Rickie Wins And Here's Why Few Will Get Excited About It...

Rickie Fowler is an exciting player, fan friendly and really a nice guy by all accounts. Everyone wants him to do well.

But if you think winning the on the less-than-huge OneAsia Tour in the Korea Open is the reason you won't see much enthusiasm over his win, think again.

Nothing against Korean golf, because a win is a win especially when Rory McIlroy is in the hunt, but Rickie pulled a big no-no this week taking appearance money instead of playing in a tournament--the Frys.com Open--that gave him a huge confidence-building opportunity.

How do I know the Frys.com Open was a huge confidence booster for his career? Why, I read it!

From the USA Today a year ago:

"The Fall Series was a big part of me getting started on the tour. It gave me the confidence."

The colorful 21-year-old Fowler followed his impressive performance last season by finishing second twice this season, climbing to No. 33 in the rankings.

"That was my second tournament and I have to thank Frys for giving me the spot," Fowler said. "It gave me the confidence to go to Q-School, get my card and run around the tour in 2010."

And you repay them by chasing the easy money overseas. Quadruple bogey.

Comments

[Del the Funk]

How much was the appearance fee?

[Del the Funk]

And out of curiosity, what is the statute of obligations in your opinion?

[Geoff]

Del,
Hard to say, but considering what the Frys meant to him I think he owed them at least another appearance. If it were me and knowing the people involved who made the decision, many more appearances if not a lifetime commitment to the event. But I'm weird that way.

[elf]

If you decide you need a break after a long season I get that. Choosing to play elsewhere for an appearance fee feels more disrespectful. On the other hand, I like guys playing a few overseas tournaments a year, and that's almost certain to mean stepping on he toes of a US event. Also I think there is somewhat a statue of limitations, for instance yeah Vegas gave TW a sponsor's invite in 1996, but I'd argue they more than got their money/investments worth on the exchange.

[Del the Funk]

I hear ya Geoff. Would be really interesting to know what the fee was... If it were 7-figures would be pretty hard for him to turn that down. If it was $75k that's another story. Rickie seems like a stand up guy, I suspect he'll play a lot of Fry's Opens over the coming years.

[RickABQ]

Tiger sucked all the media oxygen out of the Fry's tournament this year - no one would have even noticed if Rickie was there or not. Since Tiger will never play at this event again (unless he gets an endorsement deal from Fry's) maybe Fry's would be better served in the long run by Rickie showing his loyalty by playing next year, or the year after.... Or both. Glad to see Rickie made the most of his opportunity in Korea.

[Del the Unctous Twit]

Rick, who are you taking aim at there? The media? Tiger? The 5x group of fans that bought tickets? Fill me in please....

[LadyH]

I totally understood Rick. While I didn't watch much, the little I saw was Tiger overload.

[Grant]

Geoff, I called the event in Korea and the two headline acts ( McIlroy/Fowler) was an inspired piece of marketing given the youth revolution on show there at the moment. No country has a more exciting core group of young players on the up than Korea, and every week another puts his hand up to be noticed. This week it was Kim Meen Whee, an Adam Scott/ Charl Schwartzel clone who rips it and has silky touch. And he's 19.

Going there was a smart play on Rickie's part. Golf is booming like nowhere else on the planet. By the way, he conducted himself with grace and charm and played incredible golf on a tough course.

A bit tough on your part, I think. He won't be the only U.S. player putting his hand out for a fee in the next couple of months who ignores the claims of a parallel event at home.

Cheers

[Geoff]

Grant,
There's a difference between taking a fee for a parallel event and it being an event that the player has cited as a breakthrough sponsor's invite in their career trajectory. At least to me there is!

[Grant]

Geoff, I refer to Del the Funk...what is the statute of obligation as a pro golfer?

[Eric]

@Rick, Fowler would have sealed that appearance fee long before Woods announced he was playing the Frys. Maybe he would end up getting overshadowed, but when it comes to paying back favors intent is probably the most important thing.

