Rickie Fowler, one of golf's most colorful characters, celebrates his first PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow, where he won in a playoff against 2010 champion Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points.
(CNN) -- When Rickie Fowler was named the PGA Tour's rookie of the year in 2010, the groundswell of opinion outside the U.S. was that the award should have gone to another young golfing prodigy -- Rory McIlroy.
While the Northern Irishman went on to win his first major title in 2011, and climbed to the top of the world rankings this year, Fowler had been hanging on the cusp of his own breakthrough.
Until Sunday, that is, when the 23-year-old claimed his first PGA Tour title at the same Quail Hollow venue where McIlroy made his mark two years ago with a stunning final-round 62 that secured his maiden U.S. victory.
Clad in his trademark bright orange outfit, his shock of hair barely contained by his hat, and a mustache nestling above his top lip that any 1970s detective would be proud of, Fowler produced his own moment of magic to beat McIlroy and fellow American D.A. Points in a playoff at the Wells Fargo Championship.
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His stunning wedge shot to within four feet of the hole at the tricky 18th, which had given up only four birdies all day, earned him the $1.17 million first prize and lifted him to 15th in the FedEx Cup standings and 24th in the world rankings.
Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko is the youngest LPGA Tour winner in history courtesy of her win at the Canadian Women's Open. She was just 14 when she triumphed at the the New South Wales Open in January 2012, becoming the youngest player to win a professional tournament. She clinched the U.S. Amateur Championship two weeks ago.
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Luke Donald ended Rory McIlroy's two-week stay at the top of the world golf rankings with a third-place finish at the Zurich Classic -- his best result of the year.
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"For Rickie to go out and play that hole the way he did, he deserved to win," said McIlroy, who returned to world No. 1 above Englishman Luke Donald after taking home $572,000 in consolation.
"He probably has gone through a little bit of sort of scrutiny and a lot of pressure trying to get that first win, but now that win is out of the way. Hopefully that'll ease the pressure a little bit."
Fowler, who was the world's top amateur for 36 weeks, lost a playoff in his second tournament as a professional and has been runner-up three times on the main U.S. tour.
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"It's nice to kind of shut them up a little bit," he said on the PGA Tour website. "It's going to be kind of a relief. It's been a wait, but I'm definitely still young, and hopefully this opens the door to many more. But it's nice to be mentioned as a PGA Tour winner.
"It's still going to be almost like having zero when someone like Phil (Mickelson) is getting announced with 40 and I've got one. I've got some work to do."
When Fowler lines up at this week's prestigious Players Championship, he will again be playing without one of his closest golfing friends -- Masters champion Bubba Watson, who skipped Quail Hollow to be with his wife and newly-adopted son and has also decided to sit out golf's "fifth major."
Final leaderboard at Wells Fargo Championship
Watson and Fowler make up half of golf's only boy band, the Golf Boys, along with Ben Crane and FedEx Cup leader Hunter Mahan.
"I'm bummed that Bubba wasn't around," said Fowler, who helped Watson celebrate after his Masters playoff victory in April.
"We weren't exactly inside the ropes but we had a front-row seat, and just to see how he handled himself, the shots he hit, just to feel the energy ... definitely being around there gave me the kind of want to win more."
It's not the first time Fowler has beaten McIlroy -- he did so by six shots in his only other professional win in a Korean event last year.
"Rory is the top-ranked young player right now, I'm probably the one that sticks out most with color," Fowler said. "Now I'm a PGA Tour winner, so I've got some credibility."
Fowler played in the 2010 Ryder Cup defeat against Europe, and Sunday's victory has lifted his hopes of playing in the U.S. team for this year's match in Medinah, Illinois.
Meanwhile, another player who made his Ryder Cup debut two years ago, Francesco Molinari, boosted his chance of a second appearance in September by winning the European Tour's Spanish Open on Sunday.
The Italian, whose brother Edoardo halved with Fowler in singles play at Celtic Manor in 2010, moved up to 10th place on the European Ryder Cup standings after winning by three shots in Seville.
The 29-year-old took home €333,330 ($435,000) after clinching his first title in 18 months, and climbed to 29th in the world rankings.
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Fowler holds the Wells Fargo Championship trophy alongside his mother Lynne (letf) and girlfriend Alexandra Brown.
The 23-year-old wished his close friend Bubba Watson had been there to help celebrate. Fowler was on the green when Watson won his first major at the Masters in April, but the left-hander has played only one tournament since then as he is spending time with his newly-adopted son.
McIlroy (left) won at Quail Hollow in 2010 for his first PGA Tour victory, but lost out to Fowler in the rookie of the year award.
They played together for the first two rounds at last year's Masters, where McIlroy suffered a final-day collapse before winning his first major at the U.S. Open two months later.
They were paired again at the next major, the British Open at Royal St. George's -- where Fowler tied for fifth and McIlroy was 25th.
The duo's rivalry goes back to their amateur days, with Fowler helping the U.S. to beat Great Britain and Ireland in the 2007 Walker Cup on McIlroy's home soil at the Royal County Down Golf Club.
Guan Tian-Lang, 13, made history as the youngest player at a European Tour event when he teed off at his home China Open in April 2012.
However, he could not better the achievement of Jason Hak, who was 14 when he became the youngest player to make the halfway cut at a European Tour event at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.
Thompson is the youngest player to win on the European Ladies' Tour. Here she receives her trophy at the Dubai Ladies Masters on December 17, 2011.
American Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els in a playoff at the Zurich Classic for his first PGA Tour win at the 164th time of trying. Els' two-year title drought goes on, but he likely did enough to qualify for the U.S. Open.
After Els missed a 6-foot birdie putt to win on the first playoff hole, Dufner two-putted for birdie on the next to finally claim his first title -- the weekend before he gets married.
Rory McIlroy replaced Donald as No. 1 despite a disappointing showing at the Masters in his last tournament. He spent this week with his girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki in Copenhagen.
Carl Pettersson of Sweden won the RBC Heritage by five shots from Zach Johnson for his fifth PGA Tour title.
The former world No. 1swings his son Ben over his shoulder during the fourth annual Els for Autism Pro-Am charity golf tournament, held in March 2012.
Els often returns to his native South Africa for vacations with his wife Liezl, Ben and daughter Samantha. He has invested heavily in the Cape region where he grew up, opening a golf foundation for disadvantaged youngsters, a wine and restaurant business and a resort.
Els (pictured with Liezl with Ben in 2011) says he has met some families with three autistic children and admitted it would be "one of the hardest things in the world."
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