Rickie Fowler has not lost faith in PGA Tour but said LIV deal has Tour back at 'square one'
LOS ANGELES — Rickie Fowler wasn't thinking about the PGA Tour's deal with the people who bankroll LIV Golf on Thursday. He had other things to focus on, like shooting the lowest round in the 123-year history of the U.S. Open.
But the Jupiter resident spoke to The Palm Beach Post before working on his short game Wednesday. Like everyone else, Fowler admitted to being "shocked" and in "disbelief" when he heard about the deal last week as he was hitting balls with Justin Thomas at Michael Jordan's Grove XXIII in Hobe Sound.
But unlike Jon Rahm, he doesn't feel betrayed that tour Commissioner Jay Monahan held seven weeks of secret meetings with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, before announcing the blockbuster deal.
More: Rickie Fowler continues comeback tour with record-breaking 62 at U.S. Open
"It's hard to say betrayed because we don't know the ins and outs of everything," said Fowler, whose 8-under 62 Thursday was equaled by Xander Schauffele. "I feel like you have to have the belief in the faith that …
"Jay, I feel like, he's done a good job. Could it have been better? Probably. But the tour has been in a good spot. So until we learn more about what's going on, you have to have a little bit of faith. They're looking at this as the best long-term option. But we don't know, yet."
Fowler wants the Tour to do its research before reaching any decisions, just as he did last year when he was approached by LIV about leaving the PGA Tour.
In the end, Fowler was even more convinced the PGA Tour is the best place to be.
"I wanted to learn about it and at least do my due diligence," Fowler said. "And that was, I would say, one thing where a lot of us were disappointed with the tour was not at least meeting with the guys at LIV — whether it's Yasir and all the other people that were involved — just to learn about it. Even if you think it's a bad idea. Same with what's going on right now, even if you think it's a bad idea, you have to learn the ins and outs to make your own personal judgment or decision.
"And so that was something early on that a lot of us felt like the tour didn't necessarily make the right decision to not meet."
When asked if he came close to joining LIV, Fowler said: "No, no, no. I just looked at it and wanted to learn as much as I could."
Fowler's concluded that the PGA Tour had no equal. He still believes that but said after last week everything is back to "square one."
"I think the tour has done a lot of great things in the last couple of years with players getting together and working on some stuff, how to improve, how to evolve," he said. "But you got to continue to evolve and change and make adjustments.
"That's where I feel like a lot of good steps were made. Now it feels in a way with all this, it's kind of coming back to square one."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Rickie Fowler hasn't lost faith in PGA Tour despite LIV Golf deal
