Rickie Fowler's Failure to Launch: The Orangesicle Melts Again, Goes Oh-for-52

Orange on Sunday didn't work real well for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 1976 and 1977.

Those loveable losers went 0-26 wearing orange on Sundays.

Rickie Fowler might want to rethink this orangesicle theme of his on Sundays at PGA Tour events. He might want to ditch the orange because he's simply melting like a popsicle on a hot summer day.

The kid who made his reputation with one good match in the Ryder Cup is now 0-for-52, and well, what we have here is a trend, a failure to launch on Sundays.

It happened again at Aronimink. The Orangesicle was there in the final group on Sunday, tied for the lead and certainly standing out from the crowd in those nifty orange threads.

Unfortunately, he's looking too much like those '76 and '77 Buccaneers.

Rickie didn't string us along on Sunday. He bowed out quickly with a double-bogey at the second hole then a bogey at the fourth, and it was painfully obvious he was heading for another one of those Sundays when bogeys show up in place of birdies.

Heck, the summer's most intriguing player, amateur Pat Cantlay, danced circles around Fowler in the final round. Cantlay, who is three years younger than Fowler and a lot less experienced, cut him by seven shots with a nifty final round 67.

Fact is, final rounds simply aren't Rickie's thing. There was a 74 at Torrey Pines, a 78 at Bay Hill, 74 at the Masters, 73 in New Orleans. The Orangesicle ranks a lofty 112th on the tour in final round scoring.

You'd like to have a dollar for every announcer who tells you Rickie Fowler is "ready to win."

Yep, he came close twice as a rookie, but he's simply been the kid wearing orange on Sunday this year. Yeah, Buccaneer Orange.

Some analysts are blaming that download move in his swing and it's a doozy. It makes Sergio Garcia's look unnoticeable. Garcia makes it work for him, he's an extraordinary ball striker.

Fowler isn't. At least not on Sundays.

Unfortunately, Orangesicles melt in the sun and also on Sundays on the PGA Tour.