Butch Harmon coached Tiger Woods from 1993 to 2004, winning 34 PGA Tour wins and eight major championships, including the epic Tiger Slam across 2000 and 2001. Yet reflecting on his career in a Sky Sports Golf podcast appearance, Harmon said Rickie Fowler’s 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic meant more to him personally than all of those majors combined. Not because of any bias towards Fowler or against others, but because of how far down Fowler had fallen, and how hard he had fought to come back.

The PGA Tour shared a video on X where the coach revealed the story behind their second partnership and the journey that led to that win and Fowler’s consistent improvement so far.

“I remember when he called me and said that any way we can get back together? And I said, you have no idea how happy you just made me. I said, because I’ve been struggling watching you,” Butch Harmon said in the video. “When he went down to, what, 150, 160 in the world, he had hit rock bottom.”

That reunion in 2022 marked the beginning of a slow but steady climb back. And just as Fowler was finding his footing again, a shoulder injury at the end of 2025 threatened to derail his momentum. Harmon addressed that too.

“Rickie was fighting a poor left shoulder at the end of the year [2025]. He took six or seven weeks off. Never hit a shot because we didn’t want to do surgery. He took that time off, and when he came back, he worked really hard on it, really hard on getting his golf swing more on playing. The position of his club at the top of his swing, remember how laid off it used to get. It’s the best it’s ever been. And he’s worked hard. Right now, he’s probably swinging better than he’s ever swung.”

Fowler reached out to Harmon after missing the cut at The Open in December 2013, and that initial run led to four wins between 2015 and 2019. Harmon scaled back travel in 2019, splitting with Fowler, who dropped to 185th. Harmon, then in his mid-70s, had begun stepping back from the week-to-week grind of Tour travel, opting instead to work remotely through video analysis from his base in Las Vegas. They reunited in 2022.

Fowler said that when they reunited, the message was simple. They started working on some ways to get the club back into a better spot. The aim was to return to a more upright golf swing by getting the left hand higher.

Their efforts culminated in the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic, a win that was special for both of them. It ended a 1,610-day title drought for Fowler. To put that in context, only a handful of players ranked inside the top 50 at their peak have gone longer without a win on the PGA Tour before returning to the winner’s circle. The post-2020 Tour saw a wave of similar droughts, with players like Keegan Bradley and Jason Day also ending multi-year winless runs in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Fowler wasted no time praising his coach afterward, calling him the “best golf coach out there.” He believes that what Harmon does best is bring out the finest version of a golfer based on the skills and abilities they already possess.

Heading into the BMW Championship 2026, Fowler believes that his golf swing is in a very good spot now. Speaking with the PGA Tour, he said that he is becoming more and more efficient every day. He also said that this efficiency will continue to benefit him.

Harmon echoes Fowler’s assessment, noting his swing is the best he has ever seen. Harmon also said that the game needs Fowler to win. He is someone whom fans would love to pay to watch, and that is evident from their unwavering support. Despite all the struggles and a winless run since 2023, many fans still stick with Fowler and cheer for him because he has built such a fanbase. Fowler’s fanbase remains loyal despite his winless streak since 2023.

Harmon has complete faith and confidence in Fowler. And now that he is playing well, Harmon believes he even has the potential to win the 2026 BMW Championship.

Rickie Fowler’s rise in the 2026 season

Fowler’s statistical trajectory underscores his resurgence. During the 2024 season, his SG: Total was -.210, and he ranked 134th on the PGA Tour in that aspect. However, he improved steadily from there. In the 2025 season, his numbers climbed to 0.354, good for 75th on Tour, and he has kept trending upward since.

This year, his SG: Total so far is 0.584. The six-time PGA Tour winner said that he has had some good finishes this year. This includes the runner-up finish at the Truist Championship, two T8 finishes at the RBC Heritage and the Rocket Classic, and two T9 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Cadillac Championship.

This comes after an injury that kept him from playing golf altogether for several weeks. At the 2026 WM Phoenix Open, Fowler discussed the shoulder injury from late 2025. He didn’t swing during the offseason to recover from that. It has paid off, as he came back stronger.

But it’s not just these close finishes that define his current season.

“Even coming off of times when I’ve missed cuts, I have a good understanding where I made mistakes, how I can either correct that or come back in a better situation,” Rickie Fowler said.

According to him, he is in a strong place right now, both swing-wise and mentally. He has learned to build upon experiences, good or bad. And that has helped him keep improving his game. What’s left now is for him to clinch his seventh PGA Tour win.