PGA Championship: Rickie Fowler misses out despite late charge
Last Updated: 13/08/17 11:49pm
Rickie Fowler made a bold bid for victory in the final round of the PGA Championship but ultimately came up a few shots short.
The 28-year-old American had declared his intent on Saturday evening when he tweeted "it's on tomorrow" despite finishing with four successive fives for a 73 to slip six shots off the lead with 18 holes remaining.
Fowler failed to make any inroads on the front nine at Quail Hollow as he mixed two birdies with two bogeys, but a run of four straight birdies from the 12th gave him an outside chance of hauling in the leaders.
The world No 10 was unable to add any more gains over the tough final three holes, though, as he finished on five under after carding a four-under 67.
"I knew I still had a shot out here today. I knew it was going to be tough," said Fowler after completing his round.
"I knew I needed to get off to a good start on the front nine. You never know. It wasn't like there were a bunch of guys up there.
"With this golf course, especially the finish, anything can happen. I knew I was going to have to post a pretty good round to have a chance, especially with it playing softer over the weekend.
"It would have been nice to get off to a little better start on the front nine, but it's not easy with the first six holes really. Not a whole lot of scoring opportunities there.
"You drive it in the fairway, you are going to have some looks. It's tough to do. Four of those are par-fours and two tough par-threes.
"It was good, it was fun to get on a run on the back nine, but I probably needed to get a couple on 16 through 18."
Fowler finished in a tie for 11th place in The Masters, joint-fifth in the US Open and tied 22nd in The Open and is satisfied with his performances in the majors this season.
"Pretty good. I mean, I put myself in contention the first two. It wasn't a great British, but not bad," he said.
"To be here, play solid the first two days and put myself in contention, was really in the mix until those last three yesterday. Obviously I wasn't out of it, but it was going to take a really good round today to give ourselves a chance.
"It's nice coming off of last year. Made all the cuts. That's a good step."
