DETROIT – Rickie Fowler has put himself in a position to win the PGA Tour title again.
He hopes to take advantage of the change.
Fowler parried six of his last eight holes on Saturday to take the Rocket Mortgage Classic lead at minus 20, giving him another chance to end his four-year PGA Tour victory drought.
“I’m not afraid of failure,” said Fowler, who had an 8-under 64 to lead by one stroke over Adam Hadwin at the Detroit Golf Club. “I’ve dealt with a lot of that.”
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Two weeks ago in Los Angeles at the US Open, Fowler squandered an opportunity by closing out 75 in the match for fifth place. Last week at the Travelers Championship, he hit a career-best 60 in the competition’s third round and closed with a score of 69 to drop to a tie for 13th.
“I felt so good last Sunday, I got nothing, I got nothing out of it,” Fowler said. “Sunday at the US Open, the timing got a little off.”
Fowler, 34, has led or shared the 54-hole lead 10 times on the PGA Tour and has turned the advantage into a championship just twice.
Fowler, who has never won a major tournament, won the 2019 Phoenix Open with his only win in six years. He made his 96th career start since his last title, shooting to end the longest drought of his career and win for the sixth time on the PGA Tour.
“Whether it happened [Sunday] It’s going to happen here soon, said Fowler, who’s seventh in the top 10 this season and is No. 17 in the FedEx Cup standings. in good locations.
“This certainly won’t be the last.”
Hadwin had a season-low 63 to tie the championship record.
“One of the hardest things about golf is getting out of your way when things are going well,” he said. “I was a victim of that.”
Hadwin was the victim of mistaken identity a few weeks ago when he was confronted by a security guard at the Canadian Open after fellow Canadian Nick Taylor won.
Hadwin lunged at the 18th green at Toronto’s Oakdale while sipping festive champagne from a bottle after Taylor’s win over Tommy Fleetwood. A guard trying to protect Taylor Hadwin took to the ground, and videos of the scene went viral on social media.
He said, “Everyone knows who I am because I’m the guy that got dealt with.”
Taylor Pendreth, also Canadian, was third at the 18-under-67 after the big hitter was stumped on two of his last four holes at the Detroit Golf Club.
Hadwin hopes to become the fifth player from Canada to win on the PGA Tour this season.
“I definitely don’t want to be left behind,” he said. “It’s a pretty fun leaderboard at the moment with Taylor and me at the top on Canada Day.”
If Hadwin or Pendrith win the Rocket Mortgage Classic, it will be the first time that more than five players from outside the United States have won on the PGA Tour in a single season since six Australians claimed titles during the 2013-14 season.
Monday’s qualifiers were Peter Quest (65) and Aaron Ray (68) under 17s. Taylor Moore (69) was hit again with four other players, including Colin Morikawa, who shot 67 for the second day in a row.
Play was halted for 1 hour and 42 minutes due to lightning in the area and the final round schedule was revised in hopes of completing the final round with bad weather in the forecast.
The leaders will start Sunday morning before 9 a.m. — about 5 hours earlier than the original schedule — and the threes on both the front and back will start at nine.