Sunnehanna photo

Last Saturday, the Oklahoma State freshman, who was first in the Golfstat Cup Rankings, took a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division-I Championship, the final event in a rookie season that saw him win a pair of events and take top-8 finishes in nine of the 11 events he entered.

Those accolades earned a spot on the PING First-Team All-America squad, as well as the nod for the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation's top freshman.

But one of the most surprising, and rewarding, news Fowler received all week was when he got a text message from a USGA official saying that he had a spot in the US Open field after former PGA Champ Shaun Micheel withdrew.

After trying his luck at qualifying in Columbus, Ohio, with a host of PGA pros in town for the Memorial. After carding an opening-round 66, he followed that up with 73 and was eventually tabbed as the first alternate after falling in a playoff.

But after Micheel's withdrawal, the Fowler will join up with former Walker Cup team members Chris Kirk and Dustin Johnson in the first two rounds of play at Torrey Pines.

As if that good news wasn't enough, the Southern California local will be entering the tournament with a fair amount of confidence after taking home the Sunnehanna with three straight rounds under par (66-69-68-69--272) to finish at 8-under.

Fowler entered the final round with four golfers within a three strokes, but finished five strokes clear of second-place finisher Daniel Woltman of Wisconsin. Nathan Smith of Pittsburgh took third at 278 and was the only other golfer under par.

Zach Sucher was the one of the golfer trailing by a stroke after Day 3 after he carded a course-record 61, but stumbled to a closing 79 and finished in tie for 15th at 3-over 283.

Fowler joins Scott Verplank (1984-85), Allen Doyle (1989-90) and Edward Loar (1999-2000) as golfers who have also won back-to-back titles in the tourney's 55-year history.

In other news from the tourney England's Rhys Enoch won the event’s long drive contest by scorching a 395-drive from the the first tee.

Fowler's former high school teammate at Murrieta, Josh Anderson, now at Pepperdine, took second with a 393-yard poke, followed by Peter Uihlein, who will be a join Folwer at Oklahoma State this fall and was the runner-up at last year’s Sunnehanna, who sent his drive 391 yards.

Buddy Marucci was on-site scouting players for the 2009 Walker Cup, which will be held at his home club, Merion GC in Pennsylvania.

Full results follow from the6,868-yard, par-70, Sunnehanna Country Club follow: