Rickie Fowler gets bacterial infection on honeymoon

Rickie Fowler announced over the weekend that he was withdrawing from the Mayakoba Classic — for a particularly unpleasant reason.

In a text message to Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio, Fowler said that he picked up Campylobacter jejuni, a common bacterial infection that leads to cramps, fever, pain and diarrhea. “It was not a fun stretch,” Fowler told DiMeglio, and added that he’d not begun to feel right until Nov. 7, which didn’t leave much time to prep for his next start.

Fowler got married October 5th to Allison Stokke on a beach in Mexico.

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Shortly thereafter, the two gassed up the Puma jet for some sort of ocean adventure.

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But according to Golfweek, Fowler started feeling the effects of the infection Oct. 26.

In addition to his own obvious discomfort, Fowler’s health adds further murkiness to the U.S. Presidents Cup picture. If Brooks Koepka determines that his knee injury is too significant to make the trip to Royal Melbourne in December, captain Tiger Woods will be forced to make a fifth captain’s pick.

Until now, Fowler seemed the obvious choice. Woods even said during last week’s picks that informing his friend (and neighbor) that he hadn’t made the team had been the most difficult phone call of the process. “I think the toughest call to make was the closest to making the team is Rickie,” Woods said afterwards.

But now, without a start under his belt since the Tour Championship, Fowler will have to prove he’s back in form to earn a hypothetical final pick. Here’s hoping that recovery is already well underway.