Major run showed Fowler on verge of greatness on TOUR

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Rickie Fowler's 68 in the teeth of a classic British rain was one of the highlights of the week at Royal St. George's.

About the Open Championship . . .

Did Rickie Fowler fail to finish what he started? Or did he start what will lead to a major finish?

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There are those who'll take the first one and run with it. Hasn't won an event. Can't close. Lots of flash and hype, great clothes, style but...

And those folks ... well, let's just say they might be more than a bit short-sighted.

Four decades of watching majors teaches you one thing -- when it's your time, it's your time. It's mystical and magical. It's 15-footers for par into a gale. It's a Velcro shot on the bank at the 12th hole at Augusta. It's a snap off the tee that winds up in perfect shape for an approach to the green. It's a back nine beyond compare in your golden years.

It's the peace and the confidence, the acceptance we saw in Darren Clarke last week at Royal St. George's. It was Clarke's major. Just like it was Graeme McDowell's week at Pebble Beach or Jack Nicklaus' at Augusta back in 1986. The little things all fell into place. The games looked strong and at times effortless and no matter what form of magic the field threw at them, they always had an answer.

Fowler knows the feeling, just on a different level. And what we saw from him at Royal St. George's was ... a player stepping up to the major level.

That third-round 68? Brilliant. He played like a links veteran. He created shots around the greens. He bored drives through the wind and worked it around when he had to do that too. He thrived on that chess game everyone plays with the links. He didn't let the all-out brutal conditions bother him one bit.

And, afterward, he admitted he took a page from Tom Watson -- something a lot of much older players have yet to figure out.

"Joe (Skovron), my caddie, watched a little bit of the coverage prior to us going out, and (Watson) just saw kind of how he looked like he was having fun, smiling, and embracing the conditions,'' Fowler said.

"The best way to deal with tough and hard conditions is just go out and try and make a good time of it. So starting the round, we just wanted to keep moving forward, have fun hitting golf shots. And with those conditions, it make links golf fun to play."

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Rickie Fowler's strong weekend run gave him his first top five at a major.

Fun? Now we're talking. Haven't the last two major winners played their weeks as if they didn't have a care in the world? Like they're kids having fun on what's really a pressure-cooker of a week?

But that's only part of it.

We've been talking Fowler since his freshman season at Oklahoma State. He wowed there, he wowed at the 2007 Walker Cup where, as the youngest player he went 3-1. And the 2010 Ryder Cup where he was three down to Edoardo Molinari in singles with three holes to play and halved the match.

We've been expecting a lot. And, just maybe too much, too soon.

Yes, had he not laid up on the final hole at the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open, he might have won. Might have. Or maybe it was just Hunter Mahan's week. And there was the 2009 Frys.com Open where he lost a three-way playoff to Troy Matteson.

We were ready to see him breakthrough. And not just on Twitter or in double-dog dare videos with Bubba Watson. Yet what forgot was, no matter how talented a player is, no matter how many expectations he -- and we -- have for him, there is indeed a learning curve.

Some players jump right in, others need time. No one is Tiger Woods. Got that?

And with Fowler? We tend to compare him to the rival we want for him -- Rory McIlroy -- yet we forget that McIlroy turned pro two years ahead of Fowler. He had his oops moments, too, on the European Tour, which the U.S. doesn't follow too closely.

Dan Jenkins joked on Saturday that Fowler was low polka dot Saturday because of the design on his waterproofs -- but still five off the lead. Yes, clothes are the easy target for the man who loves bright solids, monochromatic looks and his signature Sunday orange. Same goes for his hair or his caps. Or his dirt-bike/BMX days.

Back then, a wipeout was just a wipeout. You get back up on the bike and go again. Skinned knees, bumps, bruises and all. But like he told Golf World's Tim Rosaforte before the Open, "Sometimes it's harder to get back up on the bike. In golf, you can never physically get hurt by a loss, but there can be some tough downtime."

We're thinking Fowler has turned the corner. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but he had another huge shot at winning three weeks ago at the AT&T National when he went head-to-head with Nick Watney. Fowler shot 74; Watney, the winner, shot 66.

You're thinking what a win could have done. We're thinking that loss may have done more.

Fowler didn't have time for tough downtime. He went to work on his game. He stepped up mentally. He hit the shots. He threw it all out and came up with his best major finish. Ironic isn't it, that his best major finish prior to that was a tie for 14th at St. Andrews in 2010 when he battled back from an opening 79?

After that 79, he reeled off six consecutive rounds of par or better at the Open before closing with a 74 and tying another young gun, Anthony Kim.

Instead of heading home, he hopped a plane for Vancouver where he'll tee it up in this week's RBC Canadian Open. He's a first-timer here, but he's standing out -- pre-tournament -- in a strong field.

He doesn't look at the comparisons to McIlroy as pressure. He calls it motivation. And no matter how many expectations we put on him, understand that his goals are even higher.

Before you ask, we have no idea how he'll take to the Shaughnessy G&CC. It's his first Canadian Open and like everyone else who played the Open, he's dealing with an eight-time-zone difference.

What we do know is we saw him step up last week. We saw a stronger mental game and some amazing shots under the toughest of conditions. We saw a player who we'll be talking about for a long while; a must-have on every Presidents and Ryder Cup for the foreseeable future.

And most of all, we saw a start -- on a major career.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.