Rickie Fowler doesn’t fear Sawgrass’ 17th; he feasts on it
Rickie Fowler isn’t afraid of Pete Dye’s diabolical little par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
A year ago, the now defending champion birdied the penultimate hole on The Players Championship host course three times on Sunday — once in regulation, once in a three-hole aggregate playoff and once in sudden-death — to lock up his biggest pro win to date.
In fact, in his last 15 times playing the 17th dating back to the 2011 Players, Fowler is 9 under par. That’s pretty stunning considering the hole’s reputation for ruining rounds and challengers’ chances at winning golf’s most lucrative title.
Perhaps Fowler handles the hole so well because, well, he likes it.
“I look forward to 17, just because it’s a fun hole to play,” Fowler said Tuesday. “No matter what the wind is doing, it’s always interesting. You’ve got to be spot-on there, so it demands a lot out of the shot.”
It’s not the typical 135-yard shot on the PGA Tour. The target seems small from the tee because of the surrounding water. The wind can be hard to decipher. There are a lot of people surrounding the hole, waiting for a bloodbath. That doesn’t sound all that enjoyable, but it apparently is for a guy whose five professional wins have all been decided by a shot or in a playoff.
Fowler won in Abu Dhabi early in the year, but he’s stumbled in his last two chances to win on the PGA Tour. He lost a playoff in Phoenix to HIdeki Matsuyama and he let the Wells Fargo Championship slip away last Sunday with an early double bogey. Although Players defending champions have fared poorly in the last decade, Fowler has been putting himself into position to win. If he can manage to do that again this year, he knows his record on the 17th will work to his benefit.
“I hit a lot of quality shots there. I made a lot of birdies there. I had a lot of confidence on 17,” Fowler said. “Last year, it definitely didn’t hurt that. Hitting the shots that I did under the pressure and the situation, yeah, it’s only going to help.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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