Is Rickie Fowler Japanese? Exploring the story behind golfer’s unique middle name

Rickie Fowler has a deep connection with Japan. Although he holds American citizenship, Fowler's roots are from the Asian country. His mother is from Japan. Noticeably, the golfer's middle name, Yutaka, is the name of his grandfather, who is from Japan.

Fowler's maternal grandfather Yutaka Tanaka is from Japan while his maternal grandmother is Navajo Native American.

This week, the American-born star traveled to Japan to compete at the 2023 Zozo Championship, which started with the first round on Thursday, October 19 and will run through the weekend to have its finale on Sunday, October 22.

Rickie Fowler was born on December 13, 1989, in Murrieta, California. He had a successful amateur career before starting a professional career in 2009. He has won ten professional tournaments so far including six PGA Tour events, two on the European Tour and two other tournaments.

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Rickie Fowler's performance at the 2023 Zozo Championship

The first round of the 2023 Zozo Championship concluded on Thursday, October 19. Rickie Fowler finished in the T53 position in a tie with Taiga Semikawa, Alshay Bhatia, Taylor Moore, Kurt Kitayama, Kensei Hirata, Hayden Buckley and Nick Hardy. He played a round of one-over-par 71.

Fowler started his game with a par on the initial eight holes and then carded a bogey on the ninth hole. He again made a bogey on the 12th hole followed by a birdie on the 16th hole.

Following the first round of the Zozo Championship, Collin Morikawa topped the leaderboard with a score of under six. He finished one stroke ahead of Eric Cole, Robby Shelton, Mikumu Horikawa, Nicolai Hojgaard and Emiliano Grillo.

Ahead of the start of the tournament, Fowler spoke about the Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama in his interview with the media. Fowler said he was excited to see Hideki play on his home ground. Speaking about Matsuyama, Fowler said (via PGA Tour):

"Hideki's a rock star over here. He's someone I admire as a person, as a player. It will be exciting to see the show of Hideki in Japan."

Interestingly, Rickie Fowler is not the only player who is playing at this week's PGA Tour event and has a connection with Japan. American golfer Xander Schauffele's maternal grandparents live in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. His mother, Ping Yi, grew up in Japan and his wife is half-Japanese. Schauffele's mother-in-law is also from Japan.

In his interview with the media, Xander revealed that he is familiar with the Japanese language but can not speak it fluently. He said (via PGA Tour):

“I need a lot of help. The more time I spend here I pick up on phrases. Whenever my parents didn’t want me to understand anything, they spoke in Japanese. It’s been around me my whole life.”

The 2023 Zozo Championship will have its final round on Sunday, October 22