Rickie Fowler’s goal for 2016 is simple: win a major championship.
The 27-year-old from Murrieta in Southern California’s Inland Empire finally proved he could be a consistent winner last season, claiming three victories and finishing the year at No. 6 in the World Golf Rankings.
“The main goal is to win a major and to continue winning,” said Fowler, who did capture golf’s so-called Fifth Major, the Players Championship. “I didn’t get off to the greatest of starts last year, but definitely capitalized when I put myself in position to win. A lot of positives, but still want to continue to get better.”
While Rickie also won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and the Deutsche Bank Championship during the FedEx Cup playoffs, his best finish in the Grand Slam events was a tie for 12th in the Masters. He also missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay and tied for 30th in both the Open Championship at St. Andrews and the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
That came a year after he finished in the top five in all four majors, something done in the same season by only three other players–Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth in 2015.
Fowler has been scratching his head over the differences in his last two seasons.
“No clue,” said Fowler, who will play next week in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. I don’t think there’s a justifiable answer.”
But after winning only twice previously as a pro, he will take last year, saying: “Holding trophies feels a lot better.”
Fowler played 21 times on the PGA Tour in 2014-15, finishing in the top 10 on seven occasions, and teed it up twice more after the start of this season in October, tying for 25th in the Shriners Hospitals of Children Open and tying for 17th in the WGC-HSBC Champions in China.
Although he is still tinkering with his schedule, he expect to play more this year.
“Last year was the least I’ve played throughout the year, so still kind of tweaking my schedule year-to-year,” said Fowler, who finished solo third in the unofficial Hero World Challenge early in December. “I’ll probably play a little bit more this year going into the ’16 season, but yeah, the time management side is big. You don’t want to play too much but you don’t want to play too little.
“I don’t think you can ever perfect it. Even Phil (Mickelson) kind of still changes his schedule around. But time management is a big part of playing well out here–when to play, when not to play, and how much off-course (work) to do.”
And he knows by now, the key is trying to peak for the majors.
