‘What a stupid game this is:’ Rickie Fowler tops 3-wood — to within 50 feet of pin

Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, ahead of this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, were asked if luck plays a part in winning a tournament. DeChambeau said yes. “People don’t realize how much luck plays a big factor,” he said. Reed said no. “The guy who wins the golf tournament usually gets a good break here or there that could make a difference, but a lot of the times I don’t feel like those are the reason why they win the golf tournaments,” he said. 

Enter Rickie Fowler into the conversation. 

He played his first 13 holes at four under on Saturday at Detroit Golf Club. He was within a shot of the lead during the third round. He hit his drive on the 567-yard, par-5 14th down the left side of the fairway. 

Fowler then topped his second shot.  

And was putting for eagle with his third.

“What a stupid game this is,” analyst Trevor Immelman said on the Golf Channel broadcast.  

“That is a straight-up, thin-topped 3-wood that got to the green on 14,” Watson said. 

Fowler’s ball was in the air for three seconds. And on the ground for about 10. It carried about 150 yards, then rolled another 100 as it flirted with the water on the left side of the hole and trickled back toward the front of the green, 53 feet from the pin. In search of his first victory since February of 2019, Fowler would two-putt for birdie, and he pulled into an early tie for the lead. Entering Sunday’s final round, he’s five shots back.

“Oh my goodness. I mean there’s no way that he planned that,” Immelman said on the broadcast. “He almost cold-topped it, it ran around that penalty area right onto the front of the green.” 

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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