Fowler's struggles at No. 3 continue at Doral

DORAL, Fla. -- Rickie Fowler is not going to list the third hole at Doral as one of his favorites anytime soon.

It's keeping him from being in the thick of contention at the Cadillac Championship.

Fowler put two balls in the water on the 433-yard hole Saturday, leading to a quadruple-bogey 8. He made four birdies and 11 pars the rest of the way, finishing at 1-under 71 for the day and getting to 4 under for the tournament - eight shots behind leader Rory McIlroy.

But if not for that pesky third hole, Fowler would be right in the mix.

He made par there on Thursday in the opening round, then put his tee ball in the water there Friday on the way to a double-bogey. Then came Saturday, when both his tee shot and his approach got wet, then a poor bunker shot left him looking at a 25-footer just to try and save a triple-bogey.

He missed that, and the 8 went on his card.

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WILD DAY: K.T. Kim's day was far from boring.

Kim made a total of five pars in his third round - none of them coming until his 12th hole. He started with two birdies, followed that with four straight bogeys, then went birdie-eagle-birdie to make the turn in 2-under 34.

A double-bogey 7 started his back nine, followed by another bogey.

He then made five straight pars, before finishing bogey-bogey on the way to a most eventful round of 3-over 75. He's 4 over for the tournament, and has now made exactly two pars on the front nine in his last two rounds at Doral.

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WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE: Hideki Matsuyama had a good round going, so when his tee shot found the water on the 18th hole Saturday he wasn't inclined to take a penalty stroke.

Instead, he removed his socks and shoes, tugged his pant legs up to his knees and whacked the ball 60 yards up the fairway. Matsuyama gave himself a chance at par, hitting his third shot to about 15 feet but wound up settling for a bogey - the only one on his card all day, as he made five birdies and shot 68.

Such a play isn't uncommon play at Doral.

Moments before Matsuyama waded into a lake, Branden Grace took his third shot at the par-5 10th hole from the water. He advanced it only about 15 feet, then hit his fourth shot just over the green and two-putted for bogey. And around the same time, George Coetzee hit his tee ball on the par-3 15th into the water, took off his left shoe and knocked it from there onto the fringe.

Unlike the others, Coetzee got the payoff - he made a 20-foot putt to save his par.

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FAST ROUND: Steven Bowditch played the Blue Monster on Saturday in just over two hours, getting done before half the golfers in the field even started their third rounds.

Bowditch was playing alone, since the field is down to 65 after Brandt Snedeker withdrew on Friday with a rib injury. The remaining golfers went off in 32 twosomes, leaving Bowditch as the odd man out for the third round.

Given the way the week is going, he was probably thrilled to get the day over with as quickly as possible. Bowditch, after an opening-round 81 and a second-round 80, shot yet another 80 on Saturday.

He'll play alone again in Sunday's final round.

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QUOTABLE: "Kind of a boring round. I didn't make very many birdies. I didn't make very many mistakes. But I hit the ball very well, but I didn't hit it close enough to make birdies." - Phil Mickelson, after shooting 70 on Saturday.