Rickie Fowler to headline PGA Tour’s 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship

Rickie Fowler is ready to return to work.

Fowler, 35, who with his wife Allison welcomed their second child, daughter Nellie, in August, has signed up to play in the Sanderson Farms Championship next week in Jackson, Mississippi, at the Country Club of Jackson. This is the first time Fowler has competed in an event that awards a rooster trophy.

Fowler, who has fallen to No. 68 in the world, last competed in a PGA Tour event at the British Open in July. He skipped the 3M Open and the Wyndham Championship while on probation, meaning he failed to finish in the top 70 and missed the FedEx Cup playoffs. This extended his unofficial paternity leave until September. Fowler could have returned to action a few weeks ago at the Procore Championship, the first event on the FedEx Cup fall schedule, but chose not to.

After a resurgence season in 2023, which included his sixth career Tour title, Fowler struggled this season, failing to record a single top 10 in 20 starts. He is exempt next season thanks to his victory at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic but at No. 110 in the FedEx Cup standings, he will have work to do in the FedEx Cup Fall to try to finish between Nos. 51 and 60 in points . ranking to qualify for the key events. Otherwise, he will have to count on exemptions from sponsors for events with high purses, limited fields and many of which do not have a cut.

Other notables at the event include Eric Cole and Nick Dunlap, the two players in the field who finished in the top 50 in the regular season points standings and are already exempt from next season’s marquee events. Past big winners in this field include Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson and Gary Woodland. Mackenzie Hughes (2022), a member of the International team this week in the Presidents Cup, and Peter Malnati (2015), who won the Valspar championship earlier this season, are among Sanderson Farms’ past champions in this field.

The Sanderson Farms Championship begins October 3.