Rickie Fowler Fends Off Johnny Critique Following Honda Win

I can't imagine a more impressive stat than Rickie Fowler making 57 of 57 inside 7 feet to win the Honda Classic.

Still, it was an undeniably bizarre 2017 Honda Classic final round with several players hitting loose shots, including Fowler. Johnny Miller voiced his concern at Fowler's inability to close things out and, along with his NBC cohorts, expressed his surprise at the "poor" quality of many misses.

Cue the millennial police!

Will Gray on Rickie's response as well as the players coming to Rickie's defense, including Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald.

The PGA Tour highlights.

Comments

[berserkeley]

I can appreciate Mr. Miller's candor, but Ricky's had a hard time getting this particular monkey off his back. Johnny should cut him some slack. Sometimes winning ugly is all you can do. I'm sure everyone, but the other players was rooting for Ricky....oops and maybe Johnny.

[Matt]

What a hullabaloo about nothing(Miller's comments)! Rickie was a little loose and shaky down the stretch. So were the others chasing him. Johnny called it as he saw it, and he was right. Case closed. Pat Perez called it as he saw it, and is also right. Some people are just way too oversensitive about people other than themselves.

[D. maculata]

Wasn't aware a win had to be pretty. Didn't Nobilo comment all of Rickie's wins have been on difficult golf courses? This one qualifies as that given the pucker factor, in particular over the closing holes. If viewers committed ratings blasphemy and surfed between Daytona on FOX and Honda on NBC, they watched an equal amount of wrecks. The Honda would have had more were it not for light wind conditions. It's not a coincidence a lot of players coming off the West Coast Swing in a positive frame of mind, routinely take a pass on playing the Honda unless there's a pressing need to. As far as Johnny's "inability to close" comment, he should know Rickie at this stage will never be mistaken for Jack or Tiger in their prime.

Oh, and Marty Hackel should poll millennials on behalf of Wesley Bryan to find out if electric blue and pink match.

[Lateral Hazard]

Johnny "I shot a 63 at the US Open" Miller to the Tour: Win pretty or suffer my wrath!

Should a "pretty" par be recorded as one stroke less than an "ugly" par?

Anyone?

Buehler? Buehler?

[KPK]

"Rickie, I once played on Shell's Wonderful World of Golf against one of the other greatest players in the history of golf. I was so nervous I was hyper-ventilating and couldn't control my nerves. I think I 3-putted almost every hole on the front side. I was miked up and everyone could hear my heavy breathing. It was so embarrassing. Was that how you felt out there today Rickie? Were you choking like I did that day?"

[Shawn]

ignore Johnny Miller Ricky, he's just a cranky old "never has been".

[Schlasser]

Johnny Miller was a "never has been"?!?!? Difficult to take anything you write seriously after that. Go and do a little research before you embarrass yourself any further. Love him or hate him, Johnny was the man in his day. For the record, I love Johnny Miller in the booth.

[munihack]

I think yesterday illustrates a little what I and others have said about the ball. My contention has been that wind is the last element that can put fear into a top golfer. If I were making a case that final round would be my exhibit A. The result is hyper aggressive pros are lost when it comes to heavy wind because they are not sure where the ball will finish. So where do you aim? What defensive strategy do you use? The caddies are lost as well. So much of top golf is point and shoot they struggle when they have to factor an unknown. I think that is what Johnny was trying to get across in his own way. Not that previous pros didn't get beat up by the wind- look at the RC at Kiawah- an utter choke fest. A day and course like yesterday exposed the thin shell of true skill some of these guys have as shot makers and shot thinkers.

Not to jump on Fowler but his blades are some of the most unforgiving designs out there. You have to hit them well or they punish you- he got punished yesterday. Does he care? I am sure he will take note but that is one huge advantage to having 4 shots on everyone with 18 holes left. You still get the trophy and the check.

[Easingwold]

Miller was a great golfer for a few seasons, but as all time greats are concerned, he's not as great as he likes to think he was.

[JJBeck]

I think Johnny was reacting to so many VERY poor iron shots on the 15th and 17th holes. It's one thing missing a shot because you are trying to be aggressive and flibbing one 30 yards short or wide. The wind was there , but it was a playable wind. There were a few incredibly poor shots in there ; including a ball in the water on a 7 iron layup shot by the closest pursuer. Rickie only needs 21 more wins and a major or two , to get into Miller's realm. Johnny was pretty good.

[KS]

Wasn't the wind blowing 20 mph? Cut the guys some slack. That place is hard in no wind.

