Detroit ― Collin Morikawa's been right here before.

Making his second appearance at the Rocket Classic, the field's highest-ranked player, at No. 5 in the world, will once again enter Sunday's final round four shots off the lead.

The last time he did that, in 2023, he shot a final-round 68 and made a playoff, losing to Rickie Fowler. This year, after a 4-under 68 on Saturday, Morikawa will try to chase down 20-year-old Aldrich Potgieter, who takes a two-shot lead into Sunday. He was four clear of Morikawa, the heavy fan favorite still in this tournament, who drew large galleries Saturday, and they figure to only swell on Sunday.

"I mean, of course I want to be leading," Morikawa said. "If I can put together what I've seen over the last three days, hopefully I can make that special day happen.

"I know what's at stake. I want to find a way to get it done tomorrow."

Morikawa, 28, is a two-time major champion and a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, though he hasn't won since 2023. And after last week, he dropped out of the top six in the Team USA Ryder Cup standings. The top six spots go to automatic qualifiers. A win Sunday would cement his place, rather than leaving him hoping to be a captain's pick.

It'll take another low number Sunday, something in the mold of the 8-under 64 he shot Friday, with a new putter in the bag, switching from a blade to a mallet.

Potgieter, 20, the youngest player on the PGA Tour and one of the longest drivers on the planet, is looking for his first PGA Tour win, after opening with a then-course-record 62 on Friday.

Potgieter takes a two-stroke lead into the final round over a large group at 17 under that includes Max Greyserman (66), Jake Knapp (66) Mark Hubbard (67), Andrew Putnam (69) and Chris Kirk (69). Three more were three strokes behind at 16 under, including Thriston Lawrence (67), Michael Thorbjornsen (68) and Jackson Suber (69).

Interestingly, for one of the game's biggest bombers, it was the short stick that carried the day Saturday.

"Definitely putter. I was rolling a lot of good putts out there. A lot of them dropped. Putts that I didn't think were going to drop," Potgieter said, specifically pointing out the 35-footer for birdie at the par-3 fifth hole. "That was a really big putt. Momentum shifted there.

"The front nine really helped me get through. A lot of par saves on the back nine. I felt like I had to stay in it, dig deep to kind of get through that.

"Should be a good day tomorrow."

Potgieter made five consecutive birdies on his front nine and shot 30, to just 1 under on the back nine. As the wind picked up in the afternoon, he didn't birdie either of the par 5s on the back nine.

Also looking for his first PGA Tour victory is Greyserman, 30, who has had a nice season; he has just one top-10, but eight top-25s. Hubbard, 36, a close friend of Michigan PGA Tour player Ryan Brehm (they play together in the Zurich Classic, a two-man team event), is looking for win No. 1, too.

Two past Rocket champions have made Detroit their first PGA Tour wins; Nate Lashley (2019) and Cam Davis (2021). Davis made the 2024 Rocket his second PGA Tour win, before missing the cut as defending champion this week.

"I'm in the mix. That's all you can ask for going into Sunday," Greyserman said. "Obviously would like to be No. 1 on the leaderboard, but as long as you're kind of hanging around on Sunday, that's what counts."

Hubbard spent Saturday playing alongside Potgieter, and came away plenty impressed.

Especially with the distance gap between them.

"I'm old enough to be his dad, probably," Hubbard said. "No, he's fun. I actually really wasn't that impressed with his distance. I was more impressed with the rest of his game. He putts it awesome and he's got good hands for someone with that amount of speed. So it was fun to play with him. I definitely like him playing well, helped me kind of hang in there when I didn't feel my best."

Kirk, 40, has the most winning experience on the Rocket leaderboard for players at the top, with six PGA Tour wins. He also has a history of being in contention on the Detroit Golf Club, a Donald Ross course that suits the eye of a fellow who plays a Donald Ross course back home in Atlanta.

Knapp, 31, backing up his second-round, course-record 61, is looking for his first PGA Tour win, while Putnam, 36, last won on the PGA Tour in 2018.

Joining Morikawa at 15 under were Nicolai Hojgaard (67) and Harry Hall (68).

Another stroke back of that at 14 under were Davis Thompson, who finished tied for second here in 2024 and shot a third-round 66 powered by three eagles on the front nine, two on par 4s.

"It was pretty chaotic," said Thompson, who had three bogeys on his front and still shot 32.

Also at 14 under, former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (68), world No. 17 Ben Griffin (69), and Nico Echavarria (69), Doug Ghim (68), Chad Ramey (68) and Kevin Roy (69), who, like Potgieter, shot 62 in the first round.

Hideki Matsuyama, ranked 12th in the world, fell back in the pack to 13 under, tied for 20th, after a 70.

Matsuyama is using a fill-in caddie this week, as his regular needed the week off. It's been the Morikawa caddie saga that's garnered the headlines much of the week, as he's now split with two caddies this season and is using a former college teammate on the bag this week.

The biggest change he might've made, though, was swapping out putters after putting like a "blind man," his words, in the opening round. He made everything in Round 3. It was a mixed bag Saturday, when his ball-striking was so good, especially his middle irons, making birdies on the difficult par-3 ninth and 11th holes.

He's known as one of the game's best ball-strikers. Will he finally strike it rich at DGC, which appears poised for yet another thrilling Sunday finish?

"Hopefully," Morikawa said, "we can just kind of get off to a nice start tomorrow and put a little pressure on them."

©2025 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.