Rickie Fowler ignites on the Fourth to climb John Deere Classic leaderboard

SILVIS, Ill. —

Rickie Fowler spent the previous two days watching some “old geezer” light up the John Deere Classic galleries.

Saturday, he made some fireworks of his own.

After making the cut on the 3-under number and finishing six shots back of 50-year-old Zach Johnson through 36 holes, Fowler used a hot putter to fire up the Moving Day leaderboard with an 8-under round of 63 and put himself in contending position.

Starting on the TPC Deere Run backside, the six-time PGA TOUR winner birdied two of his first three holes, then drove it 334 yards at the drivable par-4 14th to set up an eagle try. He cashed the 39-foot, 5-inch putt to get the day off to a rousing start.

“I don’t get the heart rate up too much other than on some of the hills out here,” he said, when asked if the eagle bomb ignited the round. “I made a 12-footer or so on my third hole, 12, and then the hole right before 14, I had a 30-footer and hit a perfect putt, thought I made it, and it just didn’t break at the end.

“So, just kind of kept moving forward, kept trying to hit good putts and make them and finally got a longer one to go in there at 14. So that was a nice bonus. Finally got a longer one to go in there at 14. So that was a nice bonus.”

The big putt was part of a day that saw Fowler make 137 feet of putts after making a composite 140 feet in opening rounds of 70 and 69. He netted five more birdies, offset by finishing three-putt bogey at the challenging ninth.

“It was a good, solid day,” he said. “It was nice to see some putts go in. I think my aim was a lot better, a lot tighter on the lines. Yeah, I mean, basically, everything we wanted in the day.”

At 11-under 202, Fowler is part of a pack tied for 12th entering the final round, with plenty of work left. Still, the 37-year-old Californian is in the hunt for his first win since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic, and he has some familiarity with TPC Deere Run to call upon after a T18 finish in his second career start in the Quad Cities a year ago.

“It’s a good place,” he said. “I enjoy it; it’s a fun course to play. You can score around here, obviously, as you can see from the quality of good scores this week. But it also can be tricky at times, especially when the wind starts to blow. I don’t think the golf course is as easy as some of the guys out here make it look. But I think it’s a good golf course and you have to kind of hit your spots.”

Fowler brings a higher profile than many of the players he’s chasing, and he’s in the midst of a solid year. With four top-10 finishes, including a T2 at the Truist Championship in May, he stands 33rd in the FedExCup order and 42nd in the Official World Golf Rankings. He said that won’t count for a lot when he tees it up Sunday.

“Everyone out here is a very good player,” he said. “I know this field may not necessarily stack up against some of our strongest. But I’d say it’s as tough to win as any tournament when you compare them all. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Fowler also knows there’s a certain senior with an amazing track record at the John Deere standing between himself and that seventh career TOUR win. Taking a respite from a strong rookie year start on the PGA TOUR Champions to play in his “fifth major,” Johnson added a 5-under 66 to his 8-under Saturday starting total and is at 13-under 200 through 54 holes, in striking position to hunt his second John Deere victory and the 13th of a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

“I watched a lot of Zach Johnson the last two days,” Fowler said. “It was fun to see him come back from hanging out with the guys on the Champions Tour. He’s had plenty of success around here. There are going be a lot of guys battling it out tomorrow with the scores that are possible. We’ll see what happens.”