Rickie Fowler Wins Waste Management Phoenix Open

Fowler won his fifth PGA Tour title despite a double and a triple-bogey in the final round

Rickie Fowler Wins Waste Management Phoenix Open

Rickie Fowler grinded out his fifth PGA Tour title on a difficult day at TPC Scottsdale.

The American won the Waste Management Phoenix Open by two strokes despite carding a double and a triple-bogey in the final round.

Fowler began the day at 20 under par but a double on the fifth dropped him to 18 under.

Luckily for him, playing partners Matt Kuchar and Justin Thomas were also struggling with the wet conditions.

He birdied the 10th to go five clear but controversy, and disaster, came at the 11th.

The difficult par-4 measures over 480 yards and in an attempt to coast home, he took iron off the tee but missed the fairway.

With some 250 yards to the green he came up short-right and overhit his pitch shot into the water beyond.

Rickie took a drop on the steep bank and the ball rolled back into the water, costing him another shot. He lobbed one 15 feet or so long and holed for triple-bogey.

A bogey then followed at 11, and after Branden Grace in the group ahead birdied 12 and 13, Fowler found himself one back.

The two big chances coming home at TPC Scottsdale are the par-5 15th and driveable par-4 17th. Grace could only par 15 and then bogeyed 17 after pulling his drive into the water before thinning his pitch into the bunker beyond.

That would ultimately end the South African's chances.

Fowler, however, birdied the 15th with a great long iron from 250, and then drove the 17th to birdie and go two ahead after Grace's bogey.

The 30-year-old then parred the 18th to win the trophy and finish at -17 after a 74 (+3).

One stat Fowler may not enjoy is that this was his 7th 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour and this was his seventh over par round in that position.

One stat is crucial for Fowler though, and that is his fifth PGA Tour victory comes at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, his first official PGA Tour title since the 2017 Honda Classic almost two years go.

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Waste Management Phoenix Open Leaderboard

1 Rickie Fowler -17

2 Branden Grace -15 

3 Justin Thomas -14

T4 Chez Reavie -12

T4 Bubba Watson -12

T4 Matt Kuchar -12

T7 Chris Stroud -11

T7 Sungjae Im -11

T7 Gary Woodland -11

*Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage