Ahead of Abu Dhabi Fowler ready to stretch ‘Big Three’ to a ‘Big Four’ by claiming a major

The talented American's stellar 2015 answered his critics and makes him the most obvious candidate to gatecrash the Big Three of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy.

Rickie Fowler of the United States watches a tee shot during a practice round prior to the start of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 19, 2016 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Scott Halleran/Getty ImagesShow less

ABU DHABI // The criticism obviously stung, but then the riposte was perfect.

Rickie Fowler was overrated, they said. The most overvalued player on the PGA Tour, alongside Ian Poulter, as voted by his professional peers in an anonymous poll conducted by Sports Illustrated.

Fowler had a solitary victory on his CV, and that was three years previously. The insinuation was that the young American was living off his commercial marketability, the flat-billed caps, the PR-perfect pitch, the cool endorsements from Red Bull and Puma, instead of his golfing pedigree.

That was last May. Then he went straight out and won the Players Championship, and in the most spectacular manner possible: five shots off the lead with four to play, Fowler went birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. Since the tour began tracking hole-by-hole scores, a full five years before Fowler was born, no winner had ever played the final four holes of an event in five-under par.

He went on to defeat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner in the play-off, clinching golf’s unofficial fifth major.

Overrated? Best not count on it.

“If there was any question,” Fowler said afterwards as he tapped the trophy, “I think this right here answers anything you need to know.”

Read more:

Fowler provided a few more weighty responses, too. He followed victory in Ponte Vedra Beach with successes at the Scottish Open in July and the Deutsche Bank Championship in September, star-studded events packed with genuine golfing talent. He finished 2015 ranked the sixth-best golfer in the world.

Now in the aftermath of a stellar season, Fowler is labelled the most obvious candidate to gatecrash the game’s so-called new “Big Three” of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, the players currently placed one to three in the global standings.

Yet some still believe the distance between that trio and Fowler is slightly wider than two rungs on the rankings’ ladder. He broached the subject Tuesday as he prepares for his second outing at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, saying that, although he subscribed somewhat to that view, he sees an obvious route to the top three.

“I definitely feel like adding a major to the resume would be a huge step in the right direction,” said Fowler, who in 2014 became only the third player to finish in the top five of all four majors in a calendar year. The other two were Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Not bad company, at all.

Fowler added: “The last two years have been very good steps for me to continue to move forward, to have the finishes that I did in the majors in 2014 and to get the wins I did last year.”

But can he stretch the big three to four?

“I may not be ranked as high, but I’m close,” he said. “A major would help become a solid part of the talk. But I look forward to going against those boys and having a good time. A lot of guys are playing well, but you look at some of the top guys in the world and they’re ready to go kind of beat up on each other. We’re all really good friends. It’s going to be an exciting year for golf.”

It would be even more entertaining should Fowler join Spieth, Day and McIlroy in the major winner’s circle. He has begun 2016 well, finishing fifth last week at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and returns to Abu Dhabi as one of the event’s marquee men.

Read more:

Such is his standing, Fowler goes out early Thursday morning alongside Spieth and McIlroy. That should fire up all concerned.

“Yeah, it would be fun to get the three of us going and see if we can push each other and all have a good week,” said Fowler, who believes his game to be in better shape than this time last year, when on debut he came home tied-66th.

“I know I want to see those guys play well, because I feel like it brings out the best in me, and I feel like I can push and motivate them, as well. So it would be fun to be able to feed off each other and bring out the best in everyone.”

And anyway, Fowler has earned a portion of the bragging rights before a ball is even struck in anger. On Tuesday morning at the nearby Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, he and Spieth went up against McIlroy and Henrik Stenson in a GolfBoarding challenge billed by tournament organisers as a mock Ryder Cup battle.

Team America, defeated in eight of the past 10 biennial clashes with Europe and seeking to win back the trophy on home soil later this year, came out on top. Roll on Hazeltine.

“I feel like the GolfBoard victory for Jordan and I this morning over Rory and Henrik was a sign,” Fowler, 27, joked. “It’s the first good match we’ve given them in a while. I know the guys are fired up about the Ryder Cup, and that’s definitely a goal once everything gets passed through the year.

“Yeah, we want that Ryder Cup. I think it’s going to be a good Ryder Cup year.”

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport