How long has it been since Rickie Fowler last claimed a tournament win? Almost 2 years. His last was the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic. His winless streak is continuing, and he is garnering a lot of attention for it. Most was when he got an invite for the Genesis Invitational, and the community wasn’t happy. Again, just recently, Fowler received a sharp jab. This time from Patrick Reed’s brother-in-law, Kessler Karain, who also happens to be Reed’s looper too.

Kessler Karain sat down with Adam and Matt Gannon for the “Credentialed” Episode 2, and talked about Reed’s OWGR. He highlighted how, despite being part of LIV Golf, Reed has tried to maintain his ranking. “I think that’s one thing that’s just impressive about Patrick is how he’s kept his world ranking where it is playing. DP World Tour events, you know, getting random exemptions here, playing just the international series, and then the occasional major, uh, only two last year. And he’s 106 right now,” he said. At present, Reed is 116th, and has been playing as much as he can on the European Tour. So far, he has played 3, and has had two top 10 finishes.

While doing so, he also took a jab at Rickie Fowler, saying, “Whereas like not, you know, even though I love Ricky, but you know, guys, there’s guys if you look like lower. Yeah, the vibe is like, oh, he’s only above us by. Yeah, you know one or two spots and he’s playing, and when you look at the world ranking points for the  PGA Tour events and how inflated they are.” As per Patrick Reed‘s caddie, Fowler is unable to take full advantage of the OWGR points the PGA Tour can offer because of his performance.

This season, Fowler was off to a decent start, finishing T21 at the American Express. However, things did not go well after that. Fowler finished T53 at AT&T and withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open after that. 71st in PLAYERS, 52nd nin Houston, and 30th in Texas didn’t help his case either. As of now, Fowler is 112 in OWGR and has failed to qualify for the Masters. Reed, as a past champion, is playing. Though Reed competes on the DPWT to keep his world ranking in check, the points golfers can get after winning on the DPWT are like “nickels on the dollar,” as per Reed’s brother-in-law.

Patrick Reed’s caddie wasn’t done talking. Karain also praised Reed for not caring about anything on the greens but just trying to be better despite the position. “Yeah, like it, you know, if there’s anyone who said, Yeah, sure, you know the money’s nice and all, but it’s not his sole motivation. That’s all you can ask for; you’ve seen guys walk down, you know, the 63rd hole, and you just see, like, all the quit in them. It’s like because they’re 50th, but he’ll sit there and be like, Well, we can get to 45th.  We can get to 43rd,” added Karain.

Reed doesn’t care much about the OWGR rankings and believes they aren’t something that defines him. Last year, during LIV Golf Houston, he talked about it, saying, “I feel like the world ranking is not a reflection of where I should be and what events I should be in. But at the end of the day, I don’t make those decisions.” Reed is clear about his performances and believes they are independent of world rankings. Meanwhile, Fowler is also aware of his performances and believes that he needs to “play better.” 

Rickie Fowler takes responsibility for his declining performance

The 2024 season also wasn’t good for Rickie Fowler. He played in 23 events and missed the cut in 6 of them, with only one top-10 finish at the ZOZO Championship. So, at the Cognizant Classic this year, he knew what he had to do: “At the end of the day, play better.”

“It would be a lot easier just having played well last year and earned my way into these events. Been very fortunate and very thankful to Steve John at Pebble and AT&T to get a spot there and Tiger and Genesis to get the one at Torrey. But it’s tough to try and get all of them. Being able to get some of them is great,” further added the golfer.

Despite that, he was excited to play at the Bay Hill and was hoping to bounce back with a trophy at the event as he had a “very special relationship with Mr. Palmer.” Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, as he didn’t get the invite.

How do you think the rest of the 2025 season will turn out for Rickie Fowler? Will there be strong comebacks, or will it just go as the last two years have been? Share your thoughts in the comments below!