The 58-year-old Australian shot a 6-under par round of 65 to claim a two-shot lead on day one at the FMG New Zealand Legends Masters yesterday.
He holds the lead from Michael Harwood, who shot a 67, while Guy Wall and Peter Smith managed scores of 68 and 69 respectively.
It was a round that left the former World Cup winner happy, with the second and final round set for today.
"I putted much better today, that was the real key," he said.
"I’ve hit the ball pretty good every day since I’ve been down in the South Island, but the putting, I rolled a few good putts today."
In a shotgun start, he began with a bogey on the 12th hole.
He bounced back to birdie the 15th, 16th and 17th holes, setting up the rest of his round.
Birdies on the second and third followed, before a couple more on the par 5s at the end.
The course had played well and Fowler praised it for the second time in a matter of days, describing it as a "dream".
"This golf course is a real dream to play, I don’t think people realise.
"I love links golf, but this one in particular is special.
"I don’t think people in Dunedin realise what they’ve got.
"If I lived in Dunedin and was a member of another club, I would join a club and hope to be able to play them all, like they do at St Andrews in Scotland.
"Then you’ve got the beauty of playing the links and Balmacewen and St Clair and so it could be one big club playing all the courses."
Despite his brilliant round, he was not assuming anything. Conditions would play a big part and he knew he would have to be on his game once again.
"When you’re so close to the ocean here it all depends on the wind and the weather.
"An inland course, the score’s going to be fairly similar. But if you’re near the ocean, if the weather’s nasty, you’ve really got to dig in and really grind out a round.
"So I’ll have to look at the forecast, but I’m playing well so hopefully I can keep that going."
Harwood was another to stand out.He shot an impressive 4-under-par, and missed a hole in one by mere centimetres on the 10th.
Wall and Smith were the only other two to go below 70, while several others remain in the mix, including Greg Turner, Darren Rix and Glenn Joyner, who all shot 70.
