Rickie Fowler needed a good tune up for PGA. He's getting one at 2025 Truist Championship

USA Today

08-05-2025

Rickie Fowler needed a good tune up for PGA. He's getting one at 2025 Truist Championship
FLOURTOWN, Pa. – Rickie Fowler needed a tune up. Good thing that his longtime coach Butch Harmon happened to be in Florida recently to look under the hood, and during Thursday's opening round of the Truist Championship, Fowler was firing on all cylinders.
The 36-year-old Fowler birdied six of his first seven holes at Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course and closed with a birdie at the last to shoot 7-under 63, tied with Collin Morikawa and Sepp Straka, and two strokes off the lead held by Keith Mitchell.
Fowler is coming off a disappointing season by his standards, especially after winning in 2023 and being selected for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. When asked to grade his 2024 season on the 'Son of a Butch' podcast, hosted by Butch's son, Claude Harmon III, Fowler didn't sugarcoat it: 'About an F,' he said.
'I didn't think you were going to say that,' Harmon III said.
Fowler reconsidered: 'D-.'
The first half of the 2025 season hasn't been much better. Fowler has recorded only two top-25 finishes this season in nine starts and ranks No. 121 in the FedEx Cup standings. He's slipped to No. 125 in the world and sits No. 64 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.
The 2012 Truist Championship winner needed a sponsor exemption into this week's 72-man signature event as well as another one for the PGA Championship next week. But during a two-week break from the Tour, Fowler played in The Harmon, a four-man team event held at The Floridian. Playing as a plus-5 handicap, Fowler was the 'A player,' Butch, 81, as the 'D player,' and their team won. They played a practice round and a competitive round together in the competition and afterwards, Butch gave Fowler his stamp of approval.
Fowler said he bent his irons a degree up before the tournament began because they were leaking right and his wedges were dialed in, setting up several short birdies, especially during the run of circles on the card from No. 4 through No. 7. Fowler shot 29, his fourth sub-30 for nine holes on Tour. He cooled off a bit on the back nine but his chip caromed off the flag at the par-5 15th and he rolled in the 6-foot birdie putt. His lone hiccup came at No. 17 when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, missing a 12-foot par putt. But he bounced back with an 11-foot birdie at the closing hole and waved to the crowd.
After rain earlier in the week, the course was receptive and minimal wind presented conditions for birdies galore. Mitchell, who is playing on a sponsor exemption too, birdied half the holes and shot a career-low 9-under 61.
"This golf course is as classic as it gets, traditional. The weather was just absolutely perfect today. So it didn't really have much going to make it play harder," he said. "Being able to take advantage of it today with the weather was exactly what we were trying to do."
Mitchell has been the king of the first round this season. The 33-year-old former Georgia Bulldog has shot 64 or better five times this season on Thursday. He's recorded four straight top-20 finishes, including a T-2 at the Corales Puntacana Championship. Mitchell, who ranked first in SG: Tee to Green, birdied four of his last five holes to cap an impressive bogey-free day.
Denny McCarthy was sharp too, ripping off five birdies in a row to post 8-under 62. It didn't hurt that his putter was scalding-hot, topping the field in Strokes Gained: putting. In fact, his favorite shot of the day wasn't one of his nine birdies but rather the 22-foot par putt he canned at No. 16. As he waited to be interviewed after the round, a TV showed one of those putts falling in, bringing a smile to McCarthy's face.
'Cool. I always like watching myself make putts. It's good mojo, good osmosis, I guess,' he said. 'Yeah, it was a good day. Obviously I like watching myself do good things.'
McCarthy also experienced good vibes at this old-school gem originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast (and later renovated by Keith Foster), who also built Baltimore Country Club, where McCarthy's brother, Ryan, is a member.
'A lot of holes out here remind me of BCC. I've played Baltimore Country Club a number of times, and I really like that place. So when I come here, I see a lot of similar visuals off the tee and how the greens are,' McCarthy explained. 'I played really freely, really committed, liked how my mindset was, and produced a good result.'
How is Rory McIlroy doing at the 2025 Truist Championship?
Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy, playing his first tournament as an individual since completing the career Grand Slam, averaged 335 yards off the tee and shot 4-under 66. McIlroy was asked to describe the feeling he was chasing at Augusta National and is seeking again.
"I guess the best way to describe it is it's like a combination of trust, commitment, acceptance, and joy, all sort of mangled together," he said.