Rickie Fowler’s FedEx Cup Playoffs Run led to debate. It missed the bigger point

With a T6 finish on the Fedex St. Jude Championship last week, the first stage of the Fedex Cup -Play -Offs, Rickie Fowler spoke from No. 64 to No. 48 in the Fedex Cup classification. Those four solid rounds at TPC Southwind, on the heels of a T14 finish at De Open, meant that Fowler went on to this week’s BMW championship and earned a place in all the characteristic events of next year.

Fowler’s PlayOFF -Proceeds of debate arranged the debate on sponsor exemptions in characteristic events, their use and their downstream effects. Fowler, who did not finish in the top 50 last year, received sponsorship invitations in six characteristic events this season. The FedEx Cup points that he came up at those tournaments – in particular the T7 on the Memorial Tournament, which then brought him into the open air, where he ended T14 – helped him to stimulate to the BMW championship and the characteristic event list of next year above other players who were not as happy as Fowler.

“Because this year I received a handful of places, for which I am incredibly grateful, I unfortunately did not really use many of those opportunities for the Jack’s event,” Fowler said on Sunday when he was asked not to need exemptions next year. “Did not play so well in one of them. They raised fields and perhaps a few more points, I didn’t really get them. But it was great to have a tee -time in them this year, and didn’t really want to be on banks for next year. Yes, nice to be in a position where we have to be back in and not to write and ask and to waves.”

The Fowler discussion, which is a simple access point in a conversation about the PGA Tour and how it does/should work, missed a few things while the handing about Fowler who beat Chris Kirk, Alrdrich Potgieter and others.

At first glance it is easy to say that there should be no sponsor exemptions for characteristic events. In a perfect world it would just be the best 70-100 players based on merit alone. Maybe they should offer FedEx Cup points to those who play on exemptions unless they win. Perhaps you should only be eligible for exemptions for a year, but not in successive seasons.

But that is not the world in which we live, and it is certainly not the world where the PGA Tour, which depends on sponsors to organize tournaments, exists.

The PGA Tour is, like all other sports competitions, in the entertainment and, more importantly, the attention industry.

My colleague James Colgan wrote an interesting piece last week about how golf can learn how Roger Goodell and the NFL approach their business model. They hunt for attention. The goal is to grab it and to keep it 24/7/365.

The PGA Tour works on a much smaller scale, but because it seems to be growing under the new CEO Brian Rolapp, which was Goodell’s number 2 at the NFL, the hunt for attention will take an even greater priority in Ponte Vedra, FLA.

That brings us to characteristic events, sponsor exemptions and Fowler, among other things.

If Company X (albeit the RBC or AT&T or anyone else) pays x millions of dollars to set up a tournament that promises the best players on the PGA Tour, and they want to invite three or four boys who will not be eligible who will bring more eyeballs to the tournament, that is a fully acceptable trade. I hate to be the wearer of bad news, but there is inequality in all aspects of golf and life. Sometimes, if you like more, have a long track record to work with easily, and being good at what you do, you get more opportunities than others who may perform higher than you are now.

Fowler brings eyeballs. People love him and see when he is in fight or not. Children still dress like him and come out to follow him. The same cannot be said for most players he was in the BMW before the BMW. That is not fair, but it is life. Next year, tournament sponsors will roll out the red carpet for Jordan Spieth and Max Homa, two other popular players who did not finish in the top 50 this year. For a sport that tries to get attention and maintain in a world of shorter and shorter attention span, with its most important demographic shrinking, that is a pretty fair assessment. And if Fowler plays good enough in that event he is currently the 38th ranking player per data golf and it helps him to get into the top 50, which is a good thing for the PGA Tour.

But I think something else has been lost in the Fowler Discours because it is easy to puncture Fowler because of the clear clothing and the boring press conferences and the high volume of commercials.

Fowler did not have to be in this position. He didn’t have to sharpen the PGA Tour and tried to recapture the magic he once had. He, just like Justin Rose, who won the Fedex St. Jude Championship, could easily have cashed with Liv Golf when his game was at his lowest and was driven in the sunset. He could have been satisfied with what was and decided that the grinding to become Rickie Fowler was no longer worth it.

Just like Rose, Fowler opted for a different path. He chose to dig it out. He returned to the circle of the winner at the Rocket Classic 2023. His game fell again last year, but he was built and plays good golf this summer.

For Fowler, that part of professional wave, the endless search, still fills his soul.

“I love the routine,” Fowler said at the John Deere Classic. “The boys who have had success, because of the ups and downs, you appreciate the difficult times because they help you define a bit a bit.”

Fowler expanded that on Tuesday in Caves Valley prior to the BMW championship.

“Now with many tough years, if you look for the past five or six years, I have had many highlights and I have seen the lows,” Fowler said. “The difficult times make you definitely appreciate you if you play well and if wave seems easy, yes, you appreciate it because you know that they are not going to last forever, so take advantage of that when you can. But I think that is part of why some of us are here – all the guys who are not there, but it is back to reality, maybe when you expect it to be least.”

So Fowler, one of the most popular faces of Golf for the past 15 years, is still looking and fights, tries to avoid daylight and rebuild itself. It is admirable, just as it is with Rose, that the chase still means something – that it is still important.

There is no discussion that the invitations of the sponsor that Fowler received helped him end up in the top 50. It is also true that he had to play well at the Memorial and the Open Championship to secure those points. He also had to finish in Memphis to come to the BMW.

But like it or not, the inclusion of Fowler in those tournaments served a greater goal for the PGA Tour. For a sport that desperately tries to create Buzz and attract attention, Fowler helps to help that mission move forward.

The presence of Rickie Fowler is good for the PGA Tour. A long -term revival would be even better.

>>>