The Untold Truth Of Rickie Fowler

Breaking the stereotypes of traditional professional golfers, Rickie Fowler burst onto the PGA Tour in the 2010s with his distinctive long hair and colorful choices of outfits while playing. Even though he looked more like a surfer than a golfer, Fowler showed he meant business on the golf course. In 2012 he won the Wells Fargo Championship, his first PGA Tour victory. It was an incredible performance as he started the final day in third place and made a comeback, which was even more impressive as he was only 23 years old at the time. By 2016, Fowler was ranked as the fourth best golfer in the world and that same year, he was one of only four golfers who represented the United States at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Yet, what started as a promising career for the young player turned into setbacks and struggles. One year went by without a win on the PGA Tour. Then a second, third, and fourth. Finally, in 2023, Fowler broke his winless streak with a victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. "It was tough just because everything else in my life was amazing and then to have the one thing that I obviously love doing ... It was kind of the missing link," Fowler told reporters, per CNN. "I'm obviously going to soak this one in and celebrate a bit ... It's been a long road," the golfer confessed. This is the untold truth of Rickie Fowler.

A native Californian, Rickie Fowler was born in 1988 in the town of Murrieta, situated between Los Angeles and San Diego. Yet, Murrieta is far from a seaside town and has wide open spaces. "Growing up in the country there's not a lot of neighbors or kids around so Rickie literally built his own nine-hole golf course," his mom Lynn told the PGA Tour. When Fowler was a young boy, he already aspired to be a professional golfer. For Halloween of 1996, he went as Fred Couples, the legendary golfer. In an adorable throwback photo he posted on Instagram, Fowler recreated the same Halloween costume in 2014 wearing a white visor and sign on his chest that says "Fred Couples Pro Golfer."

Fowler's heritage is part Japanese through the lineage of his maternal grandfather named Yutaka Tanaka. It was Tanaka that first introduced Fowler to golf, who started swinging clubs when he was only three years old. Even more impressive, Fowler's skill came naturally with a self-taught swing. Growing up, Fowler often went to the driving range in Murrieta and would receive free balls to hit thanks to a deal his dad made to deliver sand to the range so his son could swing away and practice. By the time he was 12 years old, Fowler was already a force in golf and scored his first round of 70 strokes.

While golfing may have represented the more serene and steady side of Rickie Fowler, he also had a wild side when it came to sports. His mom recalled young Fowler using a tractor to build ramps to launch off with his motorcycles and BMX bicycle. His love of action sports came from his dad Rod. "My dad was into racing bikes. He got me started riding dirt bikes when I was three," Fowler told the PGA Tour. "When he was five years old, he was jumping 15 feet from ramp to ramp. He's always kind of been a little daredevil," Rod revealed of his son. The two would ride motorcycles together in the desert but Fowler's riding days ended abruptly after a frightening accident. When he was 14 years old and just before starting high school, Fowler broke several bones in his foot while riding a dirt bike. Fortunately, he recovered and as a result, Fowler began to focus more on his golf game. 

Clearly, the switch worked out for Fowler and though his riding days were over, he was still able to use his motocross experience while playing golf. "How could I be nervous on a golf course after countless times barreling at top speed over a mammoth dirt hill? Motocross made me a bit fearless on the course," Fowler told Golf Digest (via Sportscasting). "Once you commit, you just go. Same goes for a golf shot," he added.

For college, Rickie Fowler went a long way from home to attend Oklahoma State University. Since his first year at the school in 2007, Fowler played on the school's Cowboy Golf Team and he immediately made his presence known. As only a freshman, Fowler won the prestigious Ben Hogan Award, an annual prize that goes to the best college golf player in the United States. "I look at Ben Hogan as the king of golf. To win an award that represents him, his work ethic and everything he did for the game is inspiring to me to go out and work hard," Fowler said after being the first freshman ever to accept the award, Big 12 Sports reported. Looking back at his days in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Fowler loved spending time with his teammates, traveling, and of course winning tournaments, he told OSU Athletic. 

After two years with the school, Fowler dropped out. "I decided to end my studies and begin a lifelong dream of playing professional golf," he wrote for Yahoo! News. The golfer added, "Oklahoma State had become family, and I was a Cowboy for life!" He kept this promise to his alma mater as he can be seen wearing orange on the last day of any golf tournament he plays in.

In addition to dominating tournaments as a student-athlete at Oklahoma State University, Rickie Fowler began to excel in amateur tournaments across the country, like joining the U.S. Walker Cup team in 2007. That same year, when he was only a freshman, Fowler earned the number one spot on the World Amateur Golf Ranking list. It only took a few more years for Fowler to officially go professional and in 2010, he was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, as voted by fellow players. Even more impressively, Fowler earned this title against fellow rookie standouts like Rory McIlroy. Fowler was the youngest golfer since Tiger Woods earned the same rookie of the year award in 1996.

While some felt that McIlroy should have taken home the award, the competitor said the right golfer earned the prize. "Rickie had an unbelievable year. He deserves it," McIlroy told the PGA. Fowler continued to excel on golf courses, and in 2011, he won his first professional title at the Korean Open, taking home more than a quarter of a million dollars for the victory. Still, despite all his successes and aspiration to be the leader at the end of any tournament, Fowler also knows the importance of his time off the green. "Winning is great but there's a lot more to life than that," he told CBS.