[ChuckDietzenTNnotIN]

@ Lateral Hazard and KPK +1
Though he wasn't one of my favorites as a player, I've always enjoyed Miller's analysis. It is because he has been in the position to close or choke that untoward criticism from Miller does not bother me.
That said, what is most important for me is not how Fowler finished, but where he finished, namely least number of strokes for 4 rounds.

[Jim]

Give Johnny some slack also. Johnny and Ricky have/had two completely different golf games. Ricky is the ultimate scrambler and 'get the ball in the hole somehow, great putter.....whereas Johnny was a highly proficient ball striker that didn't have to depend n his scrambling ability to win. Therefore, they see the game in completely different lenses, and it is not difficult to see how Johnny can't relate to what Ricky does. If you could somehow combine Ricky/Johnny's skills into one player, that player would probably be the best that ever lived.

[Charlie Smith]

Matt nailed it. Too much thin skin from public figures.

[Sari]

I see both sides. On the one hand, it's hard to close and in the end all that matters is the W. On the other hand, this is the first time Fowler has closed the deal with a 54 hole lead, and he didn't exactly slam it down in textbook fashion. The iron on 17 was shocking. Just hit it left in the trap if you have to.

[Shawn]

To Schlasser: Missing my point is that Fowler won, why would you dwell on the bogies at all? He won, just sounds like Miller is a whining baby, shouldn't be trashing a guy who won and is seemingly as good or better than Miller's career track at this point. If he lost in the end, sure trash him as they did Dustin Johnson, McIlroy, Adam Scott, Mickelson etc WHEN THEY DESERVED IT.
1972 US Open, Sunday he's in 2nd place, Miller shoots 79 on the final (windy) day to drop to seventh. 2nd to seventh, this one is trash talk worthy. He was not a good pressure player at all, especially putting, and especially against Nicklaus, this guy should not throw stones from his glass announcing booth on this one.
In my opinion Fowler is equally as good as Miller at this point in his career, 21% vs 22% Miller for top ten in majors entered, and a much nicer personality. My money is on Fowler to win more majors than Miller(2) in the end. For now let's praise him for the a good win as he deserves.

[The O]

The wedge on 18 was a little loose, but seriously, he was trying to hit some gutsy shots in tough wind. Did he miss some and get lucky? Of course. Find a winner who didn't get away with a few loose shots.

[Keith - NYC]

Lots of guys on page one of the board were hitting some squirrely shots yesterday.....I guess the winds plus tricky holes plus Sunday pressure can do that....but Rickie Fowler's putter saved him more than a few times and so he avoided a white knuckler finish.....he made a couple of low % long bombs along the way that really helped him out and saved 3 or 4 strokes....and nobody was really able to mount or sustain much of a charge....so you have to hand to Rickie for doing what he had to with whatever game he felt he had on Sunday.....kind of ho-hum golf for TV viewers but there have been more than a few of those tournaments over the past 8 weeks or so.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

It's not nearly as impressive as it sounds, let alone being unable to imagine anything more impressive… http://lowestscorewins.com/tips/rickie-fowler-goes-57-of-57-inside-7

[Brandon]

@KPK +1 million!

And remember, that was at Johnny's home course Olympic Club too. He played it a million times as a kid. Did he ever mention that during the 2012 US Open telecast?

[Fescue]

Muni’s comment gives me an idea. How about at the 16th at the Waste Mgt they spool up a wind turbine to create some unique conditions?

[WG]

If Woodland doesn't 3-jack 17 and then lay it up into the water on 18 he likely finishes 11-under and the mental math looks completely different for Rickie.

[OWGR Fan]

@Shawn you stated Miller "shouldn't be trashing a guy who won and is seemingly as good or better than Miller's career track at this point."

Hardly. This is the start of Fowlers 8th full season on the PGA Tour (2010-17) and yesterday was his 4th win. At the end of Millers 8th season of the PGA Tour (1969-76) he had 18 wins. Now it is said that one can make numbers mean anything they want but in this case Miller is light years ahead of Fowlers career curve. The numbers (18 wins to 4) don't lie.

[Sari]

I would love to know Miller's record with the 54 hole lead. I suspect it's significantly higher than Fowler's 20% (1 for 5).

[OWGR Fan]

@Sari ... To be fair Fowler did convert a 54 hole lead in Abu Dhabi last season. This was his first win after the 54 hole lead on the PGA Tour.

[surfmeister]

All you folks taking shots at Johnny as a player...all you need to know about how good he was is that his caddy in the 70's, Andy Martinez, was known by the rest of us tour caddies at "Step and a Half" because he often gave half yardages to Johnny for iron shots. Why? Because he was that damn deadly with those clubs!!!

