, at the end of the day, play well and that’ll take care of it. Obviously I’m bummed that I won’t be there next week. It’s a special event, and obviously I had a very special relationship with Mr. Palmer. But we’ll see. We’ll see if we can get a trophy this week, and that would take care of that.”
He’s not wrong. Fowler could earn his way into the field with a victory at PGA National. A solo second-place finish would also likely get it done, pushing Fowler into the Aon Swing 5, but a win would guarantee it. Fowler knows it, and he’s playing like he knows it, too.
Through 54 holes, Fowler is right in the thick of contention for the first time in nearly six months. He opened with a 64 Thursday, his best round since October, and followed it with a 68 Friday. In trickier, breezier conditions Saturday, Fowler eased around in another 68 — despite not having his “best stuff,” as he admitted to after the round — to post 13 under for the week, just back of the lead in a jam-packed leaderboard. When everyone wakes up Sunday morning, there will be a couple dozen players within just a few shots of the lead.
Known for his well-rounded game, Fowler has been driving it better than normal this week. He’s well inside the top 10 in the field for Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. He will have a late afternoon tee time Sunday with a chance to prove what “play better” truly looks like.
