Rickie Fowler’s walk through time, into contention at TPC Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rickie Fowler’s gaze didn’t shift as he made his way from the 16th green at TPC Sawgrass to the 17th tee box on Thursday at the 2025 Players Championship.

As Fowler walked into the heart of the Players Stadium Course’s amphitheater, a figure loomed behind him, peeking out in between the corners of the giant grandstands, like a ghostly reminder of what once was — a callback to another time.

Ten years ago, Fowler was a 26-year-old budding star. He was golf’s prince. A young, marketable sensation with world-class game and an unmistabkle look. He arrived at the Players Championship in 2015 still searching for a signature win to springboard him toward the success everyone believed was inevitable. He secured it in dramatic fashion. Down by five with six holes to play, Fowler hit the gas pedal to catch Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner to force a playoff that he eventually won by birdieing the 17th hole twice.

“I’ve been waiting for this a long time,” Fowler said after his seminal victory. “I’d say this is a pretty big one.”

Fowler’s triumph at TPC Sawgrass was supposed to open the floodgates for one of golf’s bright young stars. Golf, of course, had other plans. A decade later Fowler arrived back at the sight of his biggest win in a much different place.

He’s now 36 and sports prescription sunglass that aid his vision. Once a staple in the top 10, Fowler now ranks 97th in the world, sitting between Kurt Kitayama and Romain Langasque. He’s five spots behind star amateur Luke Clanton. He’s married with two daughters. He has picked up four wins since the 2015 Players, but only once since 2019.

While he’s still a big draw, it’s not like it was 10 years ago, and there’s less signature Rickie orange in the galleries these days.

Fowler walked to the first tee Thursday at TPC Sawgrass to a light applause. A grown man sporting the aforementioned all-orange look stood behind the tee box. A young boy with a Fowler Puma hat from the 2015 era sent encouragement Fowler’s way as the he prepared to go off behind the afternoon’s two marquee groups.

When Fowler reached the tee box on the par-3 3rd, a woman turned to her husband in surprise that Fowler had just walked past them.

“It’s Rickie Fowler. I didn’t realize he was playing this week,” she said before Fowler’s tee shot drifted left into the bunker, leading to a bogey. Another spectator on the 5th hole picked up her chair and said she hoped she’d get to see Fowler again come Saturday.

The 2015 Players champion puttered along early. A few fans discussed whether or not Fowler would be traded from New York Golf Club to Jupiter Links in the TGL offseason. The on-course roars that echoed throughout Pete Dye’s creation were the product of the Rory-Scottie-Xander group ahead, not Fowler.

“He’s fighting today,” one fan said on the 5th green. “Trying to stay relevant.”

A lot can change in a decade, both for Fowler and the game of golf.

And yet, while the passage of time is unrelenting, there are moments where the past reemerges. Where what once was is again, at least for a fleeting time.

Fowler arrived at the par-4 6th one over and rediscovered something that seemed lost.

He piped a drive under the new overhanging tree and split the fairway. A dart to 2 feet led to his first birdie and got him back to even par. He hit driver off the deck for his second into the par-5 9th and made another birdie to get into red figures.

With Fowler at one under and making the turn to the back nine, the crowds got bigger. He tossed a golf ball to a young fan during his front-nine stroll and gave a tee to a man who claimed it was for his pregnant wife.

Despite his current struggles, few energize a golf crowd like Fowler. There’s magnetism in star power and as his name crept up the leaderboard Thursday, you could feel the crowd trying to will him further.

He poured in a 28-foot birdie putt and No. 12 before narrowly missing scoring chances at 13, 14 and 15.

Fowler stood on the par-5 16th hole at two under. He had hung in there on Day 1 but the fireworks he once supplied had not arrived. But the fans hung on, hoping for that Rickie Fowler to reappear.

“He was down by five shots with like [six] to play in 2015 and won,” a man told his semi-uniterested partner. “Why can’t he do it again?”

With a picture of his 2015 win adorning the side of the fan shop in the distance, Fowler turned back the clock as the sun faded over TPC Sawgrass and sent an electric charge through the closing holes.

He made easy work of the par-5 16th to move to three under and briskly walked to the 17th teeing ground as his former self, the one with everything in front of him, looked on.

Sometimes you find yourself at a place tied to your soul.

Fowler pulled pitching wedge at the famed 17th hole and fired a shot onto the back shelf of the green, 20 feet away from the pin. He surveyed the lengthy putt and rolled it into the center of the cup to light the final Thursday fuse at No. 17.

He finished the day at four under, two shots back of three players at six under.

As he always does, Fowler walked the rope line outside scoring, signing for every kid that thrust a flag, hat or ball in his direction. While the game has ebbed and flowed, time never changed that part of Fowler. He’s still one of golf’s great ambassadors and gentlemen.

With the sun setting, he strolled toward the clubhouse with the same swagger he had a decade ago, back before time was something to fend off — when it was filled with only possibility.