Pro Navajo/Japanese golfer

Electra smooth

Fowler lets his game do the talking, places 2nd at Phoenix Open

By Sunnie RedhouseFor starters he's not an everyday golfer. He rides dirt bikes in his free time, he believes in the feel of golf rather than the mechanics, and the least obvious fact is that Fowler has Navajo blood that runs through his 5-feet-9, brown haired, hazel-eyed body.

"It's pretty cool because you don't find many people that are Navajo, Fowler said. "Let alone Japanese and Navajo."

The Murrieta, California native was born to a half Navajo and Japanese mother and an Anglo father.And:Last May Fowler left OSU in hopes of making the PGA Tour. He applied and was accepted, since then he's made some big waves across golf course in the states.

After achieving his pro status and qualifying for his PGA Tour card, Fowler has since hired himself an agent and landed a sponsorship with Puma and Titleist. He also bought a condo in Las Vegas and started putting himself out there for the world to see and hear on radio shows and TV spots.

He also launched his new website: rickie-fowler.com.And:He knows some information and history of where he comes from and visited his family on the Navajo reservation some time ago but remembers little of that experience.

"I know a bit. I know a little bit but not as much as my grandma knows. She's still in touch with everyone down there on the reservation and stuff, I have but I haven't been for awhile. I've been to Tuba City, I've been down there I think two or three times but I couldn't have been more than 10 years old so it's been awhile," he said. "I liked it down there it's pretty cool. Being able to go and hang out, it seems pretty relaxed down there.

"My grandma Jeanie (Tanaka), her maiden name is Yellowhair, she's the one that kind of educates me more on everything. She's from the Sage Brush Hill clan," Fowler said. "They are my relatives but she's closer with a lot of the relates. Some are living else where in the states and some are living still down on the reservation."Comment:  For more on Native golfers, see Begay:  Tiger's Apology Was Real and NB3 Challenge Raises $1 Million.

Below:  "Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, Calif., takes time to decide which is the best route for his shot Friday afternoon at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Ariz." (Special to the Times--Donovan Quintero)