HOYLAKE, England — There are not two players in the British Open field entering Sunday’s final round at Royal Liverpool who need to bring the Claret Jug home more badly than Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia.
Fowler, who trails leader Rory McIlroy by six shots, needs the win for validation. Garcia, who trails by seven, needs it for his sanity.
Fowler is a player who the average golf fan might assume has won numerous times based on how publicly exposed he is — with his commercial endorsements, social media involvement and general popularity. Yet he has won only once.
Garcia is a player who has more scar tissue from major championship disappointments than there is in Joe Namath’s knees. Garcia, who has seven top-10 finishes in British Opens alone, has in the past conceded he doesn’t have what it takes to win a major championship.
Fowler is the opposite of Garcia in that he is carefree and energized by what his future holds, seemingly sure he will one day be a major championship winner while Garcia is sometimes so consumed by his past failures it suffocates him.
Fowler gets it.
Garcia has a history of not getting it at all.
Both players had the best chance on Saturday (along with Dustin Johnson for a spell) of putting heat on McIlroy in the third round — before McIlroy punched it into overdrive on the final five holes to storm to a six-shot lead entering the final round.
Both Fowler and Garcia are likeable in different ways. Garcia, despite his share of petulant fits, always has been admirable for his honesty. Fowler, who has carefully studied Phil Mickelson, has learned how to handle himself with class — even in the face of disappointment.
Mickelson has taken Fowler under his wing, inviting him into his Tuesday practice-round matches during tournament weeks and giving him advice. Fowler has paid good attention, learning how to handle himself by being himself, how to treat the public and how far that goes in projecting a positive image.
Fowler even has taken on Mickelson’s swing coach, Butch Harmon, to improve his game, and the results are showing.
“He’s hitting the ball longer than I’ve ever seen him hit it,’’ Mickelson said of Fowler on Saturday.
“I’ve learned a lot from Phil,’’ Fowler said. “He’s kind of been like … I hate to say it … but like a dad out here. I’m sure he doesn’t like hearing that, but he knows he’s a little older than I am (43 to 25). It’s been a lot of fun being around him — not just playing on Tuesdays, but having dinner with him and the guys. I’ve flown with him a couple of times and just being around weeks with him and seeing how he operates on and off the golf course, how he treats his fans.
“He’s very well respected. I want to try and be like him in a lot of those ways.’’
Fowler has got all that off-the-course stuff down. Now he needs to win. Interestingly, the only win of his career came when he outdueled McIlroy to win the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.
With his torrid start Saturday, Fowler looked like he was setting up a similar showdown with McIlroy for Sunday. Entering the day trailing McIlroy by six shots, Fowler caught him by the 12th hole. But loose shots on 14, 16 and 17 cost him while McIlroy increased his lead.
As unlikely as it is for Fowler to catch McIlroy, who is historically a great front-runner, Fowler trails him by the same six shots entering Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to pulling off the start I had today [on Sunday],’’ Fowler said. “Maybe I can put a little bit of pressure on him.’’
Fowler sounded emboldened by the work Harmon has done with him, not just with his swing but with his confidence in the big events. He’s already tied for fifth at the Masters in April and second at the U.S. Open last month.
“This year, with how comfortable I felt in the majors, it’s not even close to the past few years,’’ Fowler said. “It’s kind of hard to explain. It doesn’t feel like a big stage. It feels like I’m supposed to be here.’’
Next thing on the list is winning a first major. That goes for both Fowler and Garcia.
“If [McIlroy] shoots 3-under, I have to shoot 10; nobody has done it before,’’ Garcia said, slipping into his defeatist mode. “But the only thing I can do is play well, try to put a little pressure on him and see how he reacts to that. If he plays that well [Sunday], he’ll be a deserved champion.The only thing I can do is keep at it and keep putting myself in these situations, and hope one day that it will be my turn.’’