There was a time when Rickie Fowler was on top of the golf world. However, his most recent years have been a struggle and the 2015 Players Championship winner has been making some major changes.
In August, Fowler cut ties with longtime caddie Joe Skovron, whom he’d worked with since 2009. Now, he’s splitting from his swing coach, John Tillery.
ESPN spoke with Tillery and he expressed nothing but appreciation for the golfer.
“Man, I love the guy,” Tillery told ESPN. “This job will punch you in the gut sometimes. As a coach, there’s nothing better than watching your guys succeed, and nothing worse than watching them struggle. The X’s and O’s of what they need to do is the easy part, but getting it done can be a challenge sometimes, and we didn’t get it done. I’m pulling for him and wish him nothing but the best.”
Fowler spoke with Golfweek about the change and also shared that it was always a positive relationship.
“I couldn’t love the guy any more, and we gave it a good run but it was almost like speaking another language in a way and it never really clicked,” Fowler told Golfweek. “He’s had plenty of success with his guys and I wish I would have played significantly better. I’ll take a lot out of the time we spent together. It’s not like the last few years were for nothing. I gained a lot of knowledge and I feel like I’m in a very good spot.”
Fowler was once the fourth-ranked golfer in the world and played on four Ryder Cup and three Presidents Cup teams. However, he hasn’t won since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open, missed the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time last year, and fell to 178th in the Official World Golf Ranking. We’ll see how much of an impact these changes make for him moving forward.
