Rickie Fowler hits hits his approach to the 17th hole during the first round of The Memorial golf tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club Thursday, June 3, 2010, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)Rickie Fowler made a quiet entrance to Oklahoma State's basketball game against Harvard in the NIT.
But once cameras caught him in the crowd, and his picture appeared on the big screen in Gallagher-Iba Arena, so many golf fans flocked to him in search of an autograph that he needed a police escort to exit the building.
Fowler is a former Cowboy, a two-time Walker Cup member, the reigning PGA Tour rookie of the year, and one of the most popular players on tour not named Mickelson, Woods or Watson.
"He's one of a kind," said Oklahoma State golf coach Mike McGraw, who had Fowler on his team for two seasons before he turned pro. "I don't have a comparison for him to anybody else that's played here or has been on Tour.
"He's creating and carving his own path."
That path has led him to The Masters for the first time in the 21-year-old's fledgling career.
He finished in the top 10 seven times last year including runner-up finishes at the Phoenix Open and the Memorial to force Corey Pavin to make Fowler a captain's pick on the Ryder Cup team.
Those achievements account for his status between the ropes during tournaments.
But it's personality, his youth, his exuberance, his flash, his style, his orange-sherbet Sunday outfits, his long hair, fast cars and motocross background that appeals to a generation younger than most golf fans.
It's an appeal that Golf Headquarters owner Jon Williams hasn't seen since he worked overtime to stock his store with clothing and apparel stitched with a Nike swoosh or a "TW" logo for Tiger Woods more than a decade ago.
Fowler dismissed endorsement and apparel deals with traditional golf companies and made Puma his brand - a brand he's buoying.
"In '97, with Tiger, a switch went off and everybody wanted a swoosh, and I think that Fowler is doing the same thing for Puma," Williams said. "Ping and Nike have an amazing group of players playing their stuff.
"But I think Puma is the next wave and may have a similar impact."
Fowler's personal website features a video of him preparing for The Masters - a video of him playing Augusta National on a video game as his own virtual likeness.
"He plays golf like he's a kid again," McGraw said. "He makes a choice every day that he's going to have fun with it."
And fun is what former McCallie golfer Adam Mitchell remembers about playing with Fowler on the 2009 Walker Cup team which pitted the best American amateurs against the best from Europe.
The two are friends, and Mitchell will catch up with Fowler this week at The Masters. After all, they spent two weeks together in Australia in addition to their Walker Cup experience.
"The thing about Rickie is that he has so many different kinds of shots, trick shots, many ways to manipulate the ball that many people can't do," Mitchell said. "It's fun to watch him play, and we had a lot of fun."
Fowler has a chance to be the first player to win the Masters in his first tournament appearance. It hasn't been done in the 75-year history of the event.
"For first-time players, it's not an easy golf course to just go out and learn," Fowler said Monday in a news conference. "It takes some time and a it's a major."
Oklahoma State administrator Ryan Cameron followed Fowler during at the Colonial last year and witnessed a bit of his kindness and popularity.
"I turn around and there was this little girl, maybe 8-years old, and her parents drove from Amarillo and spent all week following Rickie," Cameron said. "Rickie didn't see her. I told him about her, and then he invited her into the clubhouse to take a couple pictures and sign a few things.
"It made her day. It was like she was meeting one of the Jonas brothers."
They're rather popular too.