Rickie Fowler's simple approach may not be the top draw at the PGA Championship. But it's working again.

Sandwiched between the unanimous favorite and the next big superstar in golf, Rickie Fowler spent much of his first two days at the PGA Championship in the unusual position of riding in the sidecar. Fowler was in a supporting role in one of the power groupings the PGA put together this week, playing with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm for 36 holes. Most came to see Rory try and bomb away on a course he's owned in his career — that was the show that headlined the week and one we eagerly anticipated at Quail Hollow again. And they were drawn to the gurgling Mt. Rahm, the big hitting phenom on what always feels like a razor's edge of an emotional eruption. Rickie, often taking less club off the tee and showing almost no emotion good or bad, played better than both and has subtly navigated his way toward the top of the leaderboard at yet another major.

In a prior era of Rickie's career, fellow pros, media, and fans would ding (even mock sometimes) him for what they felt was overexposure and an off-the-course profile not commensurate with his on-course resume. It's true that Rickie is a big brand, a go-to for so many companies trying to hawk their wares, from cars to mortgages to insurance to energy drinks. Rickie is everywhere, and while he's won several times to dissipate all those overexposure critiques, he's still without a major. There have been repeated close calls, top 5s, and runners-up, but no major.

McIlroy is Rickie's contemporary — they're both 28, have known each other and played against each other since their amateur days. Rory, of course, has four majors on the resume already and was picked by most this week to add a fifth. Rahm was a trendier but still popular pick, the up-and-comer the entire golf world has fallen in love with after an outrageous first year as a pro. And there was Rickie, walking between his more accomplished contemporary and the Spanish bull that's charging next.

This is not to say Rickie is some Shaun Micheel coming from the shadows and into contention. He draws a crowd and cheers of his own and may have shown up on your TV during every commercial break of the broadcast. It was just odd to see him in a supporting role, and while playing his way up near the top of the leaderboard.

Fowler is trying to become the first player since Keegan Bradley in 2011 to win a PGA Championship with a triple bogey on one of his scorecards. He made that mess in the middle of a hot opening nine that included four birdies on Thursday. Without the triple, he'd be pushing for another weekend final pairing instead of just a top 5 at the 36-hole mark.

There's a perception of Rickie as this edgy, motocross-loving millennial god, and there's certainly a bit of that in his fashion choices and on his Snapchat account. But a lot of those edges have been rounded down in the building of Brand Rick — he knows, maybe better than anyone since Tiger, how to say a lot of words without saying very much. He can be as unemotional as anyone in golf. His game, however, is typically aggressive — he goes after pins, he pulls driver, and while not the longest hitter in golf, can still boom it at just 5'9 and 150 pounds.

Through two days, however, he's taken one of the most conservative approaches out at Quail Hollow. While Rory and Rahm repeatedly pull the big stick, Rickie goes for less — sometimes much less, like a mid-iron off the tee. He's 86th in driving distance this week, falling in the back half of the field so far. There will be graphics and screengrabs and stats about how much further Rory, and no one mashes it like him, is hitting it. Rickie can't keep up with that, almost no one in the game can, but those graphics don't often tell the full story of Rick taking something less than driver.

"I'm not as long as Jon or Rory," he said after the round. "The biggest thing is not giving shots back. So there are probably a couple of holes where they can turn the ball right to left better than I can with driver. I play the shorter driver which I predominantly hit a cut with. So with that there's some holes that I may play back with 3-wood. The biggest thing for me, I'm trying to get the ball in the fairway and take kind of trouble out of play and minimize the mistakes."

Aside from that ugly triple on his first nine, it's working right now for Rickie. There's been no flurry of darts into pins, or some hole out from the fairway, or a string of hot putting. It's just been kinda ... quiet? He's making birdies when those chances appear and happily staying put with quality pars.

On Friday, he came into the house with nine straight pars on Quail Hollow's front nine (his second nine of the day). McIlroy made an adventurous four bogeys and two birdies in the same stretch.

The demeanor matches the kind of simple but successful golf we've witnessed so far. Rickie, again for all that rep as this edgy, energetic millennial, is your traditional deadpan golfer. I saw him shake his head once on Friday in disappointment. It was a mild in-real-life smh that came on the 4th tee. But it almost certainly had more to do with the questionable architecture of the hole (more on that here) than as a reaction to the shot, which looked like a towering beauty dropping on top of the pin that instead bounced like it hit concrete and scurried off to the back of the green.

In contrast was Rahm, the temperamental Spaniard emoting on almost every shot, good and bad. He's one of those cases where you track the player, not the ball, through the shot. You can figure out where the ball is up ahead in a minute. The more interesting show is watching him watch the shot. He threw his hands up in disgust, slammed his club in anger, threw his head down in pain, and stumbled around the green in disbelief when a good putt would not go in the hole (I should note this is not a plea or scold for Rahm to change a damn thing and this also came on a day where he largely kept his emotions in check).

Rickie cited his inexpressive demeanor as a strategic choice. "I mean, with it being hot, tough course, it's going to take a lot out of you mentally," he said. "There is no reason to take anything else. No reason to waste any extra energy. It's a long week. It's a major and like I said it's a tough venue. Plenty more stuff out there to drain you. There is no reason — I'm going to keep it mellow and relaxed like it's been the first two days."

But he's almost always that way — on the hot days and the cold days and at the majors or the Quicken Loans National. "For me, I will get upset and hold it in a little bit and in a way, you kind of find your own thing," he said when asked about his approach compared to Rahm.

So while Rory was bombing away as the favorite at a place where he holds the course record, and the spastic Rahm was engrossing the largest crowds on the course, there was Rickie in an oddly quiet and supporting role. He might not have been the top draw to get the crowds out there, and he may not have played the most entertaining round once they were there. But he's five and six shots better than his high-powered playing partners and at the midpoint of the PGA, he's back again in major championship contention. Whether he can close one now or not, don't expect his game or staid expression to change much over the next two days.