I am tired of reading headlines about Rickie Fowler not closing out tournaments, so that makes yesterday’s win even sweeter. Rickie didn’t close it out in convincing fashion after surrendering a 5 shot lead, but either way - a win is a win. He fought tooth and nail until the the last putt hit the bottom of the cup and earned his fifth PGA TOUR victory at the Waste Management Open.

Rickie didn’t get off to an inspired start with a 2 over front 9, but he did enough to maintain a four shot lead. His playing partners Justin Thomas and Matt Kuchar also fired a +2 (37) on the front nine, so they didn’t put too much pressure on the leader.

Despite his slow start, Rickie came out with a convincing birdie on the tenth and widened his lead to 5 shots. That’s when we thought Rickie would settle in and put the tournament away.

The golf gods had other plans on the challenging par 4 11th hole as the rain started to pick up in the desert. After chipping thru the green, and down into the pond, Rickie had to drop with the hope of getting up and down for bogey. Looking down from the green, Rickie saw the ball he dropped after the penalty magically start trickling down towards the water for a second time. Fair to say, Rickie hasn’t caught many good breaks in the desert.

Rickie had to drop again, and managed to drain a 17 footer to get up and down for triple bogey. This moved Rickie back to -16 under for the tournament, until he followed up with a bogey at the 12th and dropped to -15. Suddenly he was in second place to a surging Brandon Grace who birdied the 12th and 13th to move to 16 under. But this dog would fight as Rickie was forced to take fate into his own hands.

A few clutch shots by Fowler led to a two putt birdie on the par 5 16th. Grace bogeyed the 17th after pulling his drive into the water. On the edge of our seats, Grace got up and down for his par on the 18th to land him at a final score of -15 under for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Rickie elected to hit driver on the 17th (sitting at -16) and drove the ball onto the green. Once again, Rickie was set up for a two putt birdie and he did just that moving to -17 under. But the drama wasn’t over.

Rickie entered the 18th hole leading Grace by two at -17 under. Refusing to stray from his aggressive play, Rickie took driver again and put the ball into the thickest grass on the entire course - the church pew bunkers up the left side. All of the sudden, double bogey was not out of the question. But Rickie hacked the ball out of the grass and got up and down for the hard fought victory.

"I think he's going to get more out of something like that, showing resilience and coming back like that, as opposed to going out there and winning by four or five," said Justin Thomas, who finished third, three behind Fowler after a 72.

Rickie had been 1 for 6 when entering Sunday with a 54-hole lead with his lone win coming in the 2017 Honda Championship -- but today we can chalk another one in the win column improving his record to 2 for 7.

With the victory, Rickie jumps from 65th in the FedEx Cup to 7th in the standings. Perhaps this win is the confidence builder he needs leading into some of the biggest tournaments of the year a.k.a the Players Championship (where Rickie won in 2015) and the Masters.

Just last year, Rickie entered the final round of the Waste Management Open with a 1 shot lead, but fired a below average 73 and watched Gary Woodland take the title. Rickie can now leave that in the rear view, and move forward knowing  he can grind out a win even when he’s not at his best.

"I didn't think it would be easy, but the way I was playing this week, I thought it would have been easier," Fowler said. "It was kind of grind it out. I had a couple of tough breaks and had to deal with the punches -- a couple big ones -- but it feels good now."

That $1.2 million check probably helps.

Some fun Rickie stats from the week:

• 3rd in driving accuracy at 69.6%

• 13th greens in regulation at 72.2%

• 1st in birdies with 22

• 6th in putts per green in regulation at 1.673

Credit goes to our very own, Gregatron for predicting this week’s winner as golfballin’s ‘Baller of the Week’. This was Gregatron’s first winner of the calendar year, but he may just be heating up. If you are looking for some fantasy advice, you know where to look prior to setting that line up of yours.