Fowler started his professional career by whitewashing Bob Chaperon, Roy Andrewartha and Dave Martin all 5–0 in the qualifying rounds of the 1984 International Open before being whitewashed himself by Dennis Taylor, 0–5 in the first round. At the end of the season, he recorded 10–0 wins over both John Hargreaves and Jim Donnelly in the qualifying 1985 World Snooker Championship before being next out in the next qualifying round, 2–10 to John Parrott, and finished his debut professional season ranked 55th for the &lt;a href="snooker%20world%20rankings%201985/1986"&gt;snooker world rankings 1985/1986&lt;/a&gt;.