Fowler comes through in the clutch for DBC victory

— -- NORTON, Mass. -- Rickie Fowler stood on TPC Boston's 18th tee with a 1-stroke lead on this picture-perfect Labor Day afternoon in the heart of New England, a slight breeze at his back, whistling through the tall trees. He had a decision to make, but to hear him later, it really wasn't a decision at all.

"I didn't feel like hitting 3-wood," he would say with a shrug afterward.

Instead, he pulled out his driver -- and you could excuse him if he felt some familiar pangs of déjà vu.

At the Players Championship in May, Fowler hit driver 330 yards down the right side of the final fairway and posted a birdie to reach a playoff he'd eventually win. Two months later, he stepped to the last tee at the Scottish Open and banged another driver right between two fearsome bunkers that led to another winning birdie.

Golf doesn't often afford the luxury of analogies to other sports during crunch time, but there are comparisons to be made here. Michael Jordan always wanted the ball in his hands with the game on the line; Tom Brady wants it during any late-game two-minute drill. Fowler might not thrive in the moment yet like Tiger Woods during his prime, but he has shown a propensity for handling the pressure.

And so with the Deutsche Bank Championship hanging in the balance, Fowler grabbed that driver once again, ripping a shot that skirted down the left side of the par-5 closing hole, pin-balling off the first cut of rough and finishing in the fairway, 341 yards from where he'd taken the swing.

Unlike his previous two victories this year, he wouldn't need another birdie on the final hole this time. When playing partner Henrik Stenson failed to make birdie, Fowler 2-putted for par and another win at another big-time event.

"I hit it perfect; I made a great swing," he boasted in the aftermath of a final-round 68. "It is nice to be able to look back at the Players and the Scottish Open and remember the drives that I hit there to give me that little boost of confidence when I need it."

For those keeping score, that's three pummeled drives on the 72nd hole of tournaments, followed by three wins.

"All of them were probably his best swings of the day," said caddie Joe Skovron. "It just shows he likes that moment. He's never really struggled in that moment. He gets in that moment and he finishes. He just hasn't been in that moment a lot."

Standing in the players' locker room not long after the victory was clinched, this story led Skovron to another from years ago, back when their confidence wasn't equally rewarded.

This was 2009, when the then-20-year-old Fowler didn't have status on any major golf tour. Playing his first PGA Tour event as a pro, he was finishing up a share of seventh place in Las Vegas when the caddie offered a dose of optimism.

"I said, 'Dude, you didn't even have your good stuff this week. You're going to win a lot out here,'" Skovron recalled. "I thought this kid would win two or three times right off the bat."

Fowler lost in a playoff the next week. He claimed two more runner-up finishes the next year and another the year after that. Finally, in 2012, Fowler broke through for his first PGA Tour title.

The proverbial floodgates were supposedly open.

Instead, he failed to win again that year. Or the next year. Or the one after that. With his orange wardrobe and flat-bill cap, Fowler was quickly becoming one of the game's most popular players, but with that popularity came increased criticism. He soon earned a reputation as wildly talented player who couldn't win.

"He doesn't talk a lot about that kind of stuff, but you could tell he was wearing it on his shoulders," Skovron said. "It builds up, you know. Because he wants to win. I think the expectations were so high, so quick, because of his popularity."

The stigma was similar to that of Jason Day, another superstar-in-the-making whose early years tested the patience of observers.

Consider it more ironic than simply coincidental that Day and Fowler have each progressed at the same rate and are starting to win more frequently at the same time, combining for seven worldwide titles this year, including each of the first two FedEx Cup playoff events.

"It's not easy to win out here," Fowler explained of their parallel surges. "[It was] kind of time to knock on the door and just wait for that to happen and continue to play well."

He didn't just play well. When the tournament was on the line, Fowler was at his most aggressive, swinging for the fences and hitting a home run. That's the kind of thing that labels athletes in other sports as clutch competitors.

Come to think of it, ripping another driver with a tournament on the line is the kind of thing that just might label Fowler as clutch, too. It's a label that has taken many years to cultivate.