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Rickie Fowler shot a brilliant bogey-free 65 on Saturday in the third round of the Honda Classic to assume a four-stroke lead going into the final round on Sunday over Tyrrell Hatton. Fowler, at 13 overall, broke the 54-hole scoring record Rory McIlroy set back in 2014.

Fowler has been solid with his putter all week (top 10 in strokes gained putting), but his big lead has been built on the back of an incredible performance off the tee. Fowler is No. 4 in the field in strokes gained off the tee, and his drive on No. 18 on Saturday epitomized his week. 

Fowler banged one 339 yards at the par-5 18th. His partner Anirban Lahiri hit his drive 316 yards, and Fowler was eons ahead of him. From there, he had about 200 yards in and he touched off a stress-free birdie for the 65. It was clinical.

“I asked [caddie] Joe [Skovron] if I could go ahead and hit it,” Fowler told NBC’s Steve Sands of cutting off the dogleg on No. 18. “I told him I wasn’t going to leave anything out of it. I hit that one good. We had a good number [to the green]. I hit it perfect, and it was just waiting for it to land and see where it hit.”

Fowler took advantage of the benign day at the tough PGA National. He has also taken advantage of the par 5s all week, much to the delight of the patrons in attendance. Fowler is a combined 6 under on the two par 5s. A perfect six-for-six on birdies on those holes.

He was helped on Saturday by the weather. The wind was down, and Fowler gave himself the green light all afternoon. He fired at pins, used driver at every turn and drained putts. A winning formula if there ever was one on a tough course.

“You still have to be on top of your game,” Fowler told NBC. “You have to hit the ball in the fairway on this golf course. You can still make just as many mistakes as you do in the wind. That’s why it’s a great golf course. It keeps you on your toes.”

Speaking of that wind, it’s supposed to affect the tournament more on Sunday. That might be good news for Fowler who has a great bad-weather ball flight and loves him some nasty conditions.

“I love playing in the wind,” he told NBC. “I grew up in Southern California and it blew 10-15 [MPH] in the afternoon. I went to Oklahoma State and played golf there. It can blow in Oklahoma. You can use it to your advantage.

“I know I have a lead, and it’s nice to be out in front. But there is alot of golf left to be played.”

There certainly is a lot of golf left.

Fowler will look to close out the fourth win of his career over a group of intriguing chasers. There are seven golfers within six of the lead, but only Hatton is close (four back). Fowler should be able to win by playing defense on Sunday if the wind howls, but as is normally the case on the PGA Tour, anything can (and probably will) happen.

McIlroy led this tournament by a couple in 2014 after rocking that three-round score of 12 under. He was caught on Sunday after a leaky 74 and bested in a playoff. The same could pretty easily happen to Fowler, although this time around his closest competition is double the strokes back as McIlroy’s that year.

Fowler has not won a PGA Tour event since the fall of 2015. For a star like him, that’s a long time. He has spoken this week about wanting to close out more tournaments when he is in position to do so. There is a premium on those opportunities. They don’t come around every week. You only get so many of them in your career, and Fowler has never had a better one than he does this week in Florida.

The good news for him? He has not looked this confident on the course in a long, long time.