Friday 16 March 2018 06:55, UK
Rickie Fowler is enjoying himself both on and off the course at Bay Hill as he plays a huge part behind the scenes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Fowler has a number of commitments as the co-host at this week's tournament, although he has also been able to focus on his own game and opened with a bogey-free five-under 67 to lie just three shots behind early leader Henrik Stenson.
The 29-year-old has become heavily involved in raising money to benefit the charities set up by Palmer before he passed away on the eve of the Ryder Cup in 2016, and Fowler was appointed to this year's tournament committee as the players' representative.
Once again, his clothing is emblazoned with the iconic umbrella, the signature logo for Arnold Palmer, and Fowler is wearing specially-made shoes with "the legend lives on" written on the heels.
"It's been really cool to be selected by the tournament, Arnie's Army, to the rest of the Palmer family, let alone the philanthropy award that I received on Wednesday," Fowler said.
"That's been pretty special, someone that I've always looked up to in Arnie and the way he kind of conducted everything across the board, from what he did off the golf course and fans and how he played and just all over. For his family to embrace me and see a lot of Arnie in me and them tell me that, it's pretty special.
"It's been a lot of fun being up here this week and definitely looking forward to continuing to play well," added Fowler, who has been working hard on his game with coaches Butch and Claude Harmon having missed the cut in two of his last four starts.
"I was hoping to back up the host duties with playing well. A little extra pressure, but I feel like that's where a lot of the guys out here, the best players in the world, I feel like that's when I kind of rise to the occasion. So it was nice to rise to that, put up a good solid round and get off to a good start.
"It looked like Henrik had a nice day out there at eight under, so we've got some work to do. It's a long week ahead, but this is a golf course that kind of tests every part of your game, so it was nice to have a stress-free 67.
"Over the past couple of weeks, we have been able to put some work in. Butch via satellite chiming in on videos here. But Claude, over the weekend when I missed the cut at Honda, and then a couple days leading up here.
"So it's been heading the right direction. I did swing it pretty good in Mexico, had some good ball striking stats, but it's nice to kind of see the ball striking and putting coming back together."
