Sponsor-exemption Rickie Fowler starts strong at Truist Championship with something to prove

FLOURTOWN, Penn. – Rickie Fowler doesn’t mind any negative discourse around this week’s invitation. He intends to use it as motivation.

He knows there’s a bit of a spotlight on him after receiving a sponsor exemption into this week’s Truist Championship and next week’s PGA Championship.

Fowler used the motivation to shoot his best round since January. A 7-under 63 in the first round of the Truist Championship has him in a tie for third place, two shots off the lead.

“You obviously want to come out and prove yourself,” Fowler said. “… The negative stuff, I would say, kind of helps me in a way because it fuels me to kind of go out and prove people wrong.”

Thursday was a good day for some of the final players to make the Truist field. Fowler and first-round leader Keith Mitchell are both in the event on sponsor exemptions, while Sam Stevens, who shot 64, qualified with his third-place finish Sunday at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Erik van Rooyen, who also earned his way into the Truist via the Aon Swing 5, shot 65. He was runner-up Sunday in Texas.

Stevens has shown how the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 can quickly change a player’s season. Stevens started the year without status in the Signature Events but is making his fifth start of the season in one. He parlayed a runner-up in the Farmers Insurance Open into multiple starts and used Sunday’s strong finish to extend his streak of starts in Signature Events.

Fowler arrived at Philadelphia Cricket Club ranked 125th in both the FedExCup and the Official World Golf Ranking. He has missed just one cut in nine starts this year, but his best finish is T18 at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, a tournament he won eight years ago.

The 2012 Truist Championship was his first PGA TOUR victory, albeit at a different venue. This year’s tournament is being played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club instead of Quail Hollow Club, which is hosting next week’s PGA Championship.

Fowler has some history in the Philadelphia area, as well. He led the U.S. Team to victory in the 2009 Walker Cup, which was also the final event of his amateur career. Four years later, Fowler finished T10 in the U.S. Open. Both tournaments were played at nearby Merion Golf Club.

A small tweak to Fowler’s equipment is paying off this week. He bent the lie of his irons 1 degree upright to match a swing that has grown steeper over the years. He is 116th in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green this season, but ranked ninth in that stat Thursday afternoon after hitting 16 greens.

“I felt like I was making good swings and zeroing things out, and the ball was just hanging a little right from what I wanted to see,” he said. “So it was good to kind of see things tighten up with irons today.”

Fowler is two strokes behind the Truist’s first-round Keith Mitchell, who is also competing on a sponsor’s exemption. Mitchell shot 61 on Thursday. This is the fifth consecutive time he’s started a tournament with a round of 65 or lower. Mitchell leads the TOUR in first-round scoring average (67.1). He has finished in the top 20 in those four prior events, but a runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Championship is his best showing in that span. He is 71st in the FedExCup.

“Three more rounds like today will probably do it, and trying not to win on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, just trying to play my best,” Mitchell said. “I've made it pretty hard lately. Hopefully I can just stay in front of it.”

Opportunity awaits, and not only for Mitchell.