Rookie Rickie falls foul of dress code

RICKIE FOWLER was given a gentle introduction to the way things are done differently at Augusta National last night but it is history, not conformity, that is the young American’s chief obstacle as he bids to break the rookies’ curse at the Masters this week.

The 22-year-old kid from California makes his US Masters debut this week, bringing his surfer style and penchant for orange clothing to that most conservative of golfing shrines, Augusta National.

And if Fowler had forgotten those surroundings, he was soon put right as he turned the peak of his baseball cap towards the back of his head before his scheduled press conference.

Ron Townsend, the ANGC member moderating the question and answer session quickly advised him the peak should be returned to its proper position and a somewhat startled Fowler obliged.

It was not an overly officious act by Townsend, avuncular if anything and the press conference proceeded without fuss, yet it was a reminder nonetheless that things have to be done ‘correctly’ around here.

Nor is winning the Masters at the first attempt quite the done thing. Fuzzy Zoeller famously stands alone as the only rookie since the tournament’s beginnings in the mid-1930s to have won at Augusta National on his first visit, and that was in 1979.

“For first-time players, you know, it’s not an easy golf course to just go out and learn,” acknowledged Fowler, who played his first practice round here only eight days ago. “It takes some time and it’s a major.

“So you’re going to see guys that have — the seasoned veterans that usually do well. You saw guys like Tom Watson and Freddie Couples play well here a couple of years ago. Hopefully we can get a couple of young guys on top this year.”

Making Fowler’s task even more unlikely is the fact that he is still waiting for his first win as a professional after three runner-up finishes in his first 18 months on the PGA Tour. Yet the young gun was not afraid to lean on more experienced shoulders to help him reach hisobjective when playing Augusta last Monday and Tuesday.

“If I was going into it blind without any help from other players, it would be very tough,” he said.

“Luckily, especially having local caddies, local knowledge definitely helps.

“I played one round with Phil (Mickelson) and, you know, being around guys like that, that see the place a lot or have played well here definitely helps with preparation.”

Fowler was grateful to get his bearings.

“The thing that surprised me probably the most is you can see a lot of the course when you walk out of the clubhouse. I didn’t really know how the course laid, I just watched it on TV. I didn’t really look at a course map to see where all the holes were routed.

“To see how close some of the holes get together, 11 and 12, I didn’t know 16 and 6 were basically right next to each other, so to see how the course kind of rolled through; it’s almost a mountainside here, it was pretty cool to me.

“I thought it was pretty cool coming out of the back of the clubhouse and looking down over the whole course, that’s something I thought was special.”