The Untold Truth Of Rickie Fowler

A native Californian, Rickie Fowler was born in 1988 in the town of Murrieta, situated between Los Angeles and San Diego. Yet, Murrieta is far from a seaside town and has wide open spaces. "Growing up in the country there's not a lot of neighbors or kids around so Rickie literally built his own nine-hole golf course," his mom Lynn told the PGA Tour. When Fowler was a young boy, he already aspired to be a professional golfer. For Halloween of 1996, he went as Fred Couples, the legendary golfer. In an adorable throwback photo he posted on Instagram, Fowler recreated the same Halloween costume in 2014 wearing a white visor and sign on his chest that says "Fred Couples Pro Golfer."

Fowler's heritage is part Japanese through the lineage of his maternal grandfather named Yutaka Tanaka. It was Tanaka that first introduced Fowler to golf, who started swinging clubs when he was only three years old. Even more impressive, Fowler's skill came naturally with a self-taught swing. Growing up, Fowler often went to the driving range in Murrieta and would receive free balls to hit thanks to a deal his dad made to deliver sand to the range so his son could swing away and practice. By the time he was 12 years old, Fowler was already a force in golf and scored his first round of 70 strokes.

For college, Rickie Fowler went a long way from home to attend Oklahoma State University. Since his first year at the school in 2007, Fowler played on the school's Cowboy Golf Team and he immediately made his presence known. As only a freshman, Fowler won the prestigious Ben Hogan Award, an annual prize that goes to the best college golf player in the United States. "I look at Ben Hogan as the king of golf. To win an award that represents him, his work ethic and everything he did for the game is inspiring to me to go out and work hard," Fowler said after being the first freshman ever to accept the award, Big 12 Sports reported. Looking back at his days in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Fowler loved spending time with his teammates, traveling, and of course winning tournaments, he told OSU Athletic. 

After two years with the school, Fowler dropped out. "I decided to end my studies and begin a lifelong dream of playing professional golf," he wrote for Yahoo! News. The golfer added, "Oklahoma State had become family, and I was a Cowboy for life!" He kept this promise to his alma mater as he can be seen wearing orange on the last day of any golf tournament he plays in.

Professional golf certainly has many older aged players on the tour so when Rickie Fowler started playing, he represented a new breed of young phenoms. As a result, a new generation of fans began to make their way to tournaments to cheer him on. "I draw a younger crowd who can relate to me," Fowler told GQ. As a stylish and handsome player, Fowler also became a heartthrob and his fellow players often noticed. "Hey, Rickie, I hope there's some girls out following you today," he recalled his competitors joking. As Fowler explained, fans would occasionally give him their phone numbers while other "girl fans will message me online, saying, 'You're the reason I watch golf.'"

Part of his popularity goes far beyond his looks and is instead due to his kindness. There are reports of him graciously taking photos and talking with fans while also staying around to sign his autograph to anyone who wants one. When one family with a young girl drove to see him play, Fowler invited the family to the player's lounge. "The look on that little girl's face whenever he opened the gate and he was waiting on her, she could hardly talk," a publicist told the Oklahoman. Further proof for his kindness, the National League of Junior Cotillion named Fowler as the world's best mannered celebrity "for consistently well-mannered conduct both on and off the golf course."

On the right forearm of Rickie Fowler, the golfer has a tattoo of the Olympic rings. The golfer got the ink to commemorate his participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics as a representative for the United States. Sam Dorman, a diver for Team USA, posted a photo on Twitter of both he and Ricky after they received matching tattoos of the five rings. In fact, Fowler has multiple different tattoos. On the inside of his left bicep, Fowler has a tattoo of Japanese text of his maternal grandfather's name Yutaka Tanaka. Yutaka is also Fowler's middle name. "Awesome to be able to have him here this week walking around and on my arm forever," Fowler wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of him showing off the new tattoo. "I thought, Wow, that's a tender place; had to hurt," Tanaka told Golf Digest about his famous grandson's tattoo. "Rickie did that with a deep feeling. It touched me pretty good," he added.

