RICKIE FOWLER SANK a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet on Sunday to win a playoff for the PGA Rocket Mortgage Classic title and snap a four-year win drought.
Fowler defeated fellow American Collin Morikawa, a two-time major champion, and Canada’s Adam Hadwin to capture his first victory since the 2019 Phoenix Open and his sixth PGA triumph overall.
“It’s hard to put it into words,” Fowler said. “A lot of great stuff this year. I knew it was a matter of time the way I’ve been playing.”
Fowler, 34, won the 2017 Players Championship but has struggled in recent years, falling to 185th in the world rankings last year before reviving his form this season with nine top-20 finishes in his past 10 events.
In the four years, four months and 29 days between his titles, Fowler became a husband and father and smiled as he held his daughter on the 18th green.
“Winning is great,” Fowler said. “But there’s a lot more to life than that.”
Morikawa, Fowler and Hadwin all finished 72 holes on 24-under par 264 at rain-softened Detroit Golf Club, where players started early in threesomes to escape a stormy afternoon forecast.
Fowler, Morikawa and Hadwin shared the lead at 23-under as they came down the stretch.
Morikawa, who hit all 14 fairways in the final round, chipped inside three feet and tapped in for birdie at the par-5 17th to reach 24-under.
Hadwin followed with a four-foot birdie putt at 17 to grab a share of the lead but Fowler needed three to reach the fringe and settled for par.
At 18, Fowler dropped his approach just over three feet from the hole and tapped in to reach the playoff.
The playoff began at 18 and Fowler booked his tee shot right into the crowd with his rivals in the fairway.
But Fowler dropped his approach just inside 12 feet from the hole while Morikawa went over the green and like Hadwin ended up just over 21 feet from the hole.
Hadwin’s putt rolled past, Morikawa’s chip was short and Fowler then made his putt, standing in place and smiling at his long-sought victory.
Morikawa and Hadwin had also been trying to snap victory droughts.
Hadwin’s only PGA victory came at the 2017 Valspar Championship.
Morikawa, the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 British Open winner, hasn’t won a PGA event since capturing the Claret Jug at Royal St. George’s. His most recent triumph was at the 2021 European Tour’s season-ending championship at Dubai.
World number nine Max Homa, the highest-ranked player in the field, aced the par-3 15th from 140 yards with a pitching wedge. His only prior PGA hole-in-one came at the 14th hole in the third round last year at Bay Hill.
Germany’s Stephan Jaeger matched the course record with a 63, which has been fired nine times, including in round two by Andrew Landry and round three by Hadwin.
