Rickie Fowler has enjoyed a strong start to his week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, but it was not without controversy after he was involved in a debate with officials
06:53 ET, 24 May 2025Updated 20:13 ET, 24 May 2025
Rickie Fowler was involved in a rules dispute(Image: PGA TOUR)
Rickie Fowler was involved in a lengthy discussion with PGA Tour officials during the opening round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Fowler is back in action at Colonial, having returned to the major stage at last week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. It has been a tough few months for the 36-year-old, but he showed glimmers of his old self in Friday’s second round, after carding an impressive six-under-par 64.
It ensures Fowler finds himself right in the mix heading into the weekend, with the former world No. 6 sitting in a tie for seventh, six shots behind leaders Matthias Schmid and Ben Griffin at the halfway stage.
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Fowler has not had it all his own way, having kicked-started his tournament in round two, after a steadier start a day earlier. He kicked off his week with a level-par 70, having cancelled out his two birdies in round one at 10 and 13 with back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15.
The first of the two blemishes saw Fowler miss right off the tee box, leaving himself in a heap of trouble. Having seen his effort fly through the trees, Fowler’s ball came to lie alongside a barbed-wire boundary fence running alongside the Colonial track.
His ball found itself in between the fencing and a cart path, which Fowler found under his feet when addressing the ball. Amid the obstruction of the man-made path in his stance, the U.S. Ryder Cup star called on the help of a tournament official to see if free relief was available.
Rickie Fowler is in PGA Tour action(Image: Getty Images)
What followed was a prolonged conversation, with the official in question asking Fowler whether he would still have attempted the shot if the path was not there. Staying true to his word, Fowler reiterated that he would take the shot on regardless, with the only other option seemingly a penalty stroke.
This led to the opinion of a second official, who stood by the original call, asking Fowler: “If the path’s not here, you’re not standing on the path, would you take that shot on?” The PGA Tour star responded: “I’m going to right now just because the other options aren’t great.”
Highlighting that Fowler did have the opportunity to take stroke and distance, he replied: “OK, the other option is obviously you could take an unplayable on the path and end up over there. That’s one of your other options. The question is whether it’s a reasonable shot for you to play if you weren’t standing on the cart path….
“Honestly, with the proximity to the fence and if the cart path wasn’t here, I don’t feel like you would take that shot. I feel that that’s too risky because of the proximity of the club and the fence and the direction of the play.”
After eight minutes, Fowler eventually backed down and went on to play an impressive shot out of trouble, over the trees and back into play. On his way back into the fairway, though, he managed to get the last word in, calling to the officials. “I didn’t touch the fence.”
Rich Pierson, the Tour’s director of TV, later clarified the ruling to fans watching PGA Tour Live: “His ball was up against the fence, which is an out-of-bounds fence. And the first rules official, Pete Dachisen, thought it was unreasonable for him to play the shot, because he was looking to get relief from the cart path.
“And obviously you can’t relief out of bounds; his relief would have been to the left side of that path. So Pete thought it was unreasonable for Rickie to play that shot that way. So he asked for a second opinion.
“Robby Ware came in, saw the same situation, and asked Rickie if the cart path wasn’t here, how would you play this shot. And Rickie, as you saw, played the shot from up against the fence.”
