Home News Rickie Fowler: After Caddying For Mark Wahlberg At Pebble To Being ‘The Big Hit’ At This Week’s AT & T Pro-Am.

Rickie Fowler: After Caddying For Mark Wahlberg At Pebble To Being ‘The Big Hit’ At This Week’s AT & T Pro-Am.

2 hours ago by Fatiha Betscher 0

It’s a delight to golf fans the world over to see the name Rickie Fowler back in contention at this week’s AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Fowler heads into today’s third round sharing third place at 14-under and just one shot off the lead.

The now 37-year-old Fowler capped his second round on the Spyglass Hills course with nine birdies and just a lone bogey as the most popular golfer seeks to end a two-and-a-half-year winless drought with a sixth PGA Tour triumph.

FROM A PEBBLE BEACH CADDY TO A HOPEFUL LONG OVERDUE @PGATOUR …

Ever-popular Rickie Fowler @Rickie_Tracker @RickieLegion revealing in getting himself @attproam contention he once caddied at Pebble Beach (2010) for Hollywood superstar Mark Wahlberg (Image – Blue pullover)… pic.twitter.com/JBTIKnK17x

— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 14, 2026

“I felt like I did a good job keeping things simple. The soft conditions definitely make it a little more possible when playing from the rough in certain areas,” he said.

“Not that I was ever too far off line, but a couple times it wasn’t — it didn’t feel like it was as much of a premium that I needed to be in the fairway, especially in situations where there might have been a back pin or something like that.

“Sometimes the rough can be a little bit of a benefit in not having to worry with the ball spinning. So obviously we did a good job whether we were in the fairway or rough kind of managing or executing and hitting good shots.

“There were some poor ones, but yeah, the good ones definitely outweighed. Yeah, I’d say it is nice to hear the strokes gained on approach, definitely an area where when I have played some of my best, that’s usually a spot that needs to be good”.

Fowler has been plagued to injury in recent times including:

Left Shoulder (2025-2026): Chronic injury dating back to high school, involving SLAP tears and inflammation. It forced him to play on pain medication for much of 2025 but, as of February 2026, he is feeling better without needing medication.
Right Oblique Tear (2018): Suffered a partial tear in his right oblique in August 2018, which forced him to withdraw from the Northern Trust.
Back Issues (2012-2013): Experienced stress fractures in his backbone, which led him to alter his swing to reduce pressure.

Being away from the game saw him plummet down the World Rankings, including falling outside the top-100 in 2022 however some recent good results now sees him back to World No. 75 though it’s still a far cry from a career high of No. 4 when he captured the 2016 DP World Tour’s HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship, and an event where he somehow found champagne to share his win with the attending media.

And in gettting himself into contention this week at Pebble Beach, he was asked if he had ever played the famed Pacific Ocean shoreline course in his amateur days.

Fowler’s answer was brilliant.

“Never played it prior to being pro that I remember,” he said.

“I feel like I would remember that. We played some high school stuff at Poppy, which is right here.

“One of my — maybe one of my first memories, I caddied for Wahlberg in the U.S. Open Challenge prior to the 2010 U.S. Open. I think we were the — I say “we” because I was caddying, but I think Mark was the only one to break 100 so got that under my belt”.

The then 21-year-old Caddy Rickie Fowler (fourth right) cadding for Mark Wahlberg (third right) in the June 2010 Golf Digest US Open Challenge at Pebble Beach. (Images USGA)

At the time, Fowler was already a decent amateur player as you will note below.