New Players champion Rickie Fowler could not be more excited returning as a winner to Royal Country Down and this month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
It was eight years ago Fowler was last in Northern Ireland as a member of the 2007 USA victorious Walker Cup side.
Now after out-lasting four extra play-off holes to capture the lucrative Players Championship, Fowler’s added to the aura of this year’s Irish Open as a 2015 PGA Tour winner and a week after World No. 1 Rory McIlroy captured a second WGC title on the American West Coast.
“I am looking forward so much to getting back to Royal County Down as everytime I get to talk to Rory, he’s talking about how strong the field is going to be for the Irish Open,” said Fowler.
Rickie Fowler and girlfriend Alexis Randolph after capturing the Players Championship. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
“But to be heading to the tournament later this month now as the Players Champion is going to be extra special.
“I left Royal County Down eight years ago as still a pretty young golfer not sure of where my career was headed, I was 18 years of age and really not knowing what future lay ahead of me.
“So to be returning to Northern Ireland is not only special given what we managed to achieve back in ’07 but to now have won the Players, and to have had the support heading into the play-off from guys like Billy Horschel, who was one of my Royal County Down team-mates, means the world to me.
“Billy could not have been more pumped up for me with he and I going back to that ’07 Walker Cup when we were team-mates battling there together.
“I have been looking forward so much to return for the Irish Open and with this win in some ways is like the icing on the cake in going back to County Down.”
While the golf world was abuzz a week ago with a McIlroy-v-Spieth rivalry, Fowler’s Sawgrass succcess has also seen him re-emerged as a golden boy in American golf and in the process, golf’s next Major Champion.
“I don’t think I could be in a better place as there is a lot of great players right now, a lot of young guys playing well, and with Rory being No. 1. He’s done so well playing at No. 1 and dealing with everything being the best player in the world .
“And then there’s Jordan playing well at No. 2, and while Rory has distanced himself a bit from the group of younger guys, there’s going to be a lot of good competition in years to come”.
And Fowler’s no stranger to the heat of Majors contention finishing joint second a year ago in the U.S. Open, joint second also to McIlroy at Royal Liverpool and tied third also to McIlroy in the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
“Winning the Players is only going to help move me forward, given the position I was in last year, being in contention.
“I really had a good chance in winning the PGA at Valhalla, and winning the Players is very much like winning a Major. It has a Major feel, one of the best fields all year, on a tough golf course.
“So winning the Players will definitely give me momentum going into the U.S. Open and make me feel confident about being in this situation and taking care of business.”
Fowler will celebrate his $US 1.8m Sawgrass success this week at the exclusive Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club on Abaco Island off the coast of Florida.
However it is a decision to disappoint Wells Fargo Championship organisers given Fowler captured a first PGA Tour victory winning the 2012 event and also in a three-man play-off including denying McIlroy a second Quail Hollow win.