Professional golf certainly has many older aged players on the tour so when Rickie Fowler started playing, he represented a new breed of young phenoms. As a result, a new generation of fans began to make their way to tournaments to cheer him on. "I draw a younger crowd who can relate to me," Fowler told GQ. As a stylish and handsome player, Fowler also became a heartthrob and his fellow players often noticed. "Hey, Rickie, I hope there's some girls out following you today," he recalled his competitors joking. As Fowler explained, fans would occasionally give him their phone numbers while other "girl fans will message me online, saying, 'You're the reason I watch golf.'"

Part of his popularity goes far beyond his looks and is instead due to his kindness. There are reports of him graciously taking photos and talking with fans while also staying around to sign his autograph to anyone who wants one. When one family with a young girl drove to see him play, Fowler invited the family to the player's lounge. "The look on that little girl's face whenever he opened the gate and he was waiting on her, she could hardly talk," a publicist told the Oklahoman. Further proof for his kindness, the National League of Junior Cotillion named Fowler as the world's best mannered celebrity "for consistently well-mannered conduct both on and off the golf course."

When Rickie Fowler went pro, he wasn't the only new face of the sport. Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland and only five months younger than Fowler, was also showing off his skills. After an impressive year for McIlroy in 2014, Fowler could only tip his hat to his competitor. "Rory is the best player in the world right now, he proved that last year. I am definitely looking forward to 2015, having some great match-ups with him," he told The Guardian. Given their young ages compared to many on the pro tour, Fowler was confident the pair would see each other for many, many years to come. "This is really just the start of it. I feel like we are going to have some fun and heated battles at times," Fowler added.

While of course the guys care about winning, both are also convivial with the other. For example, Fowler was one of the first people McIlroy called to play at the 2015 Irish Open hosted by his charity. "We have become good friends since we played at Royal County Down in the Walker Cup in 2007, so it will be special for us both to go back there," McIlroy told the PGA. The two continued to stay friends and even when Fowler was in a slump, McIlroy wished the best for him. "Rickie's a close friend of mine and I want to see him do well," he told Golf.

On the right forearm of Rickie Fowler, the golfer has a tattoo of the Olympic rings. The golfer got the ink to commemorate his participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics as a representative for the United States. Sam Dorman, a diver for Team USA, posted a photo on Twitter of both he and Ricky after they received matching tattoos of the five rings. In fact, Fowler has multiple different tattoos. On the inside of his left bicep, Fowler has a tattoo of Japanese text of his maternal grandfather's name Yutaka Tanaka. Yutaka is also Fowler's middle name. "Awesome to be able to have him here this week walking around and on my arm forever," Fowler wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of him showing off the new tattoo. "I thought, Wow, that's a tender place; had to hurt," Tanaka told Golf Digest about his famous grandson's tattoo. "Rickie did that with a deep feeling. It touched me pretty good," he added.

Another tattoo Fowler has to honor another person is on the inside of my left wrist. "I have a tattoo of Barry McDonnell's signature. Big B was my coach from childhood until he passed away in 2011," Fowler told Australian Golf Digest. In addition to a tattooed "F" for Fowler and an "XV" to commemorate his wedding anniversary, Fowler also has his first tattoo, the letter "G" in honor of a young girl named Georgia with a rare brain disorder.

After winning the PGA Rookie of the Year award, it seemed Rickie Fowler was destined for success on the tour. Yet, Fowler achingly reached so close to victory but couldn't walk away with a trophy. In 2014, he became the only player ever to place in the top five spots of the four major tournaments — The Masters, The US Open, The Open Championship, and The PGA Championship — without winning any of them. 

Starting in 2020, Fowler for the first time was not eligible to compete at The Masters. This continued for several years and towards the end of 2022 Fowler dropped all the way to 185 on the world golf ranking, a personal low. As a result, he once again missed the cut to play at Augusta National Golf Club and could only watch The Masters as a spectator in 2023. "I mean, honestly, it sucked but knowing kind of what I had been doing and kind of moving back up the world ranking, that at least gave me something to look forward to knowing that I would be in Majors moving forward and hopefully be back at Augusta next year," Fowler told Golf Monthly. "We were close, but I put myself in a little bit too big of a hole to get back there," he said about failing to play at The Masters. With the help of coach Butch Harmon, Fowler found his swing again and started posting impressive rounds in 2023.

Already a fan-favorite on the golf course, Rickie Fowler also inspires people outside of playing. In 2011, he founded the Rickie Fowler Foundation to help with the education of underserved youth. Specifically, the golfer focused on providing aid to Japanese and Native American communities, which comes from his own heritage. To bring even more awareness to these communities close to his heart, Fowler became the executive producer on the Netflix series "Basketball or Nothing" about a high school basketball team with many Navajo players. "My grandma grew up on the reservation, and I've always wanted to be able to do more stuff with the native community, so this was a perfect fit," Fowler told Forbes. "Not a lot of people know what the reservations are all about, why they're there, and what the living conditions are like there. This gives them a glimpse into that world," he added.

