Rickie Fowler tops the leaderboard at the Wells Fargo Championship
Sunday 8 May 2016 21:32, UK
Rickie Fowler bolstered his chances of a first PGA Tour victory of 2016 by moving in to a one-shot lead after the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship.
The world No 5, who won the tournament in 2012, fired a joint-low round-of-the-day 68 to move above overnight leader Andrew Loupe and long-time pacesetter Robert Castro at the top of the leaderboard.
Resuming three strokes back, Fowler mixed six birdies with two bogeys during an impressive display in tough scoring conditions at Quail Hollow.
After starting with seven consecutive pars, Fowler followed a five-foot gain at the eighth with a 15-footer at the next to reach the turn in 34.
Fowler made it a hat-trick of birdies at the 10th to move within one of Castro, only to drop shots when he two-putted the next from nine feet and failed to get up-and-down from the sand at the short 13th.
The world No 5 bounced back by reeling in three birdies in as many holes to join Castro in a tie for the lead, before closing with back-to-back pars to set the clubhouse target at nine under.
"I got off to a little bit of a slow start and had a couple of unfortunate bogeys, but other than that a good day," Fowler told Sky Sports. "I stayed patient, hit a lot of good shots and made some good putts, so definitely excited going in to tomorrow [Sunday]."
Castro took advantage of Loupe's early back-to-back bogeys to move in to the share of the lead, before taking the outright lead when Loupe posted a third blemish of the day at the par-four ninth.
The pair, playing in the final group, both posted bogey-fives at the 11th to reduce their cushion over the chasing pack, before Castro bounced back with an eight-foot gain at the 13th.
The world No 282 gave away the lead to Fowler when he missed the 16th green, only to leave a kick-in gain at the next after a stunning approach tight to the pin.
A bogey at the last from Castro saw him close a one-under 71 and slip back to eight under, as Loupe ended with a three-putt double from 40 feet to sign for a third-round 74.
A blemish-free back nine helped Justin Rose to a three-under 69 to join James Hahn two strokes off the pace, with Scott Langley, playing alongside Fowler, a further shot back alongside Loupe after three birdies in a four-hole stretch late in his round.
Phil Mickelson's hopes faded after finding the water at the 16th and running up a quadruple-bogey at the last, leaving him alongside defending champion Rory McIlroy eight strokes adrift.
Watch the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship live on Sunday from 6.30pm on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf
