Rickie Fowler suffers world ranking setback day before PGA Tour Council candidacy announcement

Rickie Fowler has dropped out of the Official World Golf Ranking's top 100 this week after struggling over the weekend at The Players Championship. This happened just a day before he was set to be announced as a candidate for the position of co-chairman for the Player Advisory Council of the PGA Tour. The six-time PGA Tour winner is now the 102nd-ranked golfer in the world.

After a remarkable comeback season in 2023, Fowler struggled for much of 2024 and has not played his best so far in 2025. He aims to get his game back on track as the major championships approach.

Fowler made the cut at The Players Championship last week but did not fare well in the windy conditions over the weekend. Fowler shot a 10-over-par 82 in the third round and a seven-over-par 79 in round 4. He finished the tournament in solo 71st place, second to last and only in front of Xander Schauffele.

Despite his drop in the world rankings, Fowler is yet to miss a cut on the PGA Tour in 2025. He's played in six events, making the cut at five and withdrawing from the WM Phoenix Open after an opening round of three over par.

Fowler at THE PLAYERS Championship 2025 (via Getty)

While he's made the cut at five of his six events this year, he is yet to contend in any of the events and have a realistic chance to win on Sunday.

He finished tied for 21st at the first event he played in this year at The American Express in California. Fowler shot a 10-under-par 62 in the second round but shot one under in each of the final two rounds and finished 10 shots behind winner Sepp Straka.

At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM, Fowler again played well in the first two rounds but shot a total of one-over-par in his last two rounds over the weekend. He ultimately finished tied for 53rd place with six under par.

After withdrawing from the WM Phoenix Open, Fowler again made the cut at The Genesis Invitational the following week. He had an up-and-down week, finishing tied for 39th place.

His best finish this year came at the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Florida, which is a course he won at in 2017. He finished tied for 18th place, seven shots behind winner Joe Highsmith. Fowler opened the tournament with a seven-under-par 64.

Fowler is in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic, which was his first win since 2019.

Rickie Fowler chosen to run for Co-Chairmen on the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council

Fowler at THE PLAYERS Championship 2025 (via Getty)

The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday that Rickie Fowler, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell have been selected by the Players Directors to run for Co-Chairman of the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council.

The PGA Tour's membership will vote in the election, which ends on April 14. The top two in the voting will replace Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati as Player Directors on the PGA TOUR Policy Board starting from 2026.

Fowler is currently one of the 16 players on the Tour's Player Advisory Council, which includes Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas.