Former Oklahoma State Cowboy Rickie Fowler, well-known for his lack of success in finishing off golf tournaments, finally proved the critics wrong over the weekend in Florida, winning The Honda Classic by 4.Fowler was previously 0-4 in closing out tournaments in which he held the 54-hole lead, and it looked like we were heading that way early in the final round on Sunday.
Rickie had a four-shot lead coming into the final round, but a tee shot into the water on 6 and into the trees on 9 trimmed his lead to 1 heading into the back 9.
Fowler responded with some timely putting, and this dart on the tough 16th.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 26, 2017That all but sealed the deal for Fowler's 4th professional victory.
Speaking of orange power, former Poke Morgan Hoffman finished T-2nd, 4 shots behind Fowler. Florida Gator Billy Horschel and Martin Kaymer finished T-4th, and defending champion Adam Scott finished T-14th.Winner! 🏆@RickieFowler wins @TheHondaClassic for his fourth career victory.— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 26, 2017
He moves to 10th in the FedExCup. pic.twitter.com/YEMTdDBDwZ
Rickie's win continued a trend of a youth movement on TOUR. 11 of the 15 winners this season are in their 20s. Players like Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, and Hideki Matsuyama are consistently topping leaderboards, removing any worry about the state of golf post-Tiger Woods.
This week, the TOUR heads to Mexico City for the World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship. The tournament relocated form Trump National in Doral.
A typical WGC field is on-hand this week, as you have to be in the top 50 in the world rankings, or high up in the FedEx Cup rankings to qualify. All of the top 50 have committed to the event, including new #1 Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, defending champion Adam Scott, and Rory McIlroy in his first event back from injury.
