2018 is the year Rickie Fowler gets over the line as a Major champion according to the Masters runner-up after adding another top-five finish in golf’s biggest test.
Fowler’s total of -14, aided by a final round 67, would’ve been good enough to win all but six of the previous 81 Masters championships but not this time.
‘I gave it my all. I left everything on the golf course,’ he said, after finishing one short of Patrick Reed’s tally.
Except on Sunday at Augusta, there was none of the golf that had kept him back previously, including last year’s final round 76 which saw him drop to 11th. A 70 would’ve been good enough for third alone on that occasion. There was another near miss in 2017, he finished six behind winner Brooks Koepka at the US Open when his final round 72 was outscored by the brawn of the American’s 67.
Indeed Sunday was different. The landscape has changed.
‘It’s going to hurt, but I try and look at things more as glass-half-full,’ he said.
‘Obviously, I want to be the one standing on top after the four rounds, but this is, if anything, it’s a step forward and makes me feel better about going forward into our next major… I feel like this is a year to knock off our first.’
Fowler truly showed his character on Sunday, not only did he birdie the last hole to heap the pressure on Reed, but he also extended his hand to the new champion and congratulated him on a job well done.
He hopes that in 2018, there were will be someone else doing his duty at the clubhouse door.
