last year, Rickie Fowler spent the week of the Arnold Palmer Invitational not in the Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Not because Fowler, who had a close relationship with Arnold Palmer, chose not to show him in Orlando, but because his game didn’t get him in, and Palmer’s nephew, Sam Saunders, choose not to use a sponsor’s invitation at fan favorite Fowler.
“At the end of the day, play better. It would have been a lot easier just to have played well last year and earned my way into these events,” Fowler said at last year’s Cognizant Classic of not getting an invite. “It is what it is. Like I said, at the end of the day, I play well and that will take care of that. Obviously I’m upset that I won’t be there next week. It’s a special event and obviously I’ve had a very special relationship with Mr. Palmer. But we’ll see. We’ll see if we can get a trophy this week, and that will take care of that.”
He didn’t win that week, instead finishing in a tie for 18th, which meant he spent the API weekend at home instead of playing in one of his favorite PGA Tour events. Fowler was in the midst of a scrappy run that saw him earn just one top-10 finish in a two-year span. But the six-time PGA Tour winner began to find his form as spring turned to summer. He posted a top-10 finish at the Memorial and then finished the season with a top-10 finish at the FedEx St. Louis Championship. Jude and BMW, who saw it finish the season inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup and placed him in all Signature Events in 2026.
This time, no sponsor invitation is needed.
“It gave me a little bit of motivation,” Fowler said Friday at Bay Hill about not getting a waiver in 2025. “Yeah, it was bad not being here, but sponsor invites are sponsor invites. There’s no guarantee, and it depends on the tournament and the people involved who they want to give them to. So it’s a lot easier to get a good job last summer. inside the top 50, so I didn’t have to ask for favors or invitation, so a little less stress this year.
The only other time Fowler has missed the Arnold Palmer Invitational came in 2016 when he had a scheduling problem leading up to the Masters. At the urging of his agent, Fowler drove to Bay Hill to let Palmer know in person that he would be unable to play in his event. That conversation was difficult.
“That was probably one of the hardest things I had to do,” Fowler said of that conversation with Palmer. “It felt worse than a breakup, you know, to go here and tell him that. He wasn’t – he wasn’t too thrilled. But obviously, being a player, he understood and respected that I came here and told him. So it was special to have the relationship that I did with him and to be in a position now where we continue to do things to help the foundation to help in this small part.”
Nine years later, Fowler’s golf caused him to once again miss a tournament close to his heart.
Things are different in 2026.
Fowler arrived at Bay Hill this week having scored three top-25s in four starts so far in 2026. He used the offseason to rest a shoulder injury that bothered him throughout the 2025 season, but one he fought through to put himself in the position he’s in now: with a ticket to all of the Signature Events and a skill to choose from.
After posting 69s at Bay Hill, Fowler enters the weekend in the top 10 and with a chance to add a major trophy to his case — one that would have added significance because of Fowler’s connection to Palmer and the type of golf he knows he’ll need to wear the red jersey on Sunday.
“That would be pretty high on the list,” Fowler said of the win at Bay Hill. “It would be so much more special if I could get that red sweater from Arnie himself. But, no, this has always been one of my favorite events.
“We’ve had chances and played well here before. This is a special game, especially with a course, but the golf course, the Test, is a shot and the guys who win here and have success here, you can’t fake this place, you have to earn it.”
Rickie Fowler will open the weekend seven shots off 36-hole leader Daniel Berger, who shot a first-round 63 in milder morning conditions. But with the greens at Bay Hill dying and carnage lurking around every corner, it’s still everyone’s turn.
After a year away from an event about his heart, Fowler finds himself in the middle of things.
A lot can change in 365 days.
