Rickie Fowler posts his maiden professional victory at Kolon Korea Open on OneAsia Tour – Golf news
Rickie Fowler finally pulled in the first professional victory of his career at the Kolon Korean Open in thrilling fashion, taking over his nearest competitor, Rory McIlroy, with a colossal six shots. The young American, who started-off his career some two
years back, had to wait for a painfully long period to prove his worth.
Interestingly, McIlroy and Fowler, who are both 22-years-old, barged on their professional careers more or less at the same time, where the former clinched stardom much earlier, posting his first victory on PGA Tour. He rocked the sports circle when he bagged
the coveted US Open title at Congressional Country Club in June, while Fowler kept lurking in shadows.
A grinning Fowler said, “It feels great to have the first win. I played well all week, although I did have to hang in on Friday and post a score. But on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday I had good control of my ball, I drove well, and I made some putts.”
Fowler’s final round was barely anywhere close to his impressive rounds earlier in the weekend, but a four-shot overnight lead over local favourite, Y.E Yang, provided the necessary edge to go all the way. He pulled in a three-under, 68, on the final day
against his rounds of 67, 70 and a glorious 63 on the third day.
McIlroy, who remained in contention throughout the weekend, fired the best final round of the day at the scenic Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, pulling in a seven-under, 64, to challenge Fowler for the summit. While Fowler stumbled on consecutive bogeys towards
the closing of his final round, his lead was good enough to guide him to the victory stand with six shots to spare. McIlroy lamented the third round score of 73 where he suffered a terrible day, and termed it as the primary reason of his downfall.
McIlroy said, “Looking back on this week, I will rue my third round, which could have been a lot better. If I had played a little better and shot a few under I might have had a chance, but Rickie has played fantastic this week and he deserves the win.”
Defending champion, Y. E Yang, who played exceptionally well on all three days, stumbled on an unusual four-over, 75, on Sunday, to fall behind the ranks. He finished for an outright fourth, two shots behind the outright third, Kim Meen-Whee.
Fowler received a winner’s prize cheque of a mammoth KRW1,000,000,000. Although OneAsia Tour does not have as many points for the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) as the PGA or European Tours, the win, however, will prove to be a much needed booster for
young Fowler’s career.
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