Getty Rickie Fowler is engaged to girlfriend Allison Stokke.
Rickie Fowler is engaged to girlfriend Allison Stokke as the couple celebrated a beach engagement on June 8, 2018. After a brief stint being single, Fowler started dating Stokke in 2017. Since their relationship became official, Stokke has been at a lot of Fowler’s tournaments, including caddying for him at the 2018 Masters Par 3 Contest.
Stokke was one of the top high school pole vaulters in 2007, and went on to compete in college at Cal. Stokke was introduced to national fame early after a photo of her competing went viral. Stokke’s mother, Cindy Stokke, spoke with ESPN about her daughter’s introduction to the dark side of sports.
“I think I saw her grow up faster,” Cindy told ESPN W. “She saw how the world can be, saw how some people can be really cruel, some people can be great. I think she realized, ‘I can’t be so concerned about what everyone else thinks; I have to pursue my career and my dream and my sport.'”
Stokke appears to have found happier times with her soon-to-be husband, and is now a fitness model. The couple has yet to announce a wedding date.
Learn more about Fowler’s girlfriend.
1. Rickie & Allison Got Engaged on June 8, 2018
GettyAllison Stokke shows off her engagement ring.
Fowler announced they were engaged on National Best Friends Day. Fowler posted a photo from the beach proposal on Instagram with the following caption.
“Today is National Best Friend Day so I wanted to lock mine down…I WON!!,” Fowler posted.
Stokke responded with her own Instagram post capturing the engagement.
“Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And happy national best friend day to my best best best friend?! I love you!!!,” Stokke responded on Instagram.
Golf.com detailed Fowler and Stokke’s beach engagement.
Along with that message is a photo of Fowler kneeling in the sand in front of Stokke on an unnamed beach, with waves crashing behind them. He also included a photo of the pair smiling for the camera as Stokke flashes a large diamond ring.
2. Justin Thomas Took the Engagement Photos
Fellow golfer Justin Thomas helped Fowler plan the engagement, and was the one behind the camera for the engagement photos. Fowler scouted out Long Island beaches for the proposal prior to the 2018 U.S. Open. Fowler joked that he proposed because he was tired of keeping up with the ring.
“I just really didn’t want to carry the ring around any longer,” Fowler explained to Golf.com. “It worked out perfectly. We kept things very, very casual. And like I said, I didn’t have anything planned out. Like I said, I didn’t want to have to keep toting that thing around for that long.”
Thomas and Fowler are no stranger to weddings. According to Golf.com, Jordan Spieth joined Fowler and Thomas as groomsman in golfer Smylie Kaufman’s April 2018 wedding.
3. Allison Garnered National Attention After a Photo of Her as a High School Pole Vaulter Went Viral
Stokke first came onto the national scene after a photo went viral when she was in high school. Stokke was a top high school pole vaulter that went on to compete at Cal. While Stokke received a lot of attention, she would have preferred the focus to have been on her athletic skills rather than her appearance.
“I feel like me and that picture are two different people,” Stokke explained to ESPN W. “I feel it has taken on a life of its own. It’s like that picture is my alter-ego and sometimes I feel like I use it for a positive force, and sometimes I just choose to leave it out there and not engage with it.”
4. Allison Is Now a Fitness Model
After graduating from Cal, Stokke stayed involved in athletics by becoming a fitness model. Stokke explained her workout routine in a 2015 interview with Athleta.
“I run almost every day, on the track or on grass,” Stokke told Athleta. “Most of the running we do is shorter, i.e. multiple sets and reps of 150m or less with varying rest periods. Along with running, I do plyometrics and drills specific to pole vaulting. I also try to add several days a week of yoga and/or stand up paddling, depending on the time of year.”
When she is not cheering on her fiance at golf tournaments, Stokke remains active on social media. Stokke often posts videos of her workouts with fitness and nutrition tips.
5. Allison Was a College Pole Vaulter at Cal
Allison Stokke at the 2018 Quicken Loans National tournament.
The spotlight is nothing new to Stokke, as she has dealt with fame long before she starting dating Fowler. After a blog picked up her photo when she was still in high school, a discussion started over whether her treatment was appropriate. Fans began commenting about her in unfavorable terms online, and there were even fake social media accounts made where someone pretended to send out messages on her behalf.
“Even if none of it is illegal, it just all feels really demeaning,” Stokke told The Washington Post back in 2007. “I worked so hard for pole vaulting and all this other stuff, and it’s almost like that doesn’t matter. Nobody sees that. Nobody really sees me.”
ESPN W described the impact of the attention in the years following Stokke’s career.
In the months after the picture went viral, photographers would kneel beneath her at meets, shooting upward as she stood on the runway before an attempt. Grown men would send postcards, with handwritten notes, to her home in California — some of the sentiments were kind; some were not.
When Stokke vaulted at Cal, the school removed her headshot from its website because men would constantly request a signed copy. And in the years immediately after the image went viral, she would often get asked to pose for pictures with men who couldn’t believe they had run into the young woman from that super hot photo on the internet.
Or with men who really could believe they had, because they orchestrated a meeting, attending the event just to take a picture with Stokke.
So, no, it’s not an overblown reaction if Stokke builds an invisible wall when someone unexpectedly leans into her space. A lot of people have leaned into her space. And she’s mostly chosen to stay still — very still — and wait for them to go away.
Nearly 10 years after the photo went viral, Stokke explained to ESPN how she views the incident now.
“My response back then, in 2008 — was I flattered? In some ways, sure,” Stokke explained to ESPN W. “But I was overwhelmed, too. And I think my response to being overwhelmed was to just stay away from it entirely. But now, I’m trying to figure out how to reclaim it and own it and push it in the right direction. And benefit from it — in terms of fueling my training. And if I try to ignore it, it will take on a life of its own. Which is what I did in college: ignore it. And I lost control of my own story.”