Rickie Fowler raised some eyebrows over the weekend at The Sentry, not because of his trademark Oklahoma State orange but because his attire did not include some of his notable sponsorships.
Rickie Fowler dishes on Farmers, Rocket Mortgage sponsorship with a surprising split
Rickie Fowler revealed why he did not wear any sponsor logos during the first event of the year, The Sentry.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
Some people speculated that Fowler’s plain polo signaled a move to LIV Golf. But the former Cowboy squashed that notion in a recent interview with Adam Schupak of Golfweek.
“I have zero plans to go anywhere,” Fowler revealed.
But he revealed that he has no future plan with Farmers Insurance, one of his longtime partners and the presenting sponsor of the annual PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
“My contract was up, and I was told they weren’t looking to renew or extend,” Fowler said.
“It was a good fit with them taking over at Torrey [Pines], a tournament I loved and was closest to where I grew up. I loved doing the fun commercials with them over the years; it was a great partnership, and it was their decision to scale back.”
Fowler disclosed that the new Farmers Insurance CEO, Raul Vargas, wanted to go in a new direction.
Yet, the business will continue to sponsor the San Diego-area tournament—something the insurance company has done since 2010.
Interestingly, Fowler has teed it up at the Farmers Insurance Open every year since 2010, making eight cuts while missing six.
But he will not be in the field at Torrey Pines this year. The Farmers-Fowler divorce means that Fowler will take that week off for the first time in his career.
“I’m not in a position where I need to go out and slap a logo on,” Fowler noted.
“I’m not going to do a deal unless it’s something I believe in and want to do... I want to make sure it’s worthwhile and with the right people. I don’t want to be a billboard or Nascar driver type of thing, but I do want to have a good, core group of partners.”
One of those core partners will continue to be Rocket Mortgage, the Michigan-based mortgage lending company. Fowler won the Rocket Mortgage Classic last July—his first victory since 2019—but the company’s logo was notably absent from his shirt in Maui.
“We have something in the works to move forward, but it hasn’t been finalized yet,” Fowler said of his discussions with Rocket Mortgage.
“I think there is a good chance we will have the logo and move forward with the partnership there.”
Fowler will not tee it up at next week’s Sony Open in Hawaii but will return to the PGA Tour at The American Express—formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs, California.
Then he will skip Torrey Pines before playing three weeks in a row at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and the Genesis Invitational in February.
Perhaps by then, the Rocket Mortgage logo will return to his sleeve.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
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