Rickie Fowler didn’t win the Truist Championship, but he didn’t need to hoist the trophy for the week to feel like something more than just a four-day heater.
By posting a top-5 finish at Quail Hollow, Fowler gave golf fans a reason to ask the question yet again: is Rickie Fowler officially back?
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The answer depends on what “back” means. If it means the guy who climbed to No. 4 in the world and spent an entire major championship season knocking on the door, maybe not yet. But if it means one of the sport’s most beloved players is once again relevant in big events, building momentum and giving fans a real reason to believe, then Fowler is at least making the conversation interesting again.
The 37-year-old had an incredible amateur career that included spending 36 weeks as the top-ranked amateur in the world in 2007 and 2008. He won the Ben Hogan Award in 2008 as the best college golfer in the country as a star at Oklahoma State.
Rickie Fowler put himself in contention at the 2026 Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club with a 65 in the final round. (Eston Parker/ISI Photos)
And almost immediately after turning pro, Fowler became something more than just another highly touted young player. Between the Oklahoma State orange, the flat brim, the motocross background and the way fans gravitated toward him, Fowler quickly became one of the most recognizable and most popular players on the PGA Tour.
It took him a few years to earn his first PGA Tour win, which he accomplished by beating Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a playoff to capture the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship (now called the Truist Championship) at Quail Hollow. That win felt like the beginning of something much bigger. Most golf fans assumed there would be a lot more winning in Fowler’s future, but he didn’t hoist another PGA Tour trophy until he won the prestigious Players Championship in 2015.
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Prior to that victory, Fowler put together arguably the most impressive major season ever for a player who didn’t actually win one. In 2014, he finished T-5 at the Masters, T-2 at the U.S. Open, T-2 at the Open Championship and T-3 at the PGA Championship.
After winning the Players in 2015, he eventually worked his way to No. 4 in the world. However, he couldn’t keep up the incredible pace he set in 2014 and early 2015. Despite nine top-5 finishes and 13 top-10 finishes in major championships, Fowler has yet to win one.
That’s part of what has always made Fowler such a fascinating figure. He’s been beloved by fans, respected by his peers and consistently close enough on the biggest stages to make the major-less résumé feel more surprising than disappointing.
But this latest run didn’t come out of nowhere. Fowler has quietly been stacking solid results for the better part of a year. He finished T-15 at last year’s Truist Championship, T-7 at the Memorial, T-14 at The Open Championship, T-6 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-7 at the BMW Championship.
This season, he’s added top-10 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship before putting himself in position again at Quail Hollow. The T-2 finish at the Truist Championship marked Fowler’s third consecutive top-10 finish, along with his T-8 at RBC Heritage and T-9 at the Cadillac Championship.
Those 2026 top-10 finishes all came in PGA Tour Signature Events, limited-field tournaments built to bring together the best players on Tour, further pushing the narrative that Fowler still has enough game to compete with the best golfers in the world.
Rickie Fowler has always been a fan favorite on the PGA Tour. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
There’s also a bigger-picture reason Fowler’s recent form matters. This isn’t just about whether he can contend on a Sunday again. It’s about whether he can force his way back into the tournaments where his career has always felt most unfinished.
Fowler didn’t qualify for the Masters this year and has only teed it up at Augusta once since 2021. He also missed the U.S. Open last year after falling short in final qualifying. He did make The Open last summer, but too often over the past few years, Fowler has been fighting just to get into majors rather than trying to win them.
That’s what makes this stretch so important. Fowler is already in the field for this week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, and he currently sits close enough in the world ranking for another strong week to change the rest of his major schedule.
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The U.S. Open takes the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking on May 18 and again on June 15, while The Open has a top-50 OWGR exemption for Week 21. Fowler entered the weekend just outside the top 50, meaning a big week at the PGA could do more than strengthen the “Rickie is back” argument. It could put him back where fans are used to seeing him, competing in the sport’s most important events.
In fact, if Fowler were to turn this momentum into a top-four finish at the PGA Championship, that would bring another reward: a return trip to the Masters in April.
Is Rickie Fowler back to being a regular contender on the PGA Tour? (Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire)
None of this means the 37-year-old is all the way back to the player who climbed to No. 4 in the world, but it does make this week feel less like a one-off performance and more like the continuation of an emerging trend.
For a player whose career has always been defined by popularity, near-misses and unfinished major championship business, that’s more than enough to make the golf world pay attention again.