The Loop

Rickie Fowler trolls new drop rules with game-changing technique at Honda Classic

February 28, 2019

We're starting to get the feeling Rickie Fowler isn't thrilled with the USGA's new drop rule/pilates workout. He's not the only one, of course, but Fowler had perhaps the highest profile run-in with the new rule last week after shanking his approach on the opening hole of his second round at the WGC-Mexico Championship and taking a formerly legal shoulder-height drop. He quickly realized his mistake and informed the rules official, but the damage was done, and Fowler went on to card a triple bogey 7.

It could have (and maybe should have) ended there, but Rickie Fowler is nothing if not the Fun Guy™, so on Thursday afternoon, Fowler took a little time out of his opening 18 at the Honda Classic to troll the acrobatic new rule with some gymnastics of his own. Golf dads of the world, if you see your little ones dropping like this next week, just know this is where they got it from. (Also condolences—as they say, you can't pick your kids.)

Forever immortalized in grainy PGA Tour Live screengrabs, Fowler's disco shuffle is mostly harmless stuff and, unless you're the type of upstanding gentlemen whose golf knickers are easily knotted, shouldn't be cause for too much consternation. It does, however, generate even more attention for what has become the single most trivial rules debate in golf and smartly distract from the fact Fowler put two in the drink a few holes later. Clever stuff from Rickie all-round, if you ask us.

Needless to say, if you like drama, crack your knuckles and dig in. The rest of you, just bang your forehead off the keyboard until your laptop shatters into a million little pieces or you lose consciousness. At this point, that is your only hope of escape.