If only Fowler were a major heartthrob

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - Admit it.

You heart Rickie Fowler, too.

The matinee idol of the PGA Tour is the unquestioned star of a series of insurance commercials in which professional golfers are hooked up to a lie detector and questioned by a woman, who clearly acts as if she finds Fowler attractive. At one point she compliments his "beautiful face," then jots "I heart RF" on the polygraph paper.

Who can blame her? Fowler is a swashbuckling sweetheart with icy, almond eyes who adores his fans and his life. Comely young women call to him from behind the ropes and ask him to join them on spring break. A few more wins, such as this week's PGA Championship, and Fowler, 27, could turn into the next Arnold Palmer or Greg Norman; another James Dean in a signature shirt.

Kids love him. Women want to be with him and men want to be him.

He is one of the most heartable athletes alive.

He also is one of the best golfers alive. His No. 7 world ranking makes him the best golfer without a major championship title. Entering this season, Fowler shared that distinction with Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson, but Johnson won the U.S. Open and Stenson just won the British Open. Danny Willety was a first-time major winner at the Masters, too. Maybe it is Rickie's turn. The tour could use it.

This season the Big Three of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy have been shut out at the first three majors and spurned the Olympics. Little Rickie (5-9, 150), an eager Olympian, could inject a bit of energy.

Before Thursday, Fowler seemed unlikely to inject anything but more misery into this season. He is in the middle of a 14-month slump in majors and he is on the back side of a season that saw him miss four of six cuts spanning April and June.

Then Fowler shot 2-under 68 in his opening round Thursday.

"I've got a chance," he said, sweating freely while talking about the majors. Maybe it was the 93-degree heat.

Either way, it's been a while since Fowler had a chance. He missed cuts at the Masters, The Players Championship and the U.S. Open, where he, ah, didn't exactly play his best.

"You don't have to sugarcoat it. It wasn't very good. Missing cuts is not fun, and definitely not what's planned," Fowler said. "If you are off just a little bit, I mean, especially in a major, it picks you apart, and it shows."

Fowler was exposed in the first round at Augusta National, with an 8-over 80 that featured two double bogeys and a triple. Two double-bogeys cost him the cut by a shot at the Players, and he had two more doubles at the U.S. Open, where he bombed out at 11-over, five over the cut line at soggy Oakmont.

This was not the expected trajectory of Fowler's career. Fowler finished in the top 12 in the five majors from the 2014 Masters through the 2015 Masters, then won the Players, the best annual test in the game.

Then came the majors meltdowns. It usually was forecast by his first-round results. Fowler failed to break par in the first round of the five majors between the 2015 U.S. open and the 2016 U.S. Open, averaging 3-over par. He finally hit first-round red numbers two weeks ago at the British . . . then was 8-over in the final three rounds and finished 26 shots behind Stenson. cq

Fowler finished around noon on Thursday and stood three shots behind leader Jimmy Walker at days' end, but a weekend crash-and-burn could happen here, too. With thunderstorms on the horizon, weather could ruin players' rhythm and soak the difficult setup at Baltusrol. Rickie hasn't been very good in the elements, but it would boost the Tour if he was good this week.

Think about it.

McIlroy, Spieth and Day might project folksy candor and oodles of talent but they lack the "It" factor that Fowler has. Rickie has carloads of charisma, sort of an "Image is Everything" Andre Agassi type - with, hopefully, more resilient follicles.

Fowler is not modest, but top-of-the-food chain guys seldom are. He dates models and is unabashed about marketing his good looks. It's hard to resent the swagger when he devotedly heaps adoration on his sister and his mother; but he's got the sort of evil smile that makes you want to hide your sister, and maybe your mother, too.

The struggles of the past 14 months have seen Fowler become more serious about his job, said his caddie, Joe Skovron, who was a youth golfer with Fowler in Southern California. Fowler today is more grounded than the guy who wore knickers as a tribute to the late Payne Stewart in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. He is less goofy than the guy who was in Ben Crane's "Golf Boys" videos, and less reckless than the kid who jumped off balconies into swimming pools and Caribbean bays.

You had to heart him for doing that, too.

He has cut his boy band hair, muted the flat-brimmed hat and he no longer stuffs his ears under the hatband, but you heart the look all the same. You admire Fowler for choosing golf over dirt bikes the way you respect Norman for choosing golf over international surfing.

Come on: What golfers have those choices to make? The coolest ones.

Golf traditionalists might find it hard to stomach Rickie, at least for now. They might cringe at the tapered pants and the bright colors and the high-top shoes; they might consider it gauche to wear that giant Puma belt buckle or have @RickieFowler stitched on his hat to attract Twitter followers. Well, that's part of the genuine Fowler experience, as much as the Oklahoma State orange he wears on Sundays.

If he breaks though at this major, maybe even traditionalists will start to heart the whole Fowler package.

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