Naturally, Fowler has also used his impressive golf skills to help others. Like when he participated in Ernie Els' yearly golf event Els For Autism. At the 2016 event, players tried to hit a hole-in-one on the 19th hole to earn $1 million for Els' foundation. A video shows Fowler lining up his shot from 111 yards away and only a few seconds after swinging, the ball rolled into the hole. "It doesn't happen very often but pretty cool to be able to do that for Ernie and the foundation," he told the Golf Channel.

Early in his playing career, Rickie Fowler could be seen at tournaments with his girlfriend Alexandra Browne. After splitting up, Fowler linked up with model Alexis Randock, who was once his personal caddy at the Masters golf tournament. That relationship also ended, and for a while, Fowler stayed single. In fact, he was one of the only single players on the pro golf tour. After winning the Ryder Cup in 2016, his American teammates all celebrated with their partners while Fowler stood alone. Then, Fowler showed off his girlfriend Allison Stokke on his Instagram after the two attended a racing event together in 2017. Stokke was a fellow athlete — a professional pole vaulter. "I reached out to her on social media. It seemed like someone that I felt kind of fit with who I am. Very genuine, obviously beautiful and someone that I felt would be fun to be around," Fowler revealed to Rocket Mortgage. 

A few days before playing in the U.S. Open, Fowler popped the big question with a little help from fellow golfer Justin Thomas. "At the end of the day, we were the only people on one of the beaches, and Rickie asked Justin to take a picture of us. After a couple of photos, I looked over and Rickie was down on one knee with a big smile on his face," Stokke told Vogue. The two had a destination wedding in Mexico and became husband and wife in 2019.

Rickie Fowler and Allison Stokke announced big family news on Instagram when he posted an image in 2021 kissing her on the cheek. "Reservation for November...Fowler party of 3 #GirlDad," he wrote in the caption. "I was kind of waiting to be able to share with people, and then that's kind of when it starts to become real," Fowler explained to the Golf Channel. While he admitted to being excited to have his first child, the golfer also knew becoming a dad would lead to many new changes. "She'll be the main thing. Everything else will kind of take a backseat. But I'm looking forward to kind of trying to manage everything, keep things as efficient as possible and being able to spread my time between her and family and golf, as well," he said about his wife and daughter. Fowler posted a photo on Thanksgiving that year with Browne and his newborn all together with the caption, "Maya Fowler born 11/18/21. My heart is full!!"

After an emotional victory at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage classic, his first PGA Tour win in four years, Fowler celebrated while holding his daughter. To him, nothing was better "at the end of the day, getting to hold her, getting to hang with Maya and my wife," he told CBS. Maya is often with her dad on the golf course, as seen in a video where she once trotted over to interrupt Fowler's swing.

While golf and pop boy bands might sound like completely opposite things, Rickie Fowler proved that both are possible. With fellow golfers Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, and Ben Crane, the four guys formed a band called the Golf Boys. While definitely made in jest, the guys put serious work into the project and released several music videos. For example, the 2011 video for their song "Oh Oh Oh" shows the guys wearing ridiculous outfits like Fowler going shirtless under a black hooded jacket. "Smash, bang, you gotta hit the ball far and the crowd goes woo," he raps during the song. Even more than entertaining, the video also raised money for charity. Farmers Insurance promised to donate $1,000 to various charities for every 100,000 views of "Oh Oh Oh." As of 2023, the song had over 8.5 million views on YouTube.

Two years after their debut single, the Golf Boys came back with their next hit, "2.Oh" and this time made a video to help raise funds for Charity: Water. With a bigger production value, the four guys continued their antics and rapping. Watson explained the idea for the boy band happened over dinner with "Ben, his wife, me and my wife, and then our fifth wheel was Rickie Fowler," he told Golf. Sick of being cast as boring golfers, the guys thought, "we just wanna be kids, us three. We were like, 'Man, they're having fun. Why don't we do something fun?'"

Rickie Fowler stands out on the golf course of course for his smooth and accurate swing but also for his bold choices of outfits. For example, fans spotted the golfer wearing high top golf shoes while playing in 2016. Even more, instead of traditional pants Fowler completed the look with jogger bottoms. The shoes were actually a custom design by the player for Puma. "Each season we work closely with Rickie throughout the apparel and footwear development and design process to ensure we're pushing the limits when it comes to both performance and style," Puma Golf's head of footwear Grant Knudson told GolfWRX. "During a recent meeting, Rickie expressed interest in wearing a high-top cleated shoe that could be worn with more progressive apparel," Knudson added. Fowler is sponsored by Puma and is the reason why he is often seen on the golf course wearing hats with the letter "P" on the front.

Fowler pushes the boundaries of traditional golf wear through unique silhouettes like his high tops and also bright colors. This started by wearing orange while playing in college. "Obviously, not many guys wear orange, so it was a way to be my own man out there," he told Golf Monthly. This continued when he became a professional. "I've always enjoyed having my own sense of style; it's just a fun way to stand out. It's fun to wear what I want to wear and show off," he said.