Fowler feeds off red-hot McIlroy

AUGUSTA -- Peer pressure doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Rickie Fowler knows.

The 22-year-old spent Thursday watching Rory McIlroy, five months his junior, shoot a 65 that made Augusta National Golf Club look like child’s play. It was fitting, since Fowler and McIlroy played with 23-year-old Jason Day. If Augusta allowed carts, theirs would have come with training wheels.

It took 13 holes for McIlroy’s fever to infect Fowler, who spent much of the morning scrambling to keep par a possibility.

“I missed a couple shots,” Fowler said. “I had a rough drive on (No.) 1. (On) 2 I had my foot slip, actually and didn’t hit it in the spot I wanted.

“Made a couple of good up-and-downs the first few holes there to keep me in it, and I just kind of battled back.”

Once he got hot, Fowler -- clad head-to-toe in a color as close to Masters green as his sponsor could get without inviting a lawsuit -- turned his 2 over into a 2-under-par 70 and put himself in contention in his first Masters appearance. He finished with birdies on 14, 15, 16 and 18.

“Definitely a nice way to finish,” Fowler said. “I’m looking forward to getting into (Friday). I was nice playing with Rory. It looked like he was doing everything right.”

Fowler, McIlroy and Day tee off for the second round at 12:42 p.m. on Friday.

The youngest group on the course, Fowler and McIlroy kept it light Thursday -- at least, as light as a round in a major championship can be.

“I enjoy spending time around Rickie and Jason,” McIlroy said a few minutes after signing his card for Thursday’s low round. “I’ve gotten to know them pretty well over the past couple of years. It definitely helps. It makes you feel a little more relaxed out on the course.”

What did they talk about?

“Cars, boats. Anything but golf, really,” McIlroy said.

On Friday, the pressure of playing as, and with, the co-leader may take some of the youthful looseness away.

“We had a lot of fun playing together,” Fowler said. “It’s nice to see someone play well like that and see that it’s out there, so we’ll give it a shot (Friday).”

Fowler, who played at Oklahoma State, said he plans to wear his traditional orange -- shoes, pants, shirt, hat, the works -- on Sunday. He quickly added, “If we make it to the weekend.”

Someone suggested that if he were to win the tournament, the orange might clash with a certain famous article of clothing.

“Anything looks good with a green jacket,” Fowler said.

Contact Ryan Gilchrest at 256-9725 or rgilchrest@macon.com

This story was originally published April 8, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Fowler feeds off red-hot McIlroy."