“Beating Phil” - Rickie Fowler shares his single fondest memory of Match Play

Rickie Fowler is back at the WGC Match Play this year. He's been a constant figure on the field for several years and has a lot of memories of this event, which is coming to an end after this year.

One of his fondest memories was defeating Phil Mickelson. The golfer didn't used to be the controversial figure he is now and was once one of the premier talents in the world of golf, so beating him was a feat.

He revealed his thoughts ahead of the latest Match Play, which won't feature Mickelson. LIV members were not able to compete in the event.

He said:

"My single fondest was probably beating Phil in Tucson. That was a fun one... I played well, you obviously have to to beat Phil in Match Play, but I remember I hit a couple four irons."

He continued:

"One of them I hit to give me par five on the back hill. It was just one of those days, I kind of had it going. Phil and I were a lot closer then because we spent a lot of time both playing practice rounds and games together. It was fun to get the better of him that day."

Rickie Fowler is returning and will hope to gain some of the skill and confidence from that day once again. He hasn't been as good recently as he was then, but sometimes all it takes is playing at a fun and familiar place.

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Rickie Fowler hopes playing in Match Play gets him back to the Masters

Rickie Fowler does not currently qualify for the Masters

Rickie Fowler is not in the world's top 50 right now. He's currently ranked 59th and would need a lot of help to move up to that spot. If he doesn't get there, he won't be present at the Masters later this spring.

A run to the quarterfinals of Match Play would go a long way towards achieving that goal. He knows that, as he said via Golf Week:

“We are here to basically try and get ourselves back in Augusta... I knew I needed to come here and play well. I wasn’t sure of exactly what I needed to do. The nice thing with the kind of world rankings and what’s coming off, really, anything I do that puts points on the board is only going to move me up from here moving forward.

"So, yeah, I mean, my short-term goal is to obviously get myself back in Augusta. If that doesn’t happen, we’re going to continue to move forward.”

He also said:

“I’m committed and planning on playing there. If I do play well enough, we’ll kind of maybe reconsider and see where we’re at. But, yeah, kind of doing whatever I need to do to give myself the best chance to be in Augusta.”

This is arguably the final shot he has to get one of the exemptions. It's a long shot, but Rickie Fowler is about to try and make a miraculous comeback to play in the Masters.