Believe the hype? Rising star Rickie Fowler shot rounds of 67-64-69-68 for a total of 16-under and good enough for T7 at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. It was an outstanding showing, especially for his first PGA Tour event as a professional.

Post-round he tweeted: That last bird made me some good cash…just hangin out at my place for the night and then off to AZ in the a.m.

Uh yeah, $113,700, to be exact.

The top-ten finish earned him an exemption to the Frys.com Open this week in Scottsdale, AZ, saving him from using a pricey sponsor’s exemption he had previously secured. So, he’ll have the opportunity to play in another Fall Series event (if he chooses).

He’ll be vying for his full Tour card at Q-school in December — unless he’s goes off and does something crazy like, you know, win a tournament. We would positively PUMA ourselves if that happened.

[Photo by Marc Feldman/Getty Images]