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Rickie Fowler is currently a member of the PGA Tour, but that may not always be the case, as many prominent golfers, including Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooke Koepka, and others, have moved from the Tour to LIV Golf.
This has helped LIV Golf challenge the status quo in the game of golf as it continues to try and establish itself as a legitimate league.
So far, Fowler has rejected the new league in favor of the one he created in 2009 when he first went pro. Is it now a given that the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year will join Mickelson, Koepka, and the others?
Rumors swirl about Rickie Fowler and LIV Golf
Rumors of Fowler and Mickelson leaving the PGA Tour for LIV first surfaced in June. While Mickelson has, his counterpart has not.
The move was first reported by Sporting News, wherein he was quoted saying:
“I’ve been in talks with them for a long time. It’s something to definitely look at. At this point, it wasn’t the right move or decision for us, but I’m not saying I’m for sure here or I’m going to go there. I’m going to just kind of leaving my options open and see how things play out.”
So far, keeping options open has meant remaining with the PGA Tour. Given the growing schism between the two, Fowler is probably aware that going to LIV could be costly. He has a lot of clout on the Tour and might not want to jeopardize it.
He will not join the new league for the time being, but the option is always open to him. In an interview, Fowler didn't say he'd never go to LIV Golf, but he did say it's difficult to stay the same and be the best, possibly hinting at a change on the way. In an interaction with USA Today, he said:
"I'd like to see it continue to be but you can't expect to stay the same and be the best all the time, if that makes sense.”
Fowler has stated that the Tour is where he wants to be right now and that things are going well. Fowler fell from 10th ranked golfer to outside the top 100 in the world in two years, so a return to those heights appears to be on the way, but only on the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour does not recognize any LIV events in their rankings or statistics, so the golfer would not be able to climb the world rankings in that league.
That is important to many golfers, perhaps even more than the substantial signing bonus from LIV, but it isn't quite large enough to entice Fowler to leave the Tour.
