Rickie Fowler Fights Back Health Concerns; Ignores WD Temptation at Arnold Palmer Invitational

For the second stop in its South Florida swing, the PGA Tour has stopped at the Bay Hill Lodge and Club! The fourth signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, has the top 40 players from around the world duking it out for the $20 million prize purse and Arnie’s trophy. Among them is 6-time PGA Tour winner Rickie Fowler, who has been trying to find his form. After having a mediocre season start, Rickie Fowler might have wished to conquer the Bay Hill, but fate had other plans.

In addition to Fowler struggling with his driving skills, he has also been reported having hard time with his health. Not something alarming, but he sure did not look as good on the competition’s first day on the greens.

Rickie Fowler struggles to put numbers together as his health declines

Thursday’s round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational has concluded; however, during it, the golfer was seen dealing with an infection and “definitely didn’t look good.” The Rickie Fowler Tracker posted a tweet and confirmed that “Rickie has been dealing with a sinus infection.” The fan page also reported that Fowler had “been feeling under the weather the past few days.”

Fowler’s subpar performance can be attributable to him struggling to breathe properly. In round one, the 6-time PGA Tour winner posted five consecutive par putts on the front nine. And before ending the 9th hole with another par, he made a double bogey par-5 on the sixth hole. The back nine was a little better than the former holes.

After making the 10th and 11th holes on par, Fowler shot his first birdie of the round on par-5, the twelfth hole. However, the next par-4 was a disaster, as he followed it with a bogey. Then the 14th, 15th, and 16th were par, another double bogey, and the final birdie by Fowler. He made par again on the 18th hole and finished 3 over 75.

This is one of the disappointing performances by Fowler, but despite the hardships, he hasn’t withdrawn from the event and continues to compete. Since the start of the 2024 season, the Murrieta native has been struggling with his game. A while ago, Fowler seemed to have found the solution, but his game paints a different picture.

Rickie Fowler is struggling to enter the winner’s circle

The last time Rickie Fowler won on the PGA Tour was in 2023 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July. However, after that, Fowler couldn’t make any top-10 finishes. He was consistently out of the top 20 on the leaderboard. The 2024 season was supposed to bring a different chapter. But that hasn’t happen so far.

Read More: Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy’s Crazy ‘Fan Support’ Charged Underdog Wyndham Clark to 1st Major Win, Full Swing S2 Reveals

Fowler continued his streak of staying out of contention and, in the last six starts on the PGA Tour, missed the cut twice. Moreover, at the events he did make the cut, Fowler’s results looked something like this: 56 (The Sentry), T47 (AT&T PB Pro&Am), T35 (The Genesis Invitational), and T41 (Cognizant Classic).

The overall average performance had forced the 6-time PGA Tour driver to change his driver three times to curb his low finishes. However, seeing the performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the driver change might not have helped as much.

Will Fowler fight back his declining form and finish better at the Invitational? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to find out who takes the hefty sum from $20 million home!

Read More: Rickie Fowler Gets Candid on His Most Wholesome Family Moment at Cognizant Classic Despite Lingering Form