Quote:
Originally Posted by GusJohnsonGOAT
Matsuyama's peak is awesome, but Fowler is definitely more consistently good and is beating Matsuyama in many important stats. He's also a lot better of a putter. I'd probably take Rickie on a random day over Matsuyama.
Hideki currently #2 in the OWGR with 2 official wins and 3 seconds this season in addition to winning Tiger's tournament. Rickie currently #9 in the OWGR with a career high of #4. Both have 4 PGA Tour wins, Hideki in half the time as Rickie. While Rickie is a better putter Hideki is a much better ball striker.
Rickie gets a ton of pub here in the states because of his looks and nice guy status, Hideki doesn't get much pub here because he's a foreigner without much outward personality who doesn't speak English.
Hypothetically, if you took Rickie every time he played in the same event as Hideki, I'd take the other side in a heartbeat. Rickie has to show he can close consistently. If he can change that, then things might be different.