DETROIT – Rickie Fowler has been a busy man this week, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic hasn’t even started yet.
Fowler was on-site Tuesday at Detroit Golf Club, playing a nine-hole practice round before participating in a three-hole celebrity challenge where he teamed with Blair O’Neal, Kid Rock and Detroit Red Wings star Justin Abdelkader. He and Kid Rock, or “Bob” as Fowler called him in post-round remarks, also played the Wednesday pro-am together before Fowler kicked the tournament off with a “Shot for Heroes” ceremony where he was joined on stage by a Make-A-Wish participant.
The inaugural edition of this event doesn’t have an actual host, but at this point it might as well be Fowler, whose endorsement relationship with title sponsor Quicken Loans is years in the making.
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“It’s special to be a part of a tournament and kind of, I guess, in a little bit of a host role,” Fowler said. “For me, it’s just been fun to see it all come together. There is some extra stuff that we do through the first few days, but like I said, I think it hasn’t really felt like work or anything like that where we feel like we’re invested in this event and we want to see it succeed.”
Come Thursday morning it’ll be time to get down to business for Fowler, who rued some missed opportunities en route to a T-43 finish at the U.S. Open. While he captured a win early in the season at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and snagged a top-10 finish at the Masters, he feels a little stuck in neutral after failing to contend at the last two majors.
This will be Fowler’s last domestic start before heading to Europe for the Scottish Open and The Open, and he’s hoping to put his name on the leaderboards around Detroit for his play in addition to his hosting skills.
“I was a little off on the game I feel like PGA (Championship), Colonial time. Didn’t have many putts go in at the U.S. Open,” Fowler said. “I feel like everything’s really close to being back where it was. You don’t want to just kind of coast to the finish line, you want to finish the race off hopefully with a really high note.”