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After a wild third round that left 16 players within three strokes of Jens Dantorp's 13-under lead at the 2018 Scottish Open, a few big names stick out. Rickie Fowler, who won this tournament on this course in 2015, is 12 under after a 2-under 68 in Round 3. Justin Rose, who won in 2014 at Royal Aberdeen, shot a 3-under 67 and trails Dantorp by three.

Those two stars are joined by a host of other average to above-average players in hopes of running down the last European Tour trophy prior to next week's Open Championship. Fowler got off to a bumpy start on Saturday as he bogeyed three of his first seven holes, but he came home with a flurry and shot under par on the back nine (32) for the third consecutive day.

That back nine included a 458-yard drive on the par-4 10th. The drive reached the green but Fowler somehow went on to make par.

Now he goes streaking into Sunday on a course where he already has one title in the bag with another another one staring him between the eyes.

"It was definitely nice to come back on the back nine and get ourselves back in a good spot for tomorrow," Fowler said. "Made a few mistakes and some missed judgments early in the round. Came back nicely and felt like we made some good swings out there and a couple nice putts. Definitely a good spot and ready to go have some fun tomorrow.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge. Obviously this week has been good to us before, and looking forward to giving ourselves a chance at, I guess ... defending."

In 2015, Fowler won by one with a score of 12 under, but given that the leader is already at 13 under before the start of Round 4, he's going to have to go much lower than that to back up that 2015 win. That year he shot 68 on Sunday with a flurry of birdies -- three in the last four holes -- including one at the last that sealed the deal.

"Definitely some good memories here," Fowler said. "I enjoy this golf course. Enjoy playing it. I feel like it suits my eye and my game. Tomorrow is going to be tough. We've got a pretty jam-packed leaderboard with a lot of guys within a few shots of the lead. Someone is going to have to go out and earn it."

Rose improved his score every day in 2014 before closing with a 65 for the victory that year. It will take a similar effort this time around as he's 10 under and just three back, but has 10 golfers in front of him. The Englishman played with a clean card on Saturday and hasn't made a bogey since the fifth hole on Friday, which means he's gone 31 straight holes at par or better.

Can he turn 31 into 49 and steal another Scottish Open in the lead up to The Open at Carnoustie some 100 miles away next week? He could, but it might empty him emotionally and physically in a way he doesn't want before next week. 

Regardless, it's going to be great fun on Sunday watching two of the top seven players in the world run down a relative unknown in Dantorp. The 29-year-old Swede has just one top 10 in his career on this tour, and now he's going to have to try and hold off two of the best in the game.

"It will be a new experience, but really looking forward to it," said Dantorp after shooting 64-65-68 over the first three days. "Yeah, hopefully I'll stay on top."

Good luck.