Rickie Fowler's long PGA Tour drought could end at Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Rickie Fowler is right.

It is, indeed, time for him to close the deal.

The young star is once again in position to win following a steady procession of outstanding golf around the Champion Course on a toasty Saturday during the third round of The Honda Classic. Fowler scampered away from the field with a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65 and heads into Sunday’s final round at 13 under and four shots clear of his nearest competitor, Tyrrell Hatton (66). Five players are six shots back, including two-time major champ Martin Kaymer.

But this is Fowler’s tournament to lose. And he knows it is. Following his second consecutive 66 on Friday, he said as much by telling the world it was time to close out a tournament.

FULL LEADERBOARD:The Honda Classic

He grew tired of coming up short on three occasions last year after he won the Abu Dhabi Classic. The 2-shot lead with two to play that he blew at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The 74 he shot in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte to fall into a share of fourth. The disastrous back-nine 39 in The Barclays that took him from the lead into a tie for seventh.

Fowler said he doesn’t look at those as negatives, but those sure did hurt. And those might start haunting him if he doesn’t head to his nearby house in Jupiter late on Sunday with the championship hardware.

"I think Fowler really needs this win," NBC analyst Johnny Miller said. "He knows he’s the best player at the top of that leaderboard. He’s got a chance to be a great player, and right now he's a 'wannabe' a bit in that regard with just three wins. A win tomorrow could set him off to a great year."

The recent trend is just the latest adversity facing Fowler, who has six professional wins but none in nearly 14 months.

Back in his younger days – he's 28, by the way – he was criticized for having more flash than substance. That he was unworthy of all his fame because of his lack of victories. Then he was overrated, as one survey of his peers said just two years ago. And lately, that the young guns like Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas are leaving Fowler in their dust despite being ranked No. 14 in the world.

While not saying so publicly, he used the criticism as fuel, never more so than in 2015 after the survey came out the week ahead of The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event. Fowler went out and won the tournament, coming up with big shots when "my back was against the wall down the stretch and in the playoff," he said.

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Joe Skovron, Fowler’s longtime caddie, was there on the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass when Fowler closed out that deal. He saw how much it meant to him. And he knows how much last year’s shortcomings stung him.

"But he’s always been great at dealing with whatever is thrown at him," Skovron said. "Whether it was when he was called overrated, whether there are tough conditions, whether it was when people said he was getting too much attention when he didn’t have many wins.

"But he deals with it and moves on. He has something special inside him when adversity is in front of him, and that’s why he’s had a lot of success and that’s why he’ll have a lot more success."

One of his biggest foes come Sunday will be Mother Nature. After three relatively calm days in these parts, gusts reaching 20-25 mph and steady currents of 15 mph are expected to descend on the Champion Course at PGA National Resort & Spa. That will turn the treacherous Bear Trap, a three-hole stretch starting at the 15th hole, into that grizzly in The Revenant. The rest of the course isn’t exactly Winnie-the-Pooh, either.

"The course keeps you on your toes," Fowler said. "There’s a lot of golf to be played, especially around this place, which can jump up and bite you."

But the four-shot cushion helps – and puts pressure on Fowler. If he doesn’t hold on Sunday, he’ll hear about it Monday. And until he does close one out.

"I definitely need to put myself in this position more often, which is just going to lead to me winning more often," Fowler said. "I'm not going to be able to take a 36- or 54-hole lead every time and win, but the more times you put yourself there, the more trophies I get to hold on Sunday."

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