Rickie Fowler opens up on "LOW POINTS" on PGA Tour ahead of CJ Cup

Rickie Fowler admitted that the last three years on the PGA Tour "haven't been fun" as he dropped down the world rankings and lost some major championship exemptions.

Speaking to SiriusXM PGA Tour radio, Fowler revealed that he feels far better than he has done in previous seasons now he has reunited with his old swing coach Butch Harmon.

The 33-year-old hasn't won on the PGA Tour since the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2019 and he has failed to qualify for The Masters and the US Open on the last two occasions.

He is currently ranked 106th in the world having fallen to 185th after the Fortinet Championship, but with good finishes at the Shriners Children's Open and the ZOZO Championship, it seems reverting back to Harmon could be doing the trick.

"These last three years haven't been easy. No one is going to go through their career without dealing with some sort of adversity or some low points," Fowler said.

"You learn to appreciate the tough times as well."

Rickie Fowler is trending up after two top-10 finishes in his last 3 starts. But the road has been long. He talks about it with Chantel and Dre on Gravy & The Sleeze.@RickieFowler | @chantel_mccabe | @Andres_Gonzales pic.twitter.com/mfHzLtiA5s

— SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) October 19, 2022

"You can never stay on top of the game. You're always going to have some struggles in there. (It's) just a matter of when it's going to happen.

"A little bummer that it's been as long as it was, but going through all that and doing the work that (John) Tillery and I did over those years put me in a position where I had a great base.

"I knew what needed to be done and being obviously very comfortable with Butch and having some past success, (it) kind of set us up for the past few months. It's nice, I feel a lot better being in this position than where I was the last few years.

"That's part of it and getting through those periods is all about how you come out the back end. It wasn't fun, but definitely, a good learning experience and you learn to appreciate the tough times as well."

Fowler is set to tee it up with Rory McIlroy and Tom Kim in the first two rounds of the CJ Cup this week. Ahead of this tournament in 2021, Fowler visited Harmon in Nevada to get a second set of eyes on his swing, still under the tutorship of John Tillery.

The five-time Tour winner came third that week with rounds of 66, 66, 63 and 71. Although Harmon, 79, no longer travels with the Tour, perhaps their split in 2019 was a key reason for his drastic dip in form.