'I Haven't Necessarily Made A Decision' - Fowler On Saudi League

Rickie Fowler is one of the most popular figures on the PGA Tour and certainly one of the most recognisable faces outside of the game. With that, it's little surprise the American was approached by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series and it would seem he's considering their proposal.

Addressing the media at Southern Hills, the American said: "To be straightforward with you guys, I haven't necessarily made a decision one way or the other. I've mentioned in the past, do I currently think that the PGA Tour is the best place to play? I do. Do I think it can be better? Yes.

"So I think it's an interesting position. Obviously there's the LIV and Premier [Golf League], as well. These tours or leagues or whatever - however you want to classify or call them, they wouldn't really be coming up if they didn't see that there was more opportunity out there."

Whilst he remained complimentary to the PGA Tour, Fowler refused to follow the stance of the game's marquee names and pledge his fealty (thank you, Jon Rahm) to the PGA Tour. 

One thing that remained on his mind was the possibility of repercussion. Last week, the Tour revealed it had denied release requests for its members to participate in the Series opener at Centurion Club next month. It is expected that future Series requests will also be denied given they clash with events in Northern America. 

Speaking of that decision, Fowler said: "If someone goes and plays, I don't know, I'm like trying to learn as much as I can. I have no commitment one way or another. Obviously the statement came out last week that they weren't granting any releases. I think a lot of people thought that the first one being out of the country may not be an issue. Obviously it would be more so once it came into the United States."

The 33-year-old added: "I'm sure there will be some sort of consequences but I really don't know at this time. It's almost kind of have to wait and see, and see what happens. I mean, I would say there's a handful of things, like I said, the Tour's currently best place to play in the world, hands-down.

"I feel like there needs to be some clarity between if you're an independent contractor or are you basically an employee. I think guys would probably like to know. Because if you're trying to make a decision one way or the other, I know there's some guys that are probably in a position where the consequence may not matter."

Despite falling to 146th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Fowler would be an enormous coup for the Series. His five victories include the Players Championship and a FedEx Cup Series event in the Deutsche Bank Championship. In 2014, the American featured in the top-5 in each of the four Major championships.

Fowler is the youngest known star to be seriously considering his place in the Series and is making his 13th PGA Championship start this week. He earned his place in the field after he finished in the top-10 last year.