Rickie Fowler uses wind to his advantage in solid round at Cognizant Classic | D'Angelo

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Plenty of golfers awoke early Friday, stepped outside their homes or hotels and wished they could climb back into bed.

When you arrive at a golf course and flags are blowing stiffly and fans are holding onto their hats, that typically puts even the best in the world in a bad mood.

But not Rickie Fowler.

Fowler walked outside his Jupiter home and had a big smile on his face. And when he arrived at PGA National for Day 2 of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, those yellow pins swaying on the green and whitecaps on the lakes were a welcome sight.

"Yeah, I would prefer it to be windy," he said. "Partly, I feel like it helps separate a little bit.

"This is a proper day for golf in the wind in South Florida."

What it did was help Fowler creep closer on a day when the Champion Course was back to wreaking havoc early before afternoon rain softened the fairways and greens.

Fowler's 4-under 67 equaled the second-lowest round of the early wave behind Victor Perez's 66. But this isn't the American Express where a 19-under this year meant you were tied for 25th. Even with an opening round played in conditions as benign as they had ever experienced on this course, double digits under means you are in contention.

The Champ was not holding back its punches on cutdown day.

With winds blowing about 15 mph from the southeast and gusts up to 20 — Fowler believes that number was closer to 25 early in the day — the field scoring average was around two strokes higher than Thursday's. That tightened late in the day, helped by Nick Dunlap's hole-in-one on No. 7, and that quick rainstorm.

"This course is very penalizing, and when the wind is up like this, you've got to play really, really solid," said Tom Kim, who shot a 68.

But for Fowler, playing this event gives him a home-course advantage. Neither wind nor rain will deter Fowler when it comes to his hometown event. However the same cannot be said about the schedule.

Fowler missed this tournament for the first time in 13 years a year ago when the PGA Tour stuck it between four signature events, all with purses of at least $20 million. The then-Honda Classic fields suffered as a result.

And he admitted that skipping the 2023 tournament was painful. He is a former winner with four top 10s and nobody has won more money at this event. Fowler entered this week having earned just less than $2.37 million in 13 starts at the event when it was known as the Honda.

Jupiter's Luke Donald is second, about $7,000 behind Fowler. Donald, though, will not catch Fowler this year. He's at PGA National but as a television analyst and not in the field.

"I've always liked this golf course because it's very challenging, and you can't fake it around here," Fowler said. "I feel like it tests kind of all aspects of your game. It's not just hitting driver everywhere. There's certain holes you can, but then it's more about being in the right position.

"You have to hit solidly struck golf shots. It'll expose you if you don't or if you're a little bit off."

Like on No. 15. The first hole of the Bear Trap was playing 180 yards Friday with a strong right-to-left wind. That meant the grandstand left of the hole was in play for any shot that caught the wind.

Like those struck by Min Woo Lee and Matt Kuchar.

Both watched their tee shots sail into the grandstand. Lee's bounced off a table and settled in the bunker. He got up and down for a par. Kuchar's rattled around before landing in the rough between the grandstand and the television tower, and inches from the water. The Jupiter resident made a bogey.

Paul Wrubleski from Greenacres was in the vicinity of both shots. After the second, he moved his seat.

"Someone's trying to tell me something," he said.

But Wrubleski didn't mind.

"For the spectators, this is cool," he said. "See who can play in the wind."

Like Fowler, who is looking to ride the wind to the top of the leaderboard.

"Hopefully wind will stay up and that'll kind of get me back in a good position for the weekend," Fowler said.

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rickie Fowler shoots 67 as wind, scores, increase at Cognizant Classic