BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP:PGA TOUR rookie Rickie Fowler will have one eye firmly fixed on world ranking points when he competes in this week's Byron Nelson Championship at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas.
A top-five finish here would lift the Californian into the world’s top 50, thereby earning him automatic exemption for next month’s US Open and the July 15th-18th British Open.
“I knew I was going to have to play well coming into this week . . . to try and get in the top 50 in the world,” said the 21-year-old.
“That would take two qualifiers out of my near future, for the (US) Open and the British Open, so that’s kind of the main thing on the agenda: to play well and get that out of the way.”
Fowler lies 54th in the world rankings and he decided to skip last week’s Texas Open in San Antonio in order to be well-rested for the Byron Nelson Championship.
“I wanted to have a fresh week coming to these three tournaments – the Colonial and Memorial but focusing on this week to play well,” he said.
None of the world’s top 10 will be competing, with American Hunter Mahan (17th) and US PGA champion Yang Yong-eun of South Korea (19th) the highest-ranked players set to tee off in today’s opening round.
South African Rory Sabbatini will defend the title he won by two shots last year after holding off a late charge by Britain’s Brian Davis.
