'He carries that torch': Why Rickie Fowler is this year's Arnie Award winner

He’s turned 37, married with two kids, but Rickie Fowler retains plenty of flash. The hair and fashion choices remain topical, and the ageless face still recalls the California kid who grew up jumping dirt bikes and reaching high camp with “The Golf Boys.”

Fowler’s enduring appeal rests in something more subtle: the self-possessed calm he
carries as a quiet and close observer. It presents a cool, approachable exterior to fans, but even more importantly, good judgment in best practices. His grandfather and lifelong muse Yutaka Tanaka saw it when he took pre-school Rickie fishing. “He didn’t talk much, mostly just watched,” the now 87-year-old told Golf Digest in 2016. “When we fished, he did everything right.”

The pattern was similar after Fowler first met Arnold Palmer in 2006. He was 17, in the process of winning an AJGA event at Bay Hill when the then 76-year-old icon drove up in a cart to introduce himself. “I remember his handshake and eye contact were strong,” Fowler said, “and that when people gravitated to him, he made them smile.”

Over the next 10 years, Fowler himself became one of golf’s all-time Pied Pipers, a role his growing friendship with Palmer helped him embrace.

“Arnie really cared about his fans, and I watched him always react to them just by being himself,” Fowler said. “Seeing that told me that the best way to handle a lot of attention was to continue being myself. It makes the interaction more real, especially with kids. At this point in my career, I come across people who tell me how a five- or 20-second contact we had 10 or 15 years ago had an impact on them. It’s given me a greater understanding of who Arnie was and what he did.”

MORE: What's in Rickie Fowler's bag

That appreciation and emulation is why Rickie Fowler is the 2026 recipient of The Arnie Award presented by Golf Digest. The winner of six PGA Tour events, including the 2015 Players Championship, Fowler will be honored at this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational with a Palmer bronze sculpture created by the artist Zenos Frudakis. Golf Digest will donate $50,000 to the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation.

Fowler’s own foundation supports youth-oriented charitable causes. He also gives back with demonstrations of sportsmanship like staying until the end of a tournament to celebrate with the winner and remaining unfailingly gracious with media during periods in his career when his game has declined. In 2023, he purchased the 15-acre Murrieta Valley Golf Range, where his grandfather began bringing him at age 3 and where he took lessons from Barry McDonnell from age 7 until McDonnell’s death at age 75 in 2011. Other than plans for a junior learning center, Fowler will keep the character of the spartan all-grass facility unchanged, with no outward indications that he is the owner.

“Rickie gives back with so much of himself, somehow making time for everyone,” said Palmer’s grandson, Sam Saunders, who played junior, amateur and professional golf with Fowler. “He thinks about the game holistically instead of just what it can do for him, just as my granddad did. He carries that torch very well.”

Amy Palmer Saunders, Sam’s mother and chairwoman of the Arnold Palmer Group, believes her father saw himself in Fowler. “He liked that Rickie was compelling to a broad audience and a different audience, just as he had been when he came onto the scene,” said Saunders, who oversaw Fowler being named an honorary co-host of the Invitational in 2018 as well as receiving the tournament’s inaugural Player Philanthropy Award, “But what he loved about Rickie was his awareness of the players who created the pathway for his generation. As much as my dad had a great rapport with all the guys, with Rickie there was an extra depth.”

Fowler’s relationship with Palmer was built on a succession of moments. At the 2011 Seminole Pro-Member, the two played in the same group with Fowler shooting a winning 63. “A great day,” Fowler said. “Somewhere around that time, I stopped calling him Mr. Palmer and just went with Arnie. I don’t know if I ever got that fully approved, but it felt right.”

At the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Fowler challenged for the lead in the final group with Tiger Woods until a late triple bogey dropped him to T-3. He was about to leave when Palmer, sitting at the locker room bar, invited him over. “We had a couple of drinks, didn’t replay anything, just hung out. Tiger stopped by. Arnie did what he did—made me feel good, one of my best memories.” Before the following year’s tournament, Fowler dramatically trimmed his famously flowing locks, knowing the gesture would please his old-school host.

In 2016, Fowler decided that skipping Bay Hill might allow him to better prepare for the Masters, but his drive from Jupiter to Orlando to tell Palmer face to face was full of apprehension. “One of the hardest things I ever had to do,” he said. “Arnie was disappointed, but I’m glad we had that time.” A few weeks later, Fowler made sure to attend what would be Palmer’s last appearance as an honorary starter at Augusta National, where they shared a final handshake.

Palmer’s death that September a few days before the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National was a galvanizer for the U.S. side. At an early week team dinner, players were ordering individual drinks until Fowler, loud enough for the table to hear, said “I’ll have an Arnold Palmer,” after which a short silence lead to Arnold Palmers all around. After the U.S. won handily, it was Fowler who carried the trophy into the packed memorial service for Palmer at St. Vincent Basilica in Latrobe. Since 2017, Fowler at Bay Hill has worn Puma shoes and clothing that commemorate Palmer, with proceeds from sales going to the Arnold & Winner Palmer Foundation.

Like his departed friend, Fowler’s greatest gift to the game has been his example. “Since we lost Arnie,” he said, “giving back has become more meaningful because he knew how to do that better than anyone else.”

PAST WINNERS OF THE ARNIE:

Canelo Alvarez
Arnie’s Army
Clint Eastwood
Niall Horan
Juli Inkster
Toby Keith
Davis Love III
Peyton Manning
Rory McIlroy
Phil Mickelson
Jim Nantz
Ryan Palmer
Morgan Pressel
Darius Rucker
Kelly Slater
Brandt Snedeker
Jordan Spieth
Clay Walker
Steve Young