Rickie Fowler rockets back to winners' enclosure

DROUGHT OVER: Rickie Fowler of the United States and his caddie, Ricky Romano, celebrate on the 18th green after defeating Adam Hadwin of Canada and Collin Morikawa of the United States in a play-off to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. Pic: Raj Mehta/Getty Images

Rickie Fowler returned from the golfing wilderness to record his first victory in more than four years after winning a three-man play-off at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

The 34-year-old's last victory was 1,610 days ago at the WM Phoenix Open in February 2019 but in the intervening time he had slumped to 185th in the world rankings as recently as last September.

However, his game has been trending in the right direction and after back-to-back top-10s at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial was followed by a near-miss finishing tied fifth at last month's US Open, he finally got it over the line with a birdie at the first extra hole at the Detroit Golf Club.

He beat recent Canadian Open winner Adam Hadwin and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, who had both outshot Fowler in the final round to negate the one-stroke lead he held heading into the last day.

Fowler's round of 68 was his worst of the week but he brilliantly birdied the last, hitting his approach to four feet, to get to 24 under and into the play-off with playing partner Hadwin already on that number heading down the last and Morikawa in the clubhouse on the same score.

Morikawa had forced himself into contention with a flawless eight-under-par round of 64.

"It's hard to really to put it all into words. Wining is great but there is a lot more to life than that," said an emotional Fowler, cuddling his 20-month-old daughter Maya on the 18th green.

"There's been a lot of good stuff this year and (I've been) playing some really good golf so I knew it was a matter of time.

"I've had a couple of tough weekends where I had a chance, the US Open (where he shared the 54-hole lead) I didn't get it done."

In his post-match press conference Fowler added: "You definitely learn to appreciate the good times and when you're playing well.

"You hope the struggles don't last, but sometimes they last longer than you would hope for."

Fowler will now cross the Atlantic to play in the Scottish Open and Open Championship at Royal Liverpool with his target refocused on making the United States Ryder Cup team.

"Definitely one of the main goals this year was to win," he said.

"One of the end goals was to be a part of the Ryder Cup team and that's still what we're focusing on right now."

Meanwhile, New Zealand's Daniel Hillier admitted he was "gobsmacked" after producing a stunning burst of scoring to claim his first DP World Tour title in the Betfred British Masters.

Hillier holed from 40 feet for eagle on the 15th, made birdie from a fairway bunker on the next and then holed from six feet for another eagle on the 17th in a brilliant final round of 66 at The Belfry.

That gave the 24-year-old a winning total of 10 under par, securing the first prize of £468,000 and also a place in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Hillier, who began the day three shots off a six-way tie for the lead, said: "I'm gobsmacked. I think it's going to take me a while to process to be honest.

"Early on in the day I was not feeling it at all. I was a little bit uncomfortable with the driver, didn't have many chances but obviously knew there were some chances coming in.

"I didn't think I would take them that well, but obviously pretty ecstatic.

"I'm not going to lie, I was definitely looking at the leaderboard and seeing my name up there and thinking about what it would be like to finish it off but it's all a bit of a blur really."

Hillier admitted his eagle putt on the 15th was going "a little quick" when it hit the back of the hole and dropped, while he also made the most of a favourable bounce on his approach to the 17th.

And he also revealed he will now have to cancel his planned trip to play in two PGA Tour events which take place the week before and the week of the Open.

"Late change of plans but I'm not complaining," added Hillier, who missed the cut on his Open debut in 2021.

"It's going to be a pretty awesome experience playing the Open again so I can't wait."

Hillier finished two shots ahead of England's Oliver Wilson and American Gunner Wiebe, who secured the other two spots up for grabs at Hoylake.