Another tattoo Fowler has to honor another person is on the inside of my left wrist. "I have a tattoo of Barry McDonnell's signature. Big B was my coach from childhood until he passed away in 2011," Fowler told Australian Golf Digest. In addition to a tattooed "F" for Fowler and an "XV" to commemorate his wedding anniversary, Fowler also has his first tattoo, the letter "G" in honor of a young girl named Georgia with a rare brain disorder.

Already a fan-favorite on the golf course, Rickie Fowler also inspires people outside of playing. In 2011, he founded the Rickie Fowler Foundation to help with the education of underserved youth. Specifically, the golfer focused on providing aid to Japanese and Native American communities, which comes from his own heritage. To bring even more awareness to these communities close to his heart, Fowler became the executive producer on the Netflix series "Basketball or Nothing" about a high school basketball team with many Navajo players. "My grandma grew up on the reservation, and I've always wanted to be able to do more stuff with the native community, so this was a perfect fit," Fowler told Forbes. "Not a lot of people know what the reservations are all about, why they're there, and what the living conditions are like there. This gives them a glimpse into that world," he added.

Naturally, Fowler has also used his impressive golf skills to help others. Like when he participated in Ernie Els' yearly golf event Els For Autism. At the 2016 event, players tried to hit a hole-in-one on the 19th hole to earn $1 million for Els' foundation. A video shows Fowler lining up his shot from 111 yards away and only a few seconds after swinging, the ball rolled into the hole. "It doesn't happen very often but pretty cool to be able to do that for Ernie and the foundation," he told the Golf Channel.

Rickie Fowler and Allison Stokke announced big family news on Instagram when he posted an image in 2021 kissing her on the cheek. "Reservation for November...Fowler party of 3 #GirlDad," he wrote in the caption. "I was kind of waiting to be able to share with people, and then that's kind of when it starts to become real," Fowler explained to the Golf Channel. While he admitted to being excited to have his first child, the golfer also knew becoming a dad would lead to many new changes. "She'll be the main thing. Everything else will kind of take a backseat. But I'm looking forward to kind of trying to manage everything, keep things as efficient as possible and being able to spread my time between her and family and golf, as well," he said about his wife and daughter. Fowler posted a photo on Thanksgiving that year with Browne and his newborn all together with the caption, "Maya Fowler born 11/18/21. My heart is full!!"

After an emotional victory at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage classic, his first PGA Tour win in four years, Fowler celebrated while holding his daughter. To him, nothing was better "at the end of the day, getting to hold her, getting to hang with Maya and my wife," he told CBS. Maya is often with her dad on the golf course, as seen in a video where she once trotted over to interrupt Fowler's swing.

Rickie Fowler stands out on the golf course of course for his smooth and accurate swing but also for his bold choices of outfits. For example, fans spotted the golfer wearing high top golf shoes while playing in 2016. Even more, instead of traditional pants Fowler completed the look with jogger bottoms. The shoes were actually a custom design by the player for Puma. "Each season we work closely with Rickie throughout the apparel and footwear development and design process to ensure we're pushing the limits when it comes to both performance and style," Puma Golf's head of footwear Grant Knudson told GolfWRX. "During a recent meeting, Rickie expressed interest in wearing a high-top cleated shoe that could be worn with more progressive apparel," Knudson added. Fowler is sponsored by Puma and is the reason why he is often seen on the golf course wearing hats with the letter "P" on the front.

Fowler pushes the boundaries of traditional golf wear through unique silhouettes like his high tops and also bright colors. This started by wearing orange while playing in college. "Obviously, not many guys wear orange, so it was a way to be my own man out there," he told Golf Monthly. This continued when he became a professional. "I've always enjoyed having my own sense of style; it's just a fun way to stand out. It's fun to wear what I want to wear and show off," he said.