PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – To much surprise, Rickie Fowler was not granted a special exemption into next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Fowler has struggled the majority of the past year. The 36-year-old sits at No. 105 in the FedExCup standings and 95th in the world rankings. As a result, he’s on the outside looking in for PGA Tour signature events, such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Earlier this season, he was given a spot into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
All hope isn't lost, though.
“It is what it is,” he said. “Like I said, at the end of the day, play well and that’ll take care of it. Obviously, I’m bummed that I won't be there next week. It's a special event, and obviously I had a very special relationship with Mr. Palmer. But we’ll see. We’ll see if we can get a trophy this week, and that would take care of that.”
Fowler's closeness with Palmer, plus the fact that he has played at Bay Hill every year since 2013, except in '16, seemed like it would have been enough for an exemption.
Earlier this week, Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, gave insight as why they didn't grant Fowler, along with Jordan Spieth and Gary Woodland, a spot in the field.
“Rickie's one of my friends but it has to be non-biased. You try to make sponsor exemptions to be objective and not subjective. And I think that's what our team did quite well. I think every one of us wants Rickie Fowler to be playing in the tournament, we love him. He's been one of the best spokespersons on behalf of my grandfather and carrying on that legacy, nobody does it better than Rickie Fowler,” Saunders told Golfweek. “Rickie had gotten a couple of opportunities for exemptions in the elevated events already, and that was something that had to be taken into consideration. You want other players to get opportunities.
“There’s a lot of players on the PGA Tour. And, you know, not everyone may be household names, but it's about trying to provide the best competition. We’re further down the list or closer on the list statistically than the Rickies and the Jordans and Gary. So the process was done very objectively and fairly, and, like I said, for the good of the game as a whole.”
One of the exemptions went to Rafael Campos, winner of last fall’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
“There are different levels of effort from each player,” Saunders said. “And I will tell you from what I’ve seen, I don't know that anybody's written a more thoughtful letter and put more effort into requesting an exemption than Rafa Campos did. He’s genuine, he’s kind. He's a steward of the game and that's something that mattered a lot to my grandfather.”
Fowler didn’t deny that he was disappointed. But a strong final two days—either getting a win or moving up in the Aon Swing 5—in Palm Beach Gardens can help send him to Orlando next week.
“At the end of the day, play better,” said Fowler, who is T7, three strokes off the 36-hole lead at the Cognizant Classic. “It would be a lot easier just having played well last year and earned my way into these events. Been very fortunate and very thankful to Steve John at Pebble and AT&T to get a spot there and Tiger and Genesis to get the one at Torrey. But it’s tough to try and get all of them. Being able to get some of them is great.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rickie Fowler 'Bummed' to Not Get Exemption for Bay Hill, But Can Still Find a Way In.