[Geoff]

Grant,
I refer to my comment above under the name Geoff.

[OB]

Grant,
You really think Rickie went to Korea to help grow the game or do his part for Asian golf?

It's a cash grab pure and simple. He's allowed to do that but its hard to read what he said about the Frys and respect such a short memory.

[Hawkeye]

I don't really know what side of the fence to stand on here, but in general I don't think too many tournament organizers hand out invitations as an altruistic favour. It's a bit like John Lenon said: "Magazines have a way of putting you on the cover and then, after having sold truckloads of issues because of it, turn to you and say *Look what we've done for you!'"

[Grant]

Geoff,

Referred to previously as "Geoff" :-)...given no time frame was noted, I assume that the obligation is therefore endless?

OB,

No, I don't think there was any altruism involved at all. But of all the options likely to be available to him, to take this one was a smart play on a number of fronts.

[Kangy Boy]

RF is a Titleist player.
Recent ownership change could be an influencing factor......Just throwing it out there.

[Moi]

Is this the same Ricky Fowler that wasn't picked for the presidents Cup?

[Douglas]

At least he took the money and turned up and put a performance in, unlike Stricker/Watson at the start of the year. Fair play to Fowler, in the long run the chance to play in different conditions and on different courses will pay off for him.

[RickABQ]

I wasn't really taking shots at anyone, but the closest might be the TV and print coverage - I watched a fair amount of the Fry's tournament over the past 4 days and without a doubt, it was all Tiger, all the time. I understand a certain fascination with Tiger, and I hope he comes back, but I am certainly tired of the repetitive "Groundhog Day" approach that the coverage mimics with every tournament Tiger plays. Really, I am supposed to believe that Arjun Atwal is going to give me an unbiased opinion on Tinger? You know, Tiger's "very close", just like he's been for the last year or so according to Team Tiger. Every tournament Tiger plays in the announcers overload on him. So that was what I really saying - only golf junkies such as the readers of this blog would have even known Rickie was playing. By everything I read, Rickie Fowler seems like a great young kid - he's got years ahead to replay loyalty to tournaments that gave him a break. Maybe Puma wanted him to play in Asia to help grow the brand, or Titleist, or his other sponsors as well. I don't know what his contracts say. But, Rickie seems like a loyal guy - after all, he wears that horrible shade of orange representing OSU every Sunday. Anyone who can wear that shade has gotta be one loyal dude!

[RickABQ]

Bad proofing - Tinger = Tiger. Too early in the morning....

Also. Too. If the shade of orange on Sunday was burnt orange, it would be all good!

[johnnnycz]

I think that the most interesting and alarming aspect to RF playing in Asia and getting tee-up money is that a sponsor wold be paying a non-PGA Tour winner just to show up.

I know, I know, he washes up nicely, looks like an actor from cheezy-teen movies fame, dresses like a color-blind hospital orderly, plays fast/fearlessly, and has the TOUR's marketing types by the shorthairs...but besides all that....what does his professional resume look like?

At least he's got a win...I'm hoping he can back up the hype next year and win once or twice..if not, then he's on the path of becoming yet another Charles Howell the Overrated. But I don't think that would ever happen...Fowler doesn't have a teacher to stifle his game...he just goes out and plays!

[rmppia]

Geoff - let me see, you want to pound Ricky for not coming back to a place that helped him get a start. That start would have been 2009. Did he play in 2010? How about the seven places that gave Eldrick his start. How many of those has he repaid with a playing visit since?

[rmppia]

RickABQ - I forgot to mention, you are dead on in comments about the Tiger "Groundhog Day" effect. My problem with the Tiger mania is that it shows just how lazy and incompentent writers and tv people are when it comes to finding and giving the public all the other great stories in golf. Kelly and the other talking heads on golf tele casts remind me of the old bobby soxers at Frank and Evlis concerts. "Tiger hit the fairway with that shot, God he is back". "Tiger made that thirty foot putt, God he is back". "Tiger is climbing the leader board, God he is back". "Tiger finished tied for 39th place against a field full of second tier players (no disrespect to the rest of the field unlike the disprepect shown by TGC), God He Is Back". "I may wet my pants I am so excited".

