FORT WORTH, Texas – Justin Rose has spent a lot of time in the trees at the Fort Worth Invitational. His tee shots haven’t sent him there. His ballstriking has been superb thus far at Hogan’s Alley. The temperatures in the upper-90s have. Even the quickest respite from the scorching sun is welcome. “My caddie has done a great job of just literally handing me water bottle after water bottle. It seems relentless, to be honest with you,â€� Rose said. “I haven’t even seen the inside of a restroom yet, so you can’t drink quick enough.â€� He admitted that his focus started to flag on Saturday’s final holes as the mercury almost touched 100 degrees. “From that point, I was really trying to put one foot in front of the other and stay committed,â€� he said. The heat has been the biggest challenge for an elite player who appears to be in complete control of his game. Rose has put on a ball-striking display that would make Ben Hogan proud to build a four-shot lead after the first three rounds at Colonial. Rose shot 66 on Saturday and stands at 14-under 196. Emiliano Grillo (69) and reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka (67) are tied for second. They’re the only ones within five shots of Rose. His four-shot lead matches the largest lead of his PGA TOUR career. He was victorious the previous two times that he started the final round four strokes ahead (2010 The National, 2011 BMW Championship). He knows that plenty of work remains, though. In November, he won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions after Dustin Johnson lost a six-shot lead. Rose started the final round eight back of Johnson, but shot 67 to Johnson’s 77. “It is a big lead, but it isn’t big enough,â€� Rose said. “It’s not big enough to be counting the holes away. You have to go out and play good. You have to go out positive. You have to continue to make birdies and keep going forward.â€� Low scores are available at Colonial, where the bentgrass greens have to stay soft to withstand the heat. There have been 14 scores of 64 or lower this week. The scoring average was 68.5 on Saturday. “He has to go out and shoot under par,â€� Grillo said. “He’s got 50 guys behind him trying to reach him.â€� Rose will achieve history if he can convert. A victory would be his ninth on the PGA TOUR, matching Nick Faldo for the most by an Englishman (since 1983, when the TOUR started keeping victory records). A win would make Rose the fifth player with two wins this season and move him to No. 2 in the FedExCup. Rose has impressed after spending last week practicing with coach Sean Foley. Rose is playing Colonial for the first time in eight years to get a better gauge on where his game stands entering the summer. He closed 2017 with 10 consecutive top-10 finishes, and finished outside the top 10 just twice in 15 starts dating from the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs to this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. But he sandwiched a T12 at Augusta National between two lackluster performance, a T52 at the Houston Open and a T23 at THE PLAYERS, where he started the final round in 55th place. A final-round 66, including seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch, showed him things were moving in the right direction. “I really feel like I keyed into something,â€� Rose said about his last round at the Stadium Course. “We kind of made a few changes about a year ago, but the last few weeks, things have simplified a touch. Sometimes it can take that long before you understand a change or it begins to feel natural.â€� He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+2.64 strokes per round) and is tied for first in greens in regulation (43 of 54, 79.6 percent). He’s amassed this large lead despite making just one putt outside of 20 feet. In other words, he’s hit his irons well enough that he hasn’t needed to rely on a hot putter. He’s seventh in proximity to the hole this week, averaging 26 feet, 2 inches. The shortest club in the bag is also the most fickle, and it often deserts a player under Sunday pressure. Rose’s iron play has been rock solid for much of his career, though. All of his ballstriking stats confirm that he’s in complete control. He’s fourth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.16), sixth in fairways hit (28 of 42) and fifth in driving distance (286 yards). He hasn’t had to save par very often, but he feels like his short game has been there when he’s needed it. He’s made just three bogeys this week. And, he’s made 10 of 16 putts from 5-10 feet, helping him convert on so many of those strong iron shots. “Quite often, there’s one aspect of the game that doesn’t always feels good on the day, and you need something to back it up,â€� Rose said. “I feel like everything this week has been working at some point.â€� Grillo said the opening holes would be crucial to his chances Sunday. Rose birdied the first three to build a four-shot lead. He added another birdie at the sixth hole, then made just one birdie and one bogey the rest of the way. “You have to get off to a good start here,” Koepka said. “If you can birdie the first two, at least, put some pressure on Rosey, you’ll be just fine.” Rose was five shots ahead after Grillo’s bogey at the 15th hole, but Rose gave one back with a three-putt from the fringe on the 16th hole. Grillo had a chance to draw closer on the last hole, but missed an 11-foot birdie putt. Rose closed the day by sinking a 5-footer for par. “You can see how things can go both ways really quick,â€� Rose said. “That’s why there is no point in getting too far ahead of myself.â€�

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Justin Rose birdied the first three holes to quickly extend his lead at the Fort Worth Invitational and finished with a 4-under 66 on Saturday to take a four-stroke advantage into the final round at Colonial.

