Rickie Fowler became the youngest player to be a part of the Ryder Cup team when he was selected as the captain’s pick of the US Ryder Cup team in 2010, at an age of 21 years.
Fowler’s inexperience caused him to forfeit a hole during the foursomes competition on the first day of the match. He went for rules violation when he took a permissible free drop from a muddy condition in an improper condition. This mistake, Corey Pavin, the captain of the US team believed was due to his lack of experience and can easily be pardoned. Fowler’s final day match was against Edoardo Molinari, where he birdied the last 4 holes and halved the match when he was 4 down after 12 holes.
Fowler played in a lot of tournaments since he turned pro, his first professional tour being the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he was tied at the seventh spot. Rickie Fowler won his PGA Tour card through the annual qualifying tournament in the December of 2009. He went on to secure the second spot in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Arizona and in June, 2011 again secured the runner-up spot at the Memorial Tournament by shooting a 73. This was Rick Fowler’s first PGA Tour win and it helped him enter the top 50 in the world rankings. The most important tournament for Rickie Fowler was the Open Championship held at Royal St George’s in the July of 2011, where he finished fifth and then in August, his securing of the second position in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, which was won by Adam Scott. This victory improved his ranking to No. 28.
Rickie Fowler became the Rookie of the Year, defeating the other contender, Rory McIlroy. He ended the year with a world ranking of No. 32.