It has been six years since Rickie Fowler last played in the American Express golf tournament. But on Thursday, Fowler displayed no rust from that time off.
Fowler announced his return to the desert with a 7-under par 65 at La Quinta Country Club, putting him just one shot out of the lead on what was for the American Express a relatively calm day of scoring. But the 65 was just what Fowler was looking for in his first round in the desert since 2014.
“I just thought it would be a good kind of work (for a) couple weeks,” Fowler said. “I’ve been out here staying at the Madison Club (in La Quinta) since last Tuesday, so been able to get a lot of work in. And two events that I played well at, that I struggled as of late at Farmers (Insurance) down at Torrey (and at Phoenix), so I wanted to make sure that I was ready to go for Torrey.”
That philosophy of using the American Express and the perfect desert weather is exactly what host Phil Mickelson has preached for the last few years. And it worked for Fowler on Thursday, putting him just one shot behind leaders Zac Blair and Grayson Murray.
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Murray shot perhaps the round of the day, an 8-under 64 at the Stadium Course at PGA West that missed tying the tournament course record because Murray bogeyed the 18th hole. Blair’s 64, featuring eight birdies, came at the more traditional scoring course in the rotation, La Quinta Country Club.
“I’ve been here since Dec. 30 working on the game and I feel like I probably am the most prepared of the field for all three courses,” Murray said. “Coming off of a long off-season, you never expect to come out of the gates like I did firing. But I’m comfortable around all three of these courses. The Stadium, I’ve had pretty good success in the past few years and, yeah, I mean, I love it out here in the desert.”
It is Fowler who is the best-known name near the top of the leaderboard. One of four players in the field in the top 25 in the world rankings, Fowler was the only one of those players to stay near the leaders during the day. Fowler’s 65 was matched by Hank Lebioda on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and Scottie Scheffler at La Quinta. Seven players managed 66 on Thursday.
Other big names didn’t fare as well, including tournament host Phil Mickeson, who shot 70 at La Quinta.
Playing his high school golf for Vista Murrieta, Fowler often came to the desert for high school events in an era when he was the unquestioned best high school player in Southern California and perhaps the entire state.
Familiar with desert golf, Fowler found perfect scoring conditions for Thursday’s round.
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“Having good weather and good conditions out here, I feel like you can get a lot of good work on your game,” Fowler said. “So that was kind of first priority, but at the same time you don’t want to show up at a tournament and just go and play and see what you have, you want to go and get in contention. So I think we have done a good job so far, and I like where the game’s at.”
Fowler’s round started slowly with four pars, but he then found his scoring stride with five consecutive birdies starting on La Quinta’s fifth hole. His back nine featured three birdies and one bogey on the par-4 14th, leaving him just one shot out of the lead.
“I’m happy with it. Really made sure we just kind of settled in and got things going out there,” Fowler said. “I feel like we did a good job of that and once the golf course really opens up, once you get to the back-to-back par-5s on the front, I was able to take advantage of those and kind of get the round going from there.
“The scores are typically pretty low out here when the weather’s this good, the golf courses are in great condition.” Fowler added. “So, yeah, basically just executed the game plan pretty well. And obviously you can always look at a round of golf and it could be better, but I’m happy with the start today.”
Does that mean Fowler is looking exclusively at tuning his game for Torrey Pines and the Farmers Insurance Open next week in San Diego? No, but Fowler admits he is looking forward to the next few weeks.
“I haven’t played the weekend a whole lot in the last five or six years (in San Diego),” he said. “And then we all know I play well in Phoenix. So I think we’re going to have a good chance of getting a win in my first three full-field events of the year. So, yeah, if we’re able to be there on Sunday with a trophy at the end of these three weeks, I would be happy with that.”
The surprise of the day was Murray grabbing a share of the lead on the toughest of the three courses in the rotation. That’s happened just one other time in the previous four years the Stadium Course has been in the event, when Dominic Bozzelli shot 64 to take the first-round lead in 2017.
Murray knows his round of nine birdies and one bogey might give him an edge on the field as everyone rotates courses Friday and he moves to La Quinta Country Club.
“It obviously puts me in good position,” Murray said. “And to go see the other two courses, La Quinta and the Nicklaus, there (are) birdies to be made on both of those. I mean, this is just one day, and we’ll take it one day at a time.”
