Rickie Fowler on Saturday tamed lightning-fast greens to vault into a one-shot lead after the third round at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The American matched the best score of the day, a four-under-par 68 on a Quail Hollow course that turned into a beast as low humidity and a stiff breeze dried out the greens and caused nightmares for the late starters.
World No. 5 Fowler, who recorded his first PGA Tour victory on the Charlotte course in 2012, is to start the final round at nine-under 207, with fellow American Roberto Castro (71) alone at eight-under after bogeying the last.
Photo: AFP
Englishman Justin Rose and American James Hahn are two shots behind, while halfway leader Andrew Loupe double-bogeyed the brutal par-four 18th to fall three strokes off the pace.
Phil Mickelson fared even worse at the last. His hopes were literally washed away when he ran up a quadruple bogey after yanking his second shot into the creek.
He shot 76 to plunge eight strokes from the lead, in a tie for 19th with, among others, Australian Adam Scott and last year’s champion Rory McIlroy, whose chances of successfully defending all but disappeared.
Fowler has won once this year, on the European Tour, and had a playoff loss at the Phoenix Open.
“It was nice to drive it well,” Fowler said of his tee shot at the par-four 18th.
“That’s going to be a positive going into tomorrow. And I’ve continued to swing it better and better as the tournament’s gone on,” he said. “It wasn’t very good the first two days and [it was] nice to finally get into a little bit of a rhythm out there.”
Fowler added that he was looking forward to tougher conditions, with the greens expected to continue to dry out after heavy rain.
“You’re going to have to be in control of your golf ball, especially out of the fairway. You’re not going to be able to play this golf course out of the rough tomorrow,” he said.
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