From sponsor invite to champion in 10 years: How Rickie Fowler became the face of the WM Phoenix Open

John Felix doesn’t profess to be a genius.

But he sure looked like one as the tournament chairman of the 2009 Phoenix Open, or Big Chief to use the lingo of tournament organizers, the Thunderbirds, when he gave a spot in the field to Rickie Fowler.

As part of his job, Felix had final say of selecting the five players that would receive sponsor exemptions into the tournament.

“It’s the hardest thing we do as tournament chairman because you know you’re going to let a bunch of people down,” Felix said.

But Felix had a philosophy. He gave one to Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, the tournament’s 1998 champion, who wasn’t exempt for the first time. He earmarked another for Ted Purdy, a resident of the Valley who had been generous with his time to the charitable causes supported by the Thunderbirds.

In a separate example of no good deed should go unrewarded, fan favorite Jason Gore earned his because Felix remembered Gore showing up to play in the Monday offsite pro-am at 6:30 in the morning one time when it was raining and 38 degrees and several other pros suddenly came down with a mysterious illness. And Scott Piercy, who was emerging as the talented player who would go on to win four times on Tour, most recently in 2018, was a logical choice as his fourth pick.

But for the fifth and final exemption Felix elected to take a flyer, or as he put it, “cloud seeding,” choosing a player that wouldn’t necessarily produce a banner crop that year but could reap a greater harvest down the road.

And that’s how he landed on Fowler, a 20-year-old sophomore at Oklahoma State University.

“I took some heat for it,” Felix recalled and indeed some thought he chose the wrong Rickie, overlooking former University of Arizona standout Ricky Barnes, who nearly won the U.S. Open that June. “(Fowler) was an amateur who couldn’t take a check versus a guy trying to make a living. But Rickie made me look like I knew what I was doing and I can’t sit here and say I did.

“I mean, who knew he was going to become a brand and become a transformational figure in golf? But let’s face it, he’s got the ‘X factor.’ I just looked at his record and he always performed on a big stage; the bigger the stage, the better he performed.”

Felix chuckles at the recollection of ringing Fowler’s number to extend the invite and having his mother, rather than an agent or manager, answer the phone. This news was too big to leave in a message so Felix arranged to call back later. His fondest memory from Fowler’s tournament debut? That had to be Fowler’s get-up for the Tuesday night pre-tournament party.

“Rickie rolled in with the cool, flowing hair and a pair of white patent-leather shoes that Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation would have envied,” Felix said. “It was just beautiful.”

Fowler still was raw and full of promise, but his talent shone through. He was grouped with Geoff Ogilvy during the first two rounds and shot a second-round 66 to make the cut before eventually finishing T-58. Ogilvy, winner of the 2006 U.S. Open, was so impressed with Fowler’s game that he wrote to Felix and said, “This guy has all the shots. He can play on the PGA Tour right now.”

Felix’s flyer has paid off handsomely as Fowler has become as much a tournament staple as booing pros that miss the 16^th green. He’s played more rounds at TPC Scottsdale than at any other PGA Tour event, loyally returning to the Valley of the Sun to compete in “The Greatest Show on Grass” every year since 2009. Fowler has a stellar record to boot with a victory, a pair of seconds, and has missed the cut just three times, in 2013 and 2014 and last year.

Fowler could use rediscovering some of that special mojo at TPC Scottsdale as he’s winless since his triumph here in 2019. He nearly returned to the winner’s circle in October at the CJ Cup, holding the 54-hole lead before settling for a share of third place.

Whatever momentum he seemed to gain has fizzled as he failed to crack the top 40 in either of his next two starts and missed the cut at both the American Express and Farmers Insurance Open, his first events since the birth of daughter, Maya, on November 18. Fowler has recorded just four top-10 finishes in his last 44 starts and has plummeted to No. 108 in the world.

“My game’s not far off,” Fowler said in Palm Springs in January. “I feel very comfortable when I’m at the WM Phoenix Open and it’s a place where I feel like if I’m going in with any sort of game I know I can play well.”

TPC Scottsdale would be a fitting place to right the ship. No one thrives playing in front of the rowdy masses at “The People’s Open” quite like Fowler. He is an admitted adrenaline junkie from his Motocross days, and he didn’t put his bike to the ground in favor of his golf clubs until he broke his right foot in three places and hurt his knee during a wreck in high school.

He fell hard for the scene at the par-3 16^th hole from the get-go, becoming the first player to egg on fans to get louder before he’d hit his tee shot as well as throwing hats and other gear from his sponsors to fans as he headed for the green as if it were a timeout at a Phoenix Suns game.

“I love the atmosphere,” Fowler said. “I grew up around action sports and this kind of reminds me more of being at action sports events, the fans being loud and having fun.”

“How much he loves the tournament is demonstrated by how much pressure he put on himself to win it,” said Felix, who shed a few tears when Fowler finally hoisted the crystal trophy 10 years after Felix gave him an exemption. “He got close a couple of times, and you could see it meant so much to him and he wanted it. I think on his calendar it’s a pretty important thing.”

Not even Felix could have guessed that Fowler would become the face of the event and continue to support it in ways both big and small, including speaking at the tournament’s annual tee-off party. This year’s Big Chief, Dr. Michael Golding, borrowed straight from the Felix playbook and designated one of the precious sponsor exemptions for 18-year-old hotshot Preston Summerhays, an Arizona State freshman. He’ll be hard-pressed to match Fowler, who has set the bar high in terms of return on investment.

“He’s repaid us a thousand times over for that invitation,” Felix said. “Seeing him finally win our tournament is my favorite moment of being involved in the tournament. He made me look smart, but I didn’t know it was going to turn out the way it did.”

Some might say it was a stroke of genius.