19th Hole
Rickie Fowler gives surprising update amid heavy links to LIV Golf

As players prepared for the third major of the season, fears were that those returning from last week’s inaugural LIV event would attract all the attention.
However, there seems to have been some genuine respect shown by those involved with the publicity-seeking rebel tour and the world of golf looks forward to four days of tough competition at Brookline.
This does not, of course, stop rumor and speculation as who may be the next player to jump ship and Sky Sports caught up with one of those names continually banded about – Rickie Fowler.
Formerly ranked world number seven, Fowler is at Brookline as second alternate, and was asked on Tuesday what life was like being in that position.
The 33-year-old conceded, “Can be a little out of place, being an alternate..playing nine today, play nine tomorrow…we’ll see what happens”
Was he hoping someone puts a toe out of place so he can grab a starting slot?
“I don’t wish bad on anyone” said Fowler. “But, you know, if two slots open up…..we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
Fowler, former world amateur number one and winner of five PGA Tour and two European tour titles was then asked the obvious.
He gave his view on being mentioned as a candidate for the “huge topic in golf at the moment”, after several sources previously reported that the 33-year-old was set to sign with the LIV Golf Series…and it contradicted those reports.
“Unfortunately, there has been a lot of false accusations. I haven’t made any sort of decisions.”
Having been inside the world’s top-50 for 10 consecutive years from 2010, and in the top-100 over the last couple of seasons, he clearly has an affection for the PGA Tour, but admits there is a need to change.
“I believe the PGA Tour is the best place to play, has been and certainly is. I would love to see it be that way in the future but some things do need to evolve, change. So that’s kind of where I’m at”
After admitting the PGA Tour is becoming “more and more divided”, he mentions that, “with LIV, it is a very different format.”
Fowler would like to see them “co-exist”, and expands on that.
“I mean, you have traditional, 72 holes of golf, and then then 54 with the team aspect, so, yeah, I’m just trying to learn as much as I can and enjoy playing on tour and see what happens.”
Having been runner-up in the 2014 US open at Pinehurst, and with further second place finishes finishes at The Masters and Open Championship, as well as 3rd at the PGA Championship, Fowler has excellent back-form in majors.
However, with only four top-10 finishes in his last couple of seasons of regular play, he has drifted to a place just inside the world’s top 150.
It looks all but assured that Rickie won’t get the chance to tee it up this week, as he remains second alternate just hours away from the opening day’s action at Brookline.
You can catch the full interview here.
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.