Rickie Fowler draws inspiration from Roman Empire as he prepares for 2023 Ryder Cup
How often do men does Rickie Fowler think about the Roman Empire?
On Wednesday, an Italian journalist asked the professional golfer, who's preparing for the Ryder Cup in Rome this coming weekend, how much he knew about the Roman Empire and whether he could draw any lessons from its history.
Despite admitting he didn't recall much about the history of Rome from his middle school history classes, Fowler had an answer:
"One of the things to take from the Roman Empire, kind of the history over here, is patience. Understanding what it took for them to build things back then. It's hard to wrap your head around it when you look at really anything," Fowler said. "But walking by the Pantheon and seeing how small the bricks are that ultimately make up that structure — it's not like those bricks were being printed out at a factory down the street. Everything is hand-made. So I think a big thing with that is seeing the big picture and having the patience to understand what it takes to get from start to finish."
The Roman Empire: What's up with the internet's obsession over the Roman Empire? The TikTok trend explained
The Roman Empire trend that's taking over the Internet
The Roman Empire is the subject of a recent viral trend sweeping across social media thanks to an Instagram post by Roman reenactor Gaius Flavius, which reads, "Ladies, many of you do not realise how often men think about the Roman Empire. Ask your husband/boyfriend/father/brother - you will be surprised by their answer!"
Since then, many people, especially women, have recorded videos asking the men in their life how often they think about the Roman Empire and posted them to social media platform TikTok. Videos using the hashtag #RomanEmpire on the app has amassed over 1.5 billion views.
It's unclear whether the question posed to Fowler was part of this trend or a genuine question with unintentionally impeccable timing.
Ryder Cup 2023: How does this U.S. Ryder Cup team compare to past ones? Plus odds, captains and qualifiers
Rickie Fowler at the Ryder Cup
Fowler's participation in the 2023 Ryder Cup will mark his fifth appearance for the U.S. Team since his tournament debut in the 38th edition of the Ryder Cup in 2010.
The 34 year old also appeared in the tournament in 2014, 2016 and 2018: the 40th, 41st and 42nd iterations of the competition, respectively.
Fowler was not selected to the previous U.S. Team that won the Ryder Cup in 2021 after struggling in 2020 and 2021. Over the last couple of years, he's experienced a return to form of sorts. His win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this year was his first PGA Tour win since 2019.
Rickie Fowler Ryder Cup record
Over his first four appearances in past Ryder Cup tournaments, Fowler's overall record is 3-7-5, according to his profile page on the Ryder Cup website.
The American golfer is 1-2-2 in the four-ball format, 1-3-2 in foursomes and 1-2-1 in singles.
Ryder Cup 2023 coverage: Broadcast teams for TV, streaming, radio of Team USA
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ryder Cup 2023: Rickie Fowler Ryder Cup record, Roman Empire thoughts
