Rickie Fowler has parted ways with longtime caddie Joe Skovron, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis first reported Tuesday.
Skvoron had been on the bag since Fowler turned pro in 2009. As a team, they won five times on the PGA Tour, including the 2015 Players Championship.
“It happened Friday night when we finished up in Greensboro,” Fowler told Lewis. “Told Joe I wasn’t really gonna go into details on who brought up the decision or who made the decision or anything like that. We’ve always been a team, we always will be a team, he’s like a big brother to me. Friendship and all that comes first.
“No hard feelings or anything like that, I just thought it might be the best option for the current time, but by no means does this mean we’re not gonna rekindle the flame in the future or anything like that, but I know it’s been tough on both of us.”
Down to 167th in the world ranking, Fowler has been in the midst of a lengthy slump as he looks to rediscover the form that made him one of the game’s biggest draws. A year after missing the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in his career, Fowler sneaked into the postseason this year as the No. 125 seed after missing his last two cuts.
Full-field tee times from FedEx St. Jude Championship
Fowler had just one top-10 in 21 events – and it was a tie for third in his second start of the season, last October. His struggles have been throughout the bag, as he ranked outside the top 125 in both ball-striking and putting.
Fowler will have Ben Schomin, the tour operations manager for Cobra Puma Golf, on the bag this week at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Lewis reported. Schomin also served as a temporary caddie for Bryson DeChambeau last summer.
“Still don’t know where I’ll end up,” Fowler said. “I got Ben on the bag for me this week. I thought about who I am gonna bring in for kind of a one-off, or this could kind of be next week as well, just depending on how we play this week.”