Rickie Fowler “Gary Player does 300 sit-ups”

Super-fit Gary’s shock for Rickie.

Rickie Fowler held the World No 1 ranking as an amateur for 36 weeks.

The 24-year-old believed he’d also reached his peak in physical fitness.

That is until he met 74-year-old Gary Player!

“I’d been working out really, really, hard with my trainer, and thinking how I’d got all my ducks in a row,” Rickie recalled.

“Then I met up with Mr Player in the gym at Augusta. Let me just say he is phenomenal!

“They said he was crazy for what he did back in his era when, with very few exceptions, working out was a foreign language.

“But he still gets after it and gives it 100%. He even does 300 sit-ups.”

So did the ‘senior citizen’ come out on top?

“It was a lot of fun, that’s all I’m saying,” Fowler grinned.

The Californian admits he is monitored strictly by his team of advisors, not the least of whom is his Mum.

So there is no chance of him paying out $9,000 for a bottle of Deer Antler spray, as Vijay Singh had done?

“Oh, maybe if it had just been nine bucks,” he joked.

Fowler quit Oklahoma University after two years and quickly became a target for kids, who turned up to support him wearing the Puma cap with its own Rickie Fowler design.

Four years on, he laughs about his ‘fan club’, and admits he enjoys the repartee with them at every tournament stop.

“It’s great to see all those kids coming out in their Puma hats and gear to support me,” he said.

“I feel that it is part of our job to have some sort of impact on youngsters and hopefully have them grow into the game.”

It is not all idle chat, either. As we talked, Rickie autographed a whole box of hats and other souvenirs for distribution to his young followers.

Fowler was non-plussed about the delay in Thursday’s opening round, and is unfazed about the potential weather hazards at next month’s Open at Muirfield.

“I love links golf for all the reasons you hear about,” he said.

“Playing golf with three layers of clothing under a rainsuit is pretty tough.

“Two years ago we had some serious rain on the Saturday, but I just had my normal clothes on underneath it and I was fine.

“The biggest thing was keeping my hands dry and warm. I like playing in the wind, so it was just a case of getting on with it.

“Playing at Oklahoma certainly got me used to playing in Scottish-like conditions because it gets cold there once in a while, and it certainly can blow a lot too.

“So I’m comfortable playing in rough weather, and I know that when I pack for Scotland, it is with the knowledge it is the one week in the year you never know what you are going to get.

“But that’s the beauty of The Open. Warm or cold weather, the luck of the draw it all adds up to the Championship’s mystique.”