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Emergency 9 Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Fort Worth Invitational that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Colonial Country Club is the longest-serving host on TOUR (1946) and plays 7,209 yards to a Par-70. Pain or Gain These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The hot temperatures led to the lowest scoring-round total for the week and those with the earlier tee times took advantage. Looking at the table above, only Koepka and Rahm improved on their positions from Round 2, with Rahm making the biggest jump. With a very similar forecast on the cards tomorrow, I’d expect similar scoring conditions but it might not matter as well as Justin Rose is playing. Four Shots Clear The only blemish on the Round 3 scorecard for 36-hole leader Justin Rose was a square on No. 16 that trimmed his five-shot lead down to four. Koepka will join Rose in the final pairing tomorrow and we’ll see if he can put any pressure on the world’s No. 5 player. Rose continued his stellar play as he only squared one bogey for the third consecutive round as he posted 14-under-par 196. He doesn’t have any “others” on his card either. The last Sunday round he signed for was 66 at THE PLAYERS. One more of those and he’ll win comfortably. His last TOUR win saw another premium player blow a large lead. Dustin Johnson led by six heading into the final round at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions but Rose fired 67 in that final round to post his only win of this season. Separated After toasting TPC Sawgrass for 63 on Sunday two weeks ago, Brooks Koepka signaled he was ready for action. After his 63 in Round 2 this week, any doubts should be thrown out the window. He trails by four and has had to sign for two double bogeys this week. He’s made as many birdies as Rose (T2 for the week) but he knows he’ll have to make plenty more tomorrow. This should be a great duel in the Texas sun. Gree-LOW It says it right there in the pronunciation of Emiliano Grillo’s name: Low. Maybe GO LOW tomorROW? He had a chance in the final group in Round 3 to put pressure on the classy Englishman as he began play one back. He lost the two-ball by three shots and now is tied with Koepka for second. He’ll have a different partner for the final round as Corey Conners, the Canadian rookie who fired the co-low round of the day (63), will be riding shotgun. His lowest final round this season was 66 on Sunday at The Honda Classic. Uno Mas Jon Rahm reintroduced himself to the chase after 64 in Round 3 but sits six shots adrift heading into Sunday (T4). His final round 66 in his debut last year saw him claim T2 but I’ll be interested to see if he pins his ears back and tries to chase Rose down. His final round scoring average is 71.44 so it’s going to take something from the top drawer but I believe he has that extra gear. Nothing to Lose J.T. Poston has quietly rattled off eight consecutive rounds in the 60’s over his last three events and his bogey-free 65 has him in the four-way logjam for T4. His only top 10 in 13 previous start was T4 after a final round 66 in Las Vegas last fall. Sitting at No. 113 in the FEC standings, a top 10 would be a very nice bump on Sunday. Moving Day Nobody falls in and out of love quicker than I do with Louis Oosthuizen and I’m paying the price this week. His 64 vaulted him 30 spots up the board to T4 after 71 in Round 2. He’s T4 in scrambling for the week and will probably need to make at least seven more birdies Sunday to get into the mix. … Ted Potter, Jr., shared the low round of the day honors with Conners as his 63 saw him make up the biggest ground. Potter began the round T51 but after signing for seven birdies without a bogey or worse he found himself T9 at the end of play. The AT&T Pebble Beach champion has now rattled off four paydays in a row on TOUR. Moving Day: Wrong Way Bryson DeChambeau started T6, birdied his first two holes and looked to be on his way to chasing down the leaders. His final 16 holes were played in 3 over and didn’t include a par-breaker. He dropped 25 spots to T31 and will need something lower than 65 to crack the top 10. … Jordan Spieth is still trying to get out of third gear this season. On a day where plenty of low scores were to be had, the 2016 champ and podium regular at this event was stuck in reverse. Beginning the day T23, a low one could have stuck him in the rear-view mirror of the leaders but a level-par round of 70 saw him drop to T38, 11 shots back. Study Hall The easiest scoring conditions of the week were in Round 3 as the field averaged 68.462 (-1.538), easily surpassing the 69.760 from Round 1. … I’ve been tracking Strokes Gained: Putting numbers all week for the top five or so after each round. The top eight players after Saturday consist of two players in the top 20 in this category, Grillo (2nd) and Koepka (11th). There were six bogey-free rounds in Round 3 and all players posted 66 or lower… Brian Harman leads the field with 18 birdies and has snuck into the top 10 (T9) entering Sunday. … Gamers with an eye on the future will notice Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari will be the final pairing at Wentworth tomorrow for the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

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