It’s all or nothing for Rickie Fowler this weekend. Following a career resurgence at the turn of the year, the 34-year-old has made decent progress after making considerable changes to his coaching staff. But the upcoming WGC-Dell Match Play will decide Fowler’s participation in the first major championship of the season, in the Masters Tournament.

Rickie Fowler’s road to the Masters decoded

The five-time PGA Tour winner has halted his terrible slump on the PGA Tour with some good performances since fall. Once ranked 185th in the world, Fowler has climbed places to 59th in the standings ahead of the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin.

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“Once I got some good finishes in the fall, that helped kind of put me in a position where I knew what I could do and what was possible,” Fowler said in his pre-match press conference. “I would say after the season last year, it was just, all right, let’s figure out a plan, start with a clean slate.”

Yet, the rank might not be enough for Fowler. With the Masters coming up at a fortnight’s notice, only the top 50 players in the OWGR standings will receive automatic qualification to the tournament.

Henceforth, Fowler’s only way to tee at the Augusta National come April 6 is by securing a quarter-final round in Austin. The California-born hasn’t won the Green Jacket yet, having finished tied for second place in the 2018 edition.

What changes did Rickie Fowler make to his coaching staff?

Fowler is one of the legendary golf instructor Butch Harmon’s students, and made a mark for himself ever since he started playing golf. The 34-year-old was the number one-ranked amateur golfer for 36 weeks between 2007 and 2008, before jumping places to the PGA Tour.

But ever since he appointed swing coach John Tillery to his staff, things haven’t sailed smoothly. A loss in form coincided with a sharp drop in rankings. The situation got worse when he missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs last year, which forced Fowler to make urgent changes.

The golfer amicably split with his caddie before returning to Harmon’s tutelage for the 2023 season. The move has got Fowler up and running again, which could prove handy this weekend.

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