The Good Ship Fowler ran aground Sunday on the TPC Scottsdale Course at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It was water, water every where, with the heavens pouring down as he played his pitch to the 11th green. A big hop that couldn’t hold the slick surface propelled his ball past the flag, off the green, around a bunker and into the pond. 
Playing 5, after taking relief from the hazard, Rickie placed his ball on the slippery bank after the obligatory two drops didn’t result in a ball in play. While he walked to the green to survey his next shot, the water beckoned and pulled his ball back into the deep.
What a cruel game! Rickie was assessed another penalty stroke for his ball having a mind of his own. He pitched up and saved triple bogey 7 with a calmly holed 18 footer!
On course roving commentator Roger Maltbie opined that Rickie holed out with an 8 while newly ensconced lead pundit, Paul Azinger, said “ We’ve got a hundred years of experience in our crew but nobody knows what Rickie’s score was on this hole”.
Wow! What a NBC broadcast debut for Zinger and what a nightmare for fan favorite, Rickie Fowler.
Fowler followed that disaster with a bogey 4 on the par 3 12th hole and found himself in second place, down a shot to South African Brandon Grace, who started the day seven strokes back of Fowler at 13-under par.
The finish wasn’t written just yet. As Fowler flared a weak 8 iron right of #16 green Grace was teeing off at the driveable par 4 17th and he was in a generous mode. His pulled tee shot went swimming, after a penalty drop he skulled his pitch into the back bunker, nearly holed out from there and left 17 with a bogey and in second place, down one.
Rickie got up and down on #16 from an awkward spot and then pulled driver at #17 tee.
A bold move, given that he’s hit more water balls than any player ever at this hole- nine in total, with two of those snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in previous tournaments.
He stuck it, finding the green with a fifty foot eagle putt that he eventually converted for birdie and a two shot lead.
Grace made a great par save on eighteen after a terrible drive into the right rough and a hanging lie above a fairway bunker. With a two shot cushion, Rickie continued to make it interesting with a pulled drive to heavy grass in the left church pew bunkers.
With a boatload of bad luck infesting his play all day, Fowler finally got a break , as his tee ball was playable in the deep grass outcropping of that fairway bunker. Wedge out short of the green, crisp chip to 3 feet, hole the putt for a routine par!
Today’s round was anything but routine. It was the ultimate gut check for Rickie Fowler who with this win becomes the first player in PGA Tour history to win a tournament while making both a double and triple bogey in the final round.
Rickie has now improved his record of converting 54 hole leads to 2 in 7. But he still has not fired an under round par in any of those final rounds.
He won today with a 3 over round of 74. His final grouping compadres were both over par as well, with JT at 1-over and Kuuch at 4-over par.
Conditions were tough at TPC Scottsdale today, with chill winds, blowing rain and rambunctious galleries. 3-under was the lowest round recorded.
But those other scores weren’t really a factor today, or shouldn’t have been. Rickie Fowler was playing against himself, against his demons, against his lost chances at past Phoenix Opens, against his rep as a guy who couldn’t close, a guy who would choke.
Well, the Mythical Phoenix rose from the ashes to fly once again. Rickie emerged from the deep, from the water, from the funk, from his past.
A win is a win. Congrats, Rickie!
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