Inside the Ropes: Fowler has game to go with his style

For a while, some people were wondering if former Oklahoma State Cowboy Rickie Fowler was all hat and no cattle, all style and no substance.

The 23-year-old showed plenty of potential but was known mostly for his neon outfits and oversized hats until winning the Wells Fargo Championship and tying for second in the Players Championship in his last two outings.

Fowler played 72 events on the PGA Tour before nailing down that first victory, but that might open the floodgates.

"I'm definitely playing very free right now with the game," said Fowler, who has recorded three consecutive top-10 finishes heading into the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial this week.

"I've been playing well the last (three) weeks and swinging well and seeing the ball actually take off and fly the way I'm looking for it to do certain things.

"I feel very confident about my game. I haven't felt a whole lot of nerves."

Anybody who dresses the way Rickie does, with the florescent colors and oversized hat, can't be lacking in self-esteem, but it has taken almost three years for his game to catch up with his style.

The hat made him look a bit like Charlie Brown, but he has grown a mustache that makes him resemble Johnny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

The style thing goes way back for Fowler, who dressed up as Fred Couples for Halloween when he was 7 years old growing up in Murrieta, Calif.

"He's always been a little different than anyone else, kind of setting his own fashion," said Rod Fowler, Rickie's father. "When he was 12, maybe a little younger, he wanted to wear long pants at (junior) tournaments.

"Even though all the players wore shorts, he wanted to look like the pros."

At PGA Tour events these days, you will see dozens of youngsters dressed up like Rickie, especially the all-orange outfit (Oklahoma State's primary color) that he reserves for Sundays.

Even some of his middle-aged fans are getting into the act.

"It's cool in my perspective to have somewhat of an impact like that, especially with the young kids," said Fowler, who had finished second four times on the PGA Tour before finally breaking through. "If I can keep having a positive impact and keep guiding them the right way, then that's half my goal as a PGA Tour player.

" ... I love seeing it, especially the little kids running around with my hat on that's flopping around slightly large for them. It's cool."

That's the word the kids are using to describe Fowler, and he certainly was a cool customer when he took down Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, and D.A. Points in a playoff to win at Quail Hollow.

McIlroy might have found a career-long rival -- anything close to Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson would be nice -- but wasn't all that surprised.

The 23-year-olds have known each other since they played on opposite sides in the 2007 Walker Cup matches, where Fowler posted a 3-1 record to help the United States defeat Great Britain and Ireland at Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

"I felt like he was the best player on that team at the time, and he was also the nicest guy," Rory said.

That's the other thing you hear about Fowler from the other players, that his head won't get too big for those oversized hats.

He saves his attitude for crunch time on the golf course.

"Rickie has a nice way about him," Charles Howell III said. "He's not cut from the same cloth a lot of golfers are. You can tell he's from Southern California and rides motor bikes. That's what makes him Rickie Fowler."

Said Davis Love III: "You see him and think he's too cool for school, but he's not. He's a good, respectful, hard-working kid. He's confident and aggressive all the time."

Love, captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, has had his eye on Fowler because there's a good chance Rickie will be one of his players for the matches at Medinah in September.

Fowler was something of a controversial pick for the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor because he didn't yet have the resume, but he was not overwhelmed and posted a 0-1-2 record, winning the last three holes to halve his singles match with Eduardo Molinari of Italy.

"There is just something about confidence that you can't top, and Rickie Fowler is loaded with guts," said Paul Azinger, a former Ryder Cup captain.

And now Fowler has something else, a trophy to go with his hat.

COMING UP

PGA TOUR: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 on CBS.

LAST YEAR: One week after losing in a playoff to K.J. Choi at the Players Championship, David Toms rallied from a Saturday collapse to shoot 3-under-par 69 in the final round and claimed a one-stroke victory over Charlie Wi. It was the PGA Tour 13th victory for the 44-year-old Toms, the 2001 PGA champion, but the first since the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii. He took the lead for good by wedging his 83-yard shot into the hole for an eagle at No. 11, and playing the last seven holes in even par was good enough. Toms built a seven-stroke lead by starting 62-62 to tie the PGA Tour record for the low score after 36 holes, but he gave it all back with a 74 in the third round, when Wi took the lead by posting a 66.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: The 73rd Senior PGA Championship at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

LAST YEAR: Tom Watson made a bunch of history along with a three-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to turn back David Eger at Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Ky. The 61-year-old Watson became the oldest player to win a major since the Senior Tour was created in 1980 and the second-oldest winner in the Senior PGA, behind Jock Hutchison, who was 62 when he won in 1947. Watson, who became the third oldest winner in Champions Tour history, sank an 18-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 15th hole to take the lead, but Eger pulled even with a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 16. Eger, who closed with a 5-under-par 67, missed a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole before Watson, who shot 70, failed to convert from four feet to force extra holes.

LPGA TOUR: ShopRite LPGA Classic at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., June 1-3.

TV: Frisday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 4-6 p.m., on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Brittany Lincicome got up-and-down from thick rough around the 18th green, sinking a four-foot birdie putt to claim a one-stroke victory over Jiyai Shin of South Korea and Cristie Kerr. The 25-year-old Lincicome closed with a 5-under-par 66 and claimed her fourth LPGA Tour victory but the first since the biggest title of her career, the 2009 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Shin missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff. Kerr's 80-foot putt for eagle seemed to be heading straight into the hole but came up short, and she settled for a birdie that left her one shot back.