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| - British golf great Nick Faldo has played down comments about Rickie Fowler suggesting the US player's commercial commitments were linked to his form slump. Six-time major winner Faldo, who now works as an analyst on US television, was accused of taking a cheap shot at Fowler in a Twitter post on Tuesday. Fowler hasn't won a tournament since early 2019 and has not had a top-10 finish since last year's American Express tournament in California. The 32-year-old American's world ranking had also nosedived to 65 at the start of this week, leaving him in danger of failing to qualify for the Masters in April. Fowler potentially missing out on Augusta for the first time since 2010 prompted Faldo to quip on Twitter: "Good news is if he misses the Masters he can shoot another six commercials that week!" Faldo later doubled down on the comment in a separate Twitter post which referenced his own wins at the Masters in 1989, 1990 and 1996. Faldo's remarks drew an angry backlash on social media, prompting the 63-year-old Englishman to walk back his jibe in a video statement on Twitter. Faldo explained that his remark had been intended to motivate Fowler. "I wish Rickie well," Faldo said. "I want him to play great, get out there, play to the top of the leaderboard, and that will all be fantastic for all of us. "Like everybody, we want him to find his game as soon as possible. Five years ago now, he was voted by the players as the most overrated player on Tour. It motivated him to go and win the Players literally the next week. "So, a couple years later when things were gone quiet, I said to Rickie, 'Hey, I need to give you a bit of needle, mate, to motivate you.' And he said to me, 'Bring it on.' "OK, it's years later, so hopefully he still remembers that." rcw/js
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