Devil Ball Golf 18 for’ 15 (Part 9): Rickie Fowler

Welcome into Part 9 of Devil Ball Golf’s 18 for ’15, our series previewing the new year in golf. We now turn our attention to a look at each player in the current Official World Golf Ranking top 10, beginning with the No. 10 player in the world.

Despite not winning in 2014, Rickie Fowler made golf history last year. He became just the third player in modern major championship history to finish in the top five in all four major championships in a single year. The problem is he also became the first player to ever pull off the feat and not actually win one.

By the time the PGA Championship had ended, Fowler appeared to have grown tired of getting so close to a taste of major glory. After he came up just short at Valhalla to Rory McIlroy for the second straight major, Fowler told reporters, “This one hurts the most.”

Rickie Fowler is hungry for a major, and there’s a good chance he can get one in 2015.

It’ll be his second year working with Butch Harmon, building on what can only be described as incredibly successful tweaks made to make his motion more consistent, especially in the biggest moments. And, again, while those changes didn’t result in a PGA Tour victory, they did make Fowler a fixture on leaderboards. Since finishing T-13 at Memphis the week before the U.S. Open in June, Fowler hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 except in one of his last nine official starts. That’s Matt Kuchar-like.

The question for Fowler is: Can he learn to finish? Top 10s are great for money and points, but they aren’t wins. Fowler was clearly miffed he didn’t pull out a win in a major, but hopefully the means more maturation and refinement, not frustration and pushing too hard.

It can be difficult to forget Fowler is just 26 years old, but the California native is about to hit the start of the peak years of his career. Now that he’s proven his game can work in any major, it may only be a matter of time before Fowler breaks through in a very big way.

Read all of the Devil Ball Golf 18 for ’15: