As the PGA Tour's Rickie Fowler tops the leaderboard at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, I'd like to take a moment to remember the high-school prodigy Rickie Fowler, the Murrieta wonder kid who broke pars, set records and won the CIF Championships like it was no one's business, and all before he was 18.
All of us SoCal golf folks knew this kid was going to be something. He had the look. He had the hair. He had the fan club that attended every championship (including an adorable entourage of little girls who wore Rickie t-shirts and carried poster board signs).
In 2004 as a freshman, Rickie shot a 64 at what is now the Golf Club at Rancho California, taking his first CIF-SCGA Southern Regional High School Boys Championship title. Come 2006, he won his first CIF-State title at Santa Maria CC, which he shyly told me afterward, "The win feels good."
One year later, as a senior at Murrieta Valley High School, he won what would be his last CIF-SoCal Regional title, before embarking for Oklahoma State University. Not before he earned the 2007 SCGA Player of the Year title, however, thanks to strong finishes in many national junior and amateur invitational events.
Apart from the image and the talent, which many players have, he clearly had the confidence to make this all happen, and it's fun to see the results. Puma loves him. Golf writers love him. Girls love him. He's a brand now.
Rickie will go down with a number of other notable Southland CIF-winners-turned-PGA-Tour-players who never won the SCGA Amateur Championship (like Phil Mickelson, a fellow CIF winner) and the California Golf Association State Amateur at that (ahem, Tiger Woods, although he did take the 1994 SCGA Amateur). Yet unlike most of the winners of those events, his success in his young Tour career has been impressive...will the Memorial be his first Tour title?
Here's a couple favorite photos I took during Rickie's 2007 CIF win. Gotta love the braces. I have a few I took from the 2008 U.S. Open also, that will be posted later.
And in the words of '80s singer Toni Basil, and with the words changed from Mickey to Rickie, I think the following lyrics/sentiments are appropriate to root him to Memorial victory:
Oh Rickie you golf so fine/You golf so fine you blow our minds/Hey Rickie/Hey Rickie.
Golf news and notables this week
Katie's Recommended Reading: It was an eclectic day -- week even -- on the golf news front: cheating, scandal, records, etc. Here's some of my more favorite headlines.
Colin Montgomerie had some Tiger in his tank; apologizes for affair
The headline is well-said. I don't know why I even read these stories anymore; with all the infidelity going around, I don't think there's anyone who could come out as a cheater that would surprise me at this point. And hey, sad reminder: these stories are just about the folks that are married. Think about all the poor, supportive girlfriends out there whose Tour boyfriends are stepping out on them that don't make the news. I know for a fact about more than one player with a Ladies' Man reputation (and NO, I don't "personally" know, if you know what I mean). Is it all a bummer? Yes. Am I jaded? Clearly. But here's the bigger question I have: At what point did it become appropriate to make official statements about cheating, or hold press conferences? When did this inappropriate behavior become not a thing of shame, but something glorified by the media? These guys should all be mortified. Or it could be a great publicity stunt for those lacking air time and in need of an ego boost. Only time will tell.
Oh, and if you were concerned about Monty and the Ryder Cup (like us true golf nerds), here's what he snuck in about that:
"No way will it affect the Ryder Cup captaincy. We are looking forward to welcoming everyone here at Celtic Manor in October," Montgomerie told reporters Friday after shooting a second-round 70 at the Wales Open. "It's not going to impact the captaincy, not at all."
Fowler ties Memorial scoring mark and takes 3-shot lead
Well of course he did! Dressed in an ensemble of mint green, our boy Rickie went 65-66 in his first two rounds to set himself up pretty nicely for the weekend rounds. See my earlier blog below. Rickie's been a winner since he was a kid.
“Just being in contention the few times I have over the last eight months or so since I turned pro, this is by far the best that I’ve felt,” said Fowler, who has four top 10s. “Game feels good. Putter’s working a bit. So we’re having some fun.”
Armour III goes low
Sadly, the seniors get lost in the PGA Tour shuffle sometimes, but Tommy Armour III's sort of kicking tail right out the gate of the Champions Tour's Principal Charity Classic. He matched the Glen Oaks CC record of 8-under 63 after the first round, shot the best opening round in the tournament's history, and currently holds a three-stroke lead. Way to avenge your terrible finish at the Senior PGA Championship!
Stanford tops USD in NCAA golf playoff
University of San Diego gave it a run, but Stanford topped them to advance in the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, and during a playoff at that. A little piece of SoCal was in the win though: Southland native Sihwan Kim plays for that Stanford team, and scored the sole birdie putt among 10 players on the second set of playoff holes. Now Stanford's moving on to the Elite Eight, and hopefully the championship title this weekend.
Fun note: Tim Mickelson, Phil's bro, is the coach of USD. “The birdie putt sent us packing with a tough pill to swallow, but I’m very proud nonetheless,” he said.
Singh avoids US Open qualifying, gets exemption
Vijay Singh used to be so good! But even though he's fallen out of the top 50 in the world rankings, of which those players are exempt for the U.S. Open, the USGA threw him a bone and he'll tee it up without having to qualify with all the other wannabes on Monday at the U.S. Open Sectionals. Can you imagine having him in your group at a qualifier?
Most other golf news is just that: golf news. So that's it from here, for now.
Posted at 10:42 PM in Current Affairs, Katie Denbo, Katieshack Commentary | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Colin Montgomerie, golf blog, golf news, Katie Denbo, Katieshack, Rickie Fowler
| Reblog (0)