[rmppia]

Geoff - by the way, just checked. Ricky played the Frys in 2010. Finished 4th. Does his pay back need to be every year? Still wondering how many pay backs Eldrick has given to his seven sponsor exemptions when he started.

[Geoff]

That right, I'm saying once isn't enough in my book, but that's me. Rickie feels differently.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

The Groundhog Day Effect certainly was in evidence at pgatour.com. I followed the tournament online when sitting at my computer, and I don't think Tiger was ever off the front page, usually with a picture in evidence. As Jed Clampett would have put it, pitiful, pitiful, pitiful.

On the other hand, three 68s is not too bad! Go Tiger! Or as Dan Jenkins might have put it, he finished a nervy 30th.

[pasaplayer]

Let Ricky return the favor to Frys some year when they need it, not when the golf world and the public is focused on [another] second coming.

[LadyH]

Groundhog Day is sooooo perfect!

[rmppia]

Geoff - Ok, so how many does Ricky owe Frys. And, how many did Tiger pay back?

[RickABQ]

To prove my point above, CNN.com still has the Tiger Woods/hotdog story on the front page. Not Bryce Molder, not a fun, multi-hole playoff, nothing but the story of some weirdo attempting to throw a hotdog at Tiger. The only thing better would have been if the hotdog had hit Tiger on his Rolex.

[hogan]

Rickie's handlers make all the decisions.

[SGarrett]

On the "strength" of his win (OWGR for the winner was 26 points - more ranking points than were awarded to Molder), Fowler jumped from being the 36th ranked player in the world to 24th. From OWGR...

"American Rickie Fowler emphatically claimed a first career victory at the Kolon Korea
Open on Sunday after storming to a six shot win over US Open champion Rory McIlroy at
Woo Jeong Hills Country Club. Fowler, 22, carded a three-under-par 68 final round to top
the leaderboard at 16-under-par overall and complete a wire-to-wire win. McIlroy
produced a fourth round rally after playing his final 11 holes in seven-under-par to card a
superb 64, but the 22-year-old was left to rue a third round 73 as the World Number
Three was forced to settle for a second consecutive runner-up finish. The win takes Fowler
up 12 places to World Number 24"

[Del the Unctuous Twit]

rmppia, how do you rationalize Tiger factoring into Rickie's situation/decision? The two are completely unrelated.

[Press Agent]

Good on Ricky, nice win for sure. He will probably get more mileage from his win in Korea than Bryce Mulder will get for winning the first tournament of Tiger's great, long, drawn-out, slow, meandering, imaginary, comeback run.

[PA PLAYA]

Fowler probably figured he needed to play somewhere where he can win, since he can't win on the PGA Tour.

But man... dude is still bringing it with the duds and trucker hats! Maybe he can do another musical over there with Y.E., Shingo, and K.J.

[Del the Funk]

PA PLAYA,

Rickie Fowler -- 55 tour events as a pro, 14 top-8 finishes.

Bill Haas -- first 55 tour events as a pro, 2 top-8 finishes (1 at Mayakoba, basically a Nationwide event).

I'd say Rickie is squarely on track to win plenty.

[Del the Funk]

Hell, by my count ol' 3-Iron Haas hisself only has 11 top-8 finishes in almost 170 tour starts. Rickie is getting a top-8 in about every 4th start. Ol' 3-Iron only gets one about every 15th start. Pretty eye-opening...

[PA PLAYA]

Del, get back to me when he wins something other than the Korean Open.

[Del the Funk]

PA PLAYA, want to make a bet on when that will happen? Korean Open a better win than the Pillow Fight at East lake.