We are halfway through the 2023 U.S. Open, and a local is halfway to his first major championship as Rickie Fowler is the leader at -10 on Friday evening at Los Angeles Country Club.
Fowler was the last player to receive a 2023 PGA TOUR card, as he finished exactly 125th in the FedEx Cup standings after the regular season. It saved the Southern California native from having to take a one-time money list exception to keep his TOUR status, and now he’s in the mix at the third major of the year for which he didn’t even have to qualify.
Fowler sits 45th in the Official World Golf Rankings, and is playing his best after a pair of Top 10 finishes on the PGA TOUR in his last two starts before heading to LACC. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy has won five TOUR events in his career, including the 2015 PLAYERS Championship.
But he has yet to claim a major, or a win anywhere since the 2019 Waste Management Open. But for one of the most popular players on the PGA TOUR, he is now just 36 holes away from immortality.
And the Southern California native should have plenty of the gallery on his side this weekend.