Is Rickie Fowler ready to win? Mouth and Mo’ go toe to toe on this one.The Mouth That Roars says…
The newest issue of Golfweek has a photo of Rickie Fowler and a simple question – is Rickie ready?
Personally, I think the question is a bit late. Ready for what? Ready to be a great golfer – isn’t he already? Ready to prove he’s mature enough to handle the pressure of professional golf and developing into a global brand? Check. Ready for wins…OK, I understand the question, but does anyone really doubt they’ll come? Ready to be an elite talent – the kid’s 23…me thinks there is still time.
Here’s the thing with Rickie. You could argue he’s both less and more accomplished than Keegan Bradley thanks to Bradley’s win at the 2011 PGA Championship. But, I’ll take up issue with anyone who thinks Bradley is set to launch himself to a greater career. There’s a thing called the eye test – and even without a PGA Tour or Major victory, Fowler passes it with much stronger grades than Bradley.
Golf fans know when they see greatness and the potential for it, I see that in Rickie. I remember when he took Edoardo Molinari’s guts from him by erasing a three-hole lead with three to play at the 2012 Ryder Cup to keep the U.S. alive. It was cold-blooded and that’s a good thing to see in a player.
Is Rickie ready – I give it a resounding yes. The question is more if greatness is ready for him. As we all know, golf has a way of making great players wait to find greatness. Rickie will find his in due time, of that I have little doubt.
What say you Mo?
Mo’ Golf counters with…
I don’t think so. I get the sense that Rickie is the second coming of David Duval, without the solid swing. Have you seen Fowler’s action? There is nothing stable about that swing! He’s not real tall, yet he finds a way to crank it with the big hitters. That reeks of instability in my nostrils.
Rickie is a heck of a putter, but I’m not sure that his overall short game is up to snuff. Every golfer that wins, does so with a save or two and I’ve not seen that from RF.
Finally, the whole image thing needs to take a back seat. I’ve never been sexy hot like this dude, so it must be distracting. I think that the tour is desperately seeking a successor to Tiger and it knows it probably won’t be a non-traditional golfer (Anthony Kim didn’t pan out, victory wise.)It seems to me that Rickie is a victim of sorts.
Mo’ Note: did you see that Fowler just switched clubs? He’s completely screwed now!
I don’t know Rickie for beans, although I did follow him for a few days at the Walker Cup 2.5 years ago. I hope he succeeds, but I don’t think it will be in 2012.
