Dejected Rickie Fowler reacts to his PGA Tour season coming to an end as big mistake comes back to haunt him

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Rickie Fowler failed to make the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs after a final round 69 at the BMW Championship.

Fowler played superbly well at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to qualify for the BMW Championship in the first place.

In fairness to Fowler, he played really well all week at Caves Valley, and his tie for seventh was a mighty fine effort given what was at stake in the race for the FedEx Cup top 30 and subsequent qualification for the Tour Championship.

The 36-year-old bogeyed the 14th hole and double bogeyed the 15th at Caves Valley to end up in 32nd position in the PGA Tour‘s season-long points list after the second FedEx Cup Playoff event.

Fowler’s swing got a little quick during round three of the BMW Championship, but he seemed to have put that behind him during his front nine on Sunday.

The six-time PGA Tour winner was four-under par after 10 holes and sitting comfortably inside the top 30 on the points list at the time, before disaster struck midway through his back nine.

Dejected Rickie Fowler reacts to his PGA Tour season coming to an end

Fowler’s form over the past couple of months has been mightily impressive.

Including his T-7 at the Memorial Tournament, he has had three top-10 finishes since June, and secured a highly respected T-14 at The Open Championship as well.

Fowler should be proud of his efforts, especially after his performances in Memphis and Baltimore over the past two weeks.

However, he would have had a bitter taste in his mouth after he finished on Sunday, following the three shots he threw away during the late stages of his final round.

The American addressed the media after his round, and responded when asked to share his emotions after failing to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Fowler said: “Obviously bummed. I knew what I needed to do. Really just made a poor swing. I just needed to give myself a little bit more time and get fully committed to what I was trying to do. 8-iron into 14, I hung it out, left it out right. Really don’t feel the breeze down there in the fairway, and just got my start line out to the right too much, and I had the ball below my feet. A few variables. So bummer on that one.

“Next hole, I thought I flagged an 8-iron, ends up airmailing the green. There wasn’t that much room behind the hole, but I thought I was going to put one in there and have a good look at birdie and walk away with double. Kind of a kick in the you-know-what there.

“Been a lot of good stuff. Been a fun run through the summer. Nice to have a chance, and other than really the one swing to execute and play the way I did, it’s hard to look back on 15 and say I did a whole lot wrong. I hit one down the middle and thought I flagged an iron shot. Just went a long ways.

“Tried to make a couple coming in, but yeah, I wish we were playing next week, but we’ll head off and get to recovery and get ready for next year.“

Fowler was then asked about his pitch on the par five 16 that ended up releasing a lot more than he thought it would do.

He said: “I was in kind of the tightly-mown area. A lot of the greens within 10 or so yards, it changes into a really tight cut. It’s almost like — close to chipping off of the green. I just caught it a groove low, so just kind of came out a little lower and a lot hotter. Just such a tight lie there, and you’re trying to get it up and over the bunker, proper flight and then spin it, so that was on me. I mis-hit it.

“Afterwards come to find out I probably needed to get in at at least 10. I thought 8, 9 maybe had a chance. So yeah, a lot of good stuff, but unfortunate just at the end not enough.“

Rickie Fowler proud of his efforts at the BMW Championship

Fowler responded when asked if he was proud of himself following his week in Baltimore: “Yeah, I started to feel better and better as the summer went on. Played a lot. I was getting worn down, but I was ready to keep on going.

“I started feeling more and more comfortable as the weeks went on, and felt great this week. Really didn’t make a whole lot or take advantage of how I was hitting it until I made a few yesterday to kind of get back and get things going. So yeah, it is what it is, but take a lot of positives away from the last few months.

“I’m really happy with where things ended up going, like I said, the last few months. I’m not sure how much I’ll play through the fall. We’ll kind of reassess.

“I have some — I want to get the body into a better spot, so that’s kind of first priority, and then go from there.“

Fowler explained how he felt hard done by following his double bogey on the 15th hole at the BMW Championship.

However, he will surely look back on that hole and realise that, considering where the pin location was, it really wasn’t a flagstick where he could be aggressive. He should have hit a nine-iron rather than an eight-iron and left himself a 30-foot uphill putt.

He didn’t need to force things at the time. Had he parred in, it would have been enough to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Fowler will have learned a lot about himself last week. He deserves immense praise for the way that he handled everything but double bogey on the 15th would have taught him an invaluable lesson as well.