[PHOTO: Andrew Redington]
After an even-par round put him eight back after the first day, Rickie Fowler knew he needed a hot start to his second round at TPC River Highlands. What happened on the first fairway on Friday was about the opposite of what he had in mind.
Fowler’s drive found the fairway, so it started OK. With a short iron in hand, a golfer’s worst nightmare came next – the six-time PGA Tour winner shanked his approach into the tall stuff well to the right of the green. After Fowler made contact, he looked up for his ball then realised the ball was shooting way right.
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The rest of Fowler’s reaction was classic, including the introduction of a new term in the golf lexicon. Have a look:
A full blown shank at the 1st for Rickie Fowler.
“Spanish fade” he calls it… pic.twitter.com/1kmlQJ7Cqc
— Rickie Fowler Tracker (@Rickie_Tracker) June 20, 2025
“Spanish fade” is a new one for us. We applaud Fowler for laughing off the ‘S word’. To do that on your first hole is a tough scene. Unfortunately it wasn’t much better the rest of the day for the man from Murietta, California. Fowler shot a second-round 77 to plummet down the leaderboard. Hopefully he was able to shake off the image of the shank as his round went on. We’re still working through that…
