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 Rickie Fowler's early success on the PGA Tour is agruably the most impressive start to a professional career since none other than Tiger Woods exploded onto the scene in 1996. That year Woods won twice in eight PGA Tour starts, which was good enough for 25th on the money list ($790,594).
It's worth mentioning that Fowler has already earned $553,700 by finishing in the top 10 in each of his first two PGA Tour starts (Justin Timberlake Shriners Hosptials for Children Open and Frys.com Open).
According to estimates I've read that were credited to the statisticians at the PGA Tour, he'll need to earn about $140,000 next week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Orlando to finish in the top 125 on this year's Money List and earn full playing privileges for 2010.
Just how much of a financial windfall has Tiger Woods been for his fellow PGA Tour golfers? Fowler could make nearly as much cash as Woods did during his rookie year and finish roughly 100 spots below him on the Money List. Ian Poulter is currently as No. 25 on the Money List with earnings of more than $2.4 million.
With the cancellation of last week's Viking Classic in Madison, Mississippi, Fowler only has one more chance to accumulate the earnings necessary to join the likes of Woods, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Ryan Moore in bypassing Q-School right out of college. That opportunity will come at next week's Fall Series finale at Disney.
The torrential rains in Mississipi were actually a break for Fowler, who has now qualified for the 128-man field by virtue of his top 10 finish at the Fry's.com Open. His top 10 exemption carried over when the Viking Classic was called because of poor course conditions. Fowler was being considered for the final sponsor's exemption.
This year's Children's Miracle Network Classic has a purse of $4.7 million, up slightly from last year. To earn $140,000 Fowler will have to record yet another top 10 finish. Last year Troy Matteson, Scott Sterling and Kevin Streelman tied for sixth and each earned more than $154,000.
Even if he doesn't earn his PGA Tour card next weekend in Orlando, the floppy-haired 20-year-old Fowler has at least injected some blood into the lifeless Fall Series, and earned comparisons to the Jonas Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio in the process. The PGA Tour could always use more groupies.
The PGA Tour has an opportunity to define its Fall Series as an equivalent to Major League Baseball's September call-ups, when rosters expand to 40 men giving teams a chance to test drive their minor league talent. Pushing the top college/amateur golfer's who've recently turned pro could actually create some excitment for events like the Viking Classic and Turning Stone Resort Championship. After all, anointing the next big thing is a time-honored tradition in sports. Then again, it will probably be another 13 years or so until a player generates as much excitment and delivers the type of results that Fowler has in the past three weeks.
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