What is Rickie Fowler’s world ranking ahead of the 2025 Masters?

Rickie Fowler’s fate at Augusta hangs by a thread, and it’s not just current form, but the numbers that support it. Fowler ranks No. 110 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) as of March 31, 2025, long removed from the Top 50, an exemption cut-off for the Masters. Rickie Fowler sets his sights on the ongoing Valero Texas Open, the last of the qualifying events before Augusta, as his best opportunity for making the field.

Once a Top 10 player in 2018 and getting as high as 4th in the world in 2016, Fowler’s recent history is a story of inconsistency. He plummeted to 185th in 2022, charged back to 23rd in 2023, slipped again in 2024, and now has dropped further, to 110th. The variation is reflective of a broader trend that analysts say speaks to the volatility of his game, particularly when examined using advanced metrics like strokes gained, a stat that assesses a player’s performance against their peers. Rickie Fowler has been losing strokes in key approach and putting situations, two categories that were once seen as two of his strongest aspects.

Golf's increasing embrace of data science has made diagnosing performance dips easier. Rickie Fowler hasn’t made any direct comments on where he ranks, but sources close to the Tour indicate that he’s intent on utilizing performance data as a means of re-establishing his game.

As Augusta nears, Fowler is grappling with more than just players but also himself, the arms race of data in a sport, and the mercilessness of a qualification structure.

Rickie Fowler’s recent performances

Rickie Fowler has had some high-profile flashes in 2023, including the Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first PGA TOUR win since 2019, but 2024 had been harder for the American golfer. Fowler’s victory in Detroit, secured with consecutive birdies and a gutsy playoff clincher, was deemed a career-salvaging event.

That victory propelled him back into the top 25 in the world rankings at the time, and showed a return to elite form, with Rickie Fowler standing second in strokes gained: approach and 12th in putting for the tournament. His tie for fifth at the 2023 U.S. Open and a T13 at the Travelers Championship also suggested a rebound was possible; he had co-led after three rounds at the U.S. Open.

But 2024 has not had the same energy. A missed cut at the Valero Texas Open was alarming, particularly since that tournament was his final realistic opportunity to qualify for Augusta. Even so, his fourth-place result at the ZOZO Championship extended an important streak to 16 seasons: at least one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour events.

In 2025, he is yet to record a top-10 finish. In his most recent appearance at the Texas Children's Houston Open, he finished T52. Fowler’s current game may not have the polish of old heading into the 2025 Masters, but the fire and belief are there, and in golf, that can be enough to turn the tide.