Rickie Fowler has the fans, now he needs the wins

Standing along the ropes at the Honda Classic pro-am in early March in Florida, firefighter Robert McCarry was hard to miss.

McCarry’s elaborate leg tattoo of a shapely female firefighter — one of several tattoos visible on the 36-year-old — stood out. Yet, McCarry’s look also fit in.

The reason was the man inside the ropes — Rickie Fowler.

Fowler’s bold fashion statements, Southern California cool and a couple of tattoos of his own have drawn a new demographic to a sport once rooted in country clubs and cardigans.

“It’s funny, I see guys with tats and big beards out here now,” McCarry said. “It’s made it a little more acceptable to show these [tattoos] on the golf course. I think he kind of changed the standards of golf.

“He’s brought back the flash.”

Fowler’s ability to excite crowds and move the needle have been undeniable since he joined the PGA Tour in 2009. The enduring knock has been that Fowler, a three-time winner on Tour, is more style than substance.

But he put on a show for his fans and silenced his critics at the 2015 Players Championship, playing the final four holes in five under par to get into a three-man, three-hole playoff. Fowler closed the deal in sudden death with his second birdie of the playoff on the par-three, 17th island green.

Fowler, 27, returns to TPC Sawgrass this week looking to defend the biggest title of his career and reignite a season that has stalled after a fast start.

After winning against a star-studded field in January at Abu Dhabi, Fowler squandered a two-shot lead in Phoenix with a double bogey on the short par-four 17th hole and eventually lost in a playoff. Among the favorites at the Masters, Fowler opened with an 80 and missed the cut.

Last weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship, Fowler rediscovered his game and held the 54-hole lead. But he bogeyed two of his first four holes Sunday and fell out of contention with a double bogey on the par-five seventh hole. He would finish with a two-over-par 74 and tie for fourth place.

“His reputation has always been he’s got a double bogey or triple bogey somewhere in his game, and he eliminated that and started playing better,” veteran Golf Channel reporter Mark Rolfing said. “The question is now, can Rickie find that sort of thought process again where he isn’t making some mistakes?”

But even when Fowler loses, he wins.

In the wake of his crushing defeat in Phoenix, Fowler held back tears because his maternal grandfather, Yutaka Tanaka, was in attendance and had never seen his grandson win on Tour.

Following his Masters blow-up, Fowler tweeted, “80 for the 80th playing of The Masters haha . . . definitely wasn’t the plan but I’ll be back at it tomorrow!!”

Fowler’s authenticity is endearing to fans and not just an act.

During the Honda pro-am, Fowler did not reach a tee box without shooting selfies with admirers or signing autographs.

“No one ever stops. What’d he do, 20 autographs before he teed off?” Dan McCarry, 62, asked his son, Robert. “He’s genuinely a nice guy. To me, he’s more likable than a lot of people out here.”

Fowler’s eclectic gallery speaks volumes.

Middle-aged men in flat-billed hats, millennials with tattoos, children decked out in Puma gear and, of course, adoring women of all ages follow Fowler — probably the most eligible bachelor on Tour.

“He’s an unbelievable kid,” fellow pro Billy Horschel said. “He’s done a lot of good things in this game of golf and pushed the boundaries in the game of golf that needed to be pushed.”

American golf has had its share of colorful big personalities dating to Walter Hagen in the 1920s.

In the modern era, Arnold Palmer, “Champagne” Tony Lema and Lee Trevino came from blue-collar backgrounds and enlivened a button-down sport with their interaction with fans and media.

Fowler, who grew up competing in motocross and learned golf at a local driving range, is cut from the same cloth, but with an ever-changing twist.

Fowler joined the Tour as a 20-year-old with boy-band hair and an bright orange ensemble, thanks to his Oklahoma State days. Since then he has sported a 1970s-style mustache, popularized high-top golf shoes and become a social media star. He recently documented on Snapchat a trip to the Bahamas with fellow Tour pros, including Jordan Spieth.

“It’s a cool, fun game,” said Fowler, ranked fifth in the world. “It’s not just one type of person that can play or one type of person that does play. I think the more doors that can be opened with sticking inside tradition and respecting the game, that’s what’s going to bring the younger generation, not just the kids that know golf but ones that maybe come from different avenues.”

NBC analyst Johnny Miller says victories will bring them all.

“He’s young and he’s unmarried and everything is going his way moneywise and glamour and enjoying the whole circus, so to speak,” Miller said. “He needed to realize you need to win, not only tournaments but you need to win championships.”

egthompson@tribune.com