Rickie Fowler pulls in maiden victory at Kolon Korea Open – Golf news
Rickie Fowler, the young American who had been leading the previous rounds of the Kolon Korea Open, lifted his maiden professional title, when he romped to a big win on Sunday, October, 9 at the scenic Woo Jeong Hills Country Club.
The event held under the patronage of OneAsia Tour, boosted of some fine players from across the world, including former PGA Championship winner, Y. E Yang and this year’s US Open winner, Rory McIlroy.
Fowler owed much part of his success to his blistering third round, where he carded eight-under, 63, to gain a four shot lead before the final round. He posted a round of three-under, 68 to pull in a wire-to-wire victory over his nemesis, McIlroy.
Fowler said, “I’m happy with the way I have played on the PGA Tour, but I have never shot low enough to win. This week I played well for four rounds which I have not been able to do that in the past.”
Fowler opened up the final round hitting many greens in regulation but stumbled on consecutive bogeys at the end to lose his grasp. He closed his final round for a humble three-under, 68, as McIlroy was setting the pace of the final round. The Irishman carded a final round of 63, to challenge Fowler for the lead, but fell six strokes short of the winning score. He blamed his reckless hitting on the third day, where he fell for a devastating two-over, 73.
McIlroy said, “It was a nice way to finish, but all the damage was done during the third round with a couple of bad holes in the middle of the round.”
Yang also suffered a terrible final day where he stumbled on a four-over, 75, to finish for an outright fourth. Kim Meen-Whee, who had done well in the previous rounds, could hardly have imagined to push for contention against the raging Fowler and McIlroy, and settled for an outright third. Fowler also gave some hints of his future plans and said, “I am looking forward to some time off and then I can look at everything and set some goals for next year.”
Fowler was part of the Walker Cup team in 2009, where he led the American team to the summit against McIlroy’s strong European Team.
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