[Doug Ford's Spalding Dot]

Surfmeister, that's a different nickname than the one I remember: "ganja daddy"

[Shawn]

@Schlasser - if you prefer listening to the pompous cranky old guy, tune is as much as you can this year and soak him in, he somehow con'd NBC thru 2017.
@OWGR Fan - the number of elite players Miller played against in his era is a joke compared to the number Fowler plays against today, your statement "Miller light years ahead of Fowler" is totally flawed, I won't even waste my time listing the elite players from each era., easily more than 18 to 4 ratio though.
@Sari - Why do you think it is SIGNIFICANTLY higher? How many times was he even leading on Sunday? 1) Fowler didn't lose his lead on Sunday and "not close", your falling for J Miller BS here. 2)from 1970- 1997 Miller's avg ranking was 114th, he really was only on for a few years, Fowler from 2010 to 2016 avg 23.5 rank in todays field is quite impressive. there is no way I'm agreeing that Miller is better overall at any possible attempt of an an equivalent evaluation, in fact he was VERY inconsistent, he was good at times but not one of the greatest.

[Bud]

Terrible that a TV announcer says anything about a player that is not a compliment.

Viewers want only the standard pablum.

[Schlasser]

@Shawn: You wrote that Johnny was a "never has been" and I think that's ridiculous. The rest of your drivel is you trying to distract me and a few others on here that called you on it. You're entitled to your opinion of course but declaring Johnny Miller a "never has been" devalues your opinion.

[Sari]

Shawn:

I was asking; I don't know the answer. I just think it's higher than 205 but don't have time to do the research. Why the hate on Miller who, no matter what one thinks of his commentary, is regarded by nearly everyone as one of the top iron players of his time?

[OWGR Fan]

@Shawn - My deepest sympathies that you are so far out of touch with reality regarding golf that it brings me to tears to ignore anything you post.

[K. Cook]

@Shawn you are so far off base it's laughable. Rickie is a nice kid but he can't carry Johnny's putter. At the same age Rickie is now (28yrs, 3mos) Johnny had won 14 times including a US Open, Rickie has 4 wins. Johnny won 25 times including a US Open and a British Open. At age 46 Johnny came out of the television booth to play in only his 5th event in 5 years and won the Pebble Beach event, he was a phenomenally talented player. Johnny was inducted as a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998, a time when Hall standards hadn't been cheapened due to the loophole Fred Couples squeezed in through.

Even with the cheapened standards do you really think Rickie will play himself into the World Golf Hall of Fame?

[Melvyn's niblick]

And Johnny was going up against guys like John Schlee, Don Pooley and Morris Hatalsky. Not to mention Bob Murphy and Bob Gilder. And Larry Hinson, Dewitt Weaver and Dale Douglas. That's stiff competition. Wake up Shawn.

[DJ's spoon]

Top-10 at the Honda & World Rank@

Rickie Fowler - 14
Gary Woodland - 41
Morgan Hoffmann - 394
Chad Collins - 450
Jhonattan Vegas - 68
Martin Kaymer - 51
Billy Horschel - 75
Tyrrell Hatton - 18
Wesley Bryan - 96
Graham DeLaet - 167


Yeah a buncha world beaters Rickie is whupping up on there. The more it gets talked about the weaker this win looks, Johnny knows.

[Pops]

Good lord. The Miller haters are losing it. The guy is a paid commentator and that's just what he did. He was also complimentary of Rickie, which is only proper since he seems a fine young man. Rickie may develop a career similar to or even better than Miller's, but even he would admit he's not there yet. Today's touring pros are a thin-skinned, defensive bunch if they think Miller's comments were excessive.

[AF]

From a my shot interview with Larry Nelson:

"When I came on the PGA Tour, Johnny Miller was the best player out there. He was by far the best ball-striker I'd ever seen, and as good as anybody playing today. Johnny had a weak grip, and he went at it very hard through impact. Yet he never turned the ball over, he never hooked it. Remember my saying, "Shots don't lie"? Well, Johnny's ball flight was the way a golf ball was meant to be struck."

https://www.google.com/amp/www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_nelson/amp

[Carl]

I like how Rickie Fowler plays his shots. He's the man!

[Joe Ezar]

Rickie Fowler is yet to be an elite player in the game. 4 wins in 7+ years does not = great player. He still has time to become one. But would not say he is a chalk bet to be great player.

Miller's record on the other hand speaks for itself. Even if some were not around to witness his playing career takes nothing from the fac that he was one of the best iron-players in the game, ever.

[Mulligan]

Asinine comments from dopey Shawn who knows nothing about golf history have me mostly skipping this place now.