The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am marks the return of several bigwigs to the PGA Tour. Scottie Scheffler will tee off for the first time this year after a bizarre hand injury. Rory McIlroy will play his first PGA Tour event this year after kickstarting his 2025 campaign in the Middle East. Same with Jordan Spieth who is also coming after a wrist injury. Also, add Rickie Fowler’s name to the roster as well. 

The six-time PGA Tour winner last played at the American Express, his only appearance outside the TGL this year. Fowler is still under a career slump that plagued his entire 2024. The Zozo Championship in October was his lone top-ten last year. 

His world ranking went for a toss. Fowler is now 78th in OWGR, and 70th in the FedEx Cup standings. Yet, when the field for the second signature event, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was released, Fowler found a place. 

The Signature events generally take top-50 from the prior year’s FedEx Cup points list (Fowler was 101), and top-30 from the OWGR table. Then there is Aon Next 10 (top-10 in FedEx Cup Fall) and Aon Swing 5 (top-five point earners between Sony Open and Farmers Insurance Open). Rickie Fowler doesn’t feature in any of these lists either. 

But Fowler will tee off thanks to the sponsor exemption for that. Fowler is one of the four players to be granted entry into the elite and exclusive $20M purse events. The other three are Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, and Keith Mitchell. Excluding the 2019 US Open, this is only the fifth time Rickie Fowler will tee off at Pebble Beach. 

Previously, Fowler has never been able to come inside the top 20 in the Californian venue. Last year, the six-time PGA Tour winner settled for a T47 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Nevertheless, as the news of sponsor exemption surfaced, not everyone took it very kindly. 

Sponsor exemption has been controversial and it puts Rickie Fowler at the center of it

Tiger Woods obviously has a special exemption to all signature events in the calendar year. But how about others? Last year, Webb Simpson, who sits on the PGA Tour Policy Board, received his fourth sponsor exemption into RBC Heritage, one of the Tour’s eight signature events. One reason it caused a stir was of course because of his position. But more importantly, it highlighted how the Signature events changed the dynamics. 

Golfweek reported last year that RBC Heritage tournament director, Steve Wilmot, received a slew of letters seeking a spot in the field – the highest he received in his 38-year association with the tournament. Fans though were not very happy with the scenario as was seen in Spieth’s case. 

One, Signature events have been pitched as the epitome of meritocracy. Ideally, no established tour pro should get an entry without deserving it. Two, with signature events playing for a limited field of 70 (in most cases it has been lower), it blocks rookies and rank-and-files from accessing some of the most loved, and historic tournaments in the Tour calendar.

A key reason why the sponsor exemptions should go toward amateurs or rising stars like Luke Clanton. In accepting the sponsor exemption, Rickie Fowler just found himself at the wrong end of the spectrum.