Rickie Fowler gets first PGA Tour win in Wells Fargo playoff

Charlotte, NC, United States (AHN Sports) – He waited for more than two years to fulfill the predictions but the wait ended Sunday when Rickie Fowler picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship in spectacular manner.

Fowler finished the regulation 72 holes tied at 14-under par 274 with Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points. The threesome then headed back to the difficult 18th for the playoff.

The orange-clad Fowler stunned his opponents with a gap wedge from from 132 yards out that landed just short of the hole and check up just four feet away. Points’ approach finished 35 feet away, McIlroy pushed his wedge shot 25 feet wide right.

Points had to hole a 12-footer just to make par then McIlroy canned one from five feet, just outside Fowler for his par. Fowler then calmly sank the winning putt.

“It’s been a long wait but well worth it,” said Folwer, who closed with a three-under par 69 at the Quail Hollow Club, the same course where McIlroy earned his first PGA Tour win two years ago.

Each of the three players had a chance to win outright but Fowler picked up a late bogey at the 16th when his approach buried in a greenside bunker then McIlroy took his turn when his tee shot at the par three 17th sailed well right of the green and he failed to get it up and down.

Points made bogey at the 18th, his first in 40 holes when his approach ended up in a greenside bunker and he failed to convert the par.

Likewise, a bogey at the 16th cost Webb Simpson a spot in the playoff. Simpson wasn’t as steady as he was the first three days. He suffered bogeys at the sixth, eighth and 11th holes in addition to the late one at 16. His 73 left him at 13-under and solo fourth. McIlroy closed with a two-under par 70 while Points shot 71.

Fowler played solid golf on the difficult back nine with birdies at hte 10th, 12th and 15th before the bogey at 16.

“It felt so good to make a birdie at 18,” Fowler said with a big grin. “It’s awesome.”

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