‘Tough on both of us’: Rickie Fowler splits with longtime caddie Joe Skovron

Rickie Fowler enters the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time in two years, but he’ll do so this year with a new caddie on his bag.

Fowler and longtime looper Joe Skovron split following last week’s Wyndham Championship, and Fowler is now in the market for a new caddie.

Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis first reported the news.

“It happened Friday afternoon after we finished up in Greensboro,” Fowler told Lewis. “I told Joe I wasn’t really gonna go into details on who brought up the decision or who made the decision or anything like that. We’ve always been a team, we always will be, he’s like a big brother to me. Friendship and all that comes first. No hard feelings or anything like that, I just thought it was maybe the best option for the current time, but by no means does this mean we’re not gonna rekindle the flame in the future or anything like that, but I know it’s been tough on both of us.”

Fowler and Skovron were one of the most recognizable player-caddie combos of the past decade-plus. Skovron caddied for Fowler since he turned pro in 2009 and was on the bag for all five of his PGA Tour wins, including Fowler’s biggest career victory at the 2015 Players Championship.

They climbed to as high as No. 4 in the world together, but Fowler has since dropped to 167th, his worst ranking since early 2010. Fowler qualified for just one major in 2022, tying for 23rd at the PGA Championship. He hasn’t played a Masters or U.S. Open since 2020.

Fowler told Lewis he has no long-term plans for a replacement at this point. Ben Schomin, Cobra’s Tour operations manager, will fill in and carry the bag at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. Schomin also was a fill-in caddie for Bryson DeChambeau at the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic after DeChambeau and Tim Tucker split before the first round.

Fowler missed the playoffs last year but snagged the final spot this year.

“Sometimes a little tweak here or there is a good thing, and that’s ultimately what we kind of came up with,” Fowler said. “This could be good thing.”