ATLANTA — If Tommy Fleetwood is going to win his first PGA Tour event, this would be a really good week to do it.
Like FedEx Cup championship good. Like $10 million winner’s share good. Like sweet relief after two recent disappointing close calls good.
Fleetwood seized a share of the second-round lead Friday at the FedEx Cup playoff finale Tour Championship at 13-under par at East Lake Golf Club. He is tied with first-round leader Russell Henley. Cameron Young is third at 11-under.
“I think all I can do is keep learning from the things that I might have got,” Fleetwood said. “I actually feel like I’ve played very, very well when I have led the tournaments and been in contention. It’s just, I might have not got things right at the end. It’s not like I’ve crashed and burned. It’s just that I’ve not quite finished things off.
“But 100 percent, the people that win the most are the guys that are in contention the most and then they keep winning, of course. That’s just what I want to do. That’s where I want to be. I keep going. I love the buzz when I am in contention, and yeah, I’m just excited for the opportunity again.”
Fleetwood caught Henley at 10-under with a birdie on No. 12 and then took the lead by himself at 11-under with a birdie on No. 13. A two-shot cushion at 12-under came following a birdie at No. 15 on a 34-foot putt.
Fleetwood bogeyed No. 16 to drop into a tie with Young, and for a time Henley, for the lead at 11-under. He regained sole possession with a birdie at No. 17 to jump back to 12-under. Another birdie at No. 18 brought his total of 13-under 127 after two rounds.
The 7-under-par 63 for Fleetwood was tied for the second-lowest round of the day with Shane Lowry and Chris Gotterup.
Fleetwood, 34, has come close to the elusive win with several near misses, especially of late. The Englishman entered the Tour Championship fifth in the points standings, the highest-ranked player in the 30-player field without a win. In the past two weeks, he has finished tied for fourth and tied for third in the playoff events, the St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship. Fleetwood also has seven top-10 finishes this year.
Young carded the low round of the day with a an 8-under 62 on Friday to get within two shots of the leaders. His late charge featured six birdies in eight holes between Nos. 11-18 for a back-nine 29. He one-putted each green on the backside.
“I just hit my wedges great, controlled my distance really well, and the greens were just soft enough that it’s not bouncing much of anywhere, but nothing is really spinning much either,” Young said. “I did a really good job taking advantage of a day where, if you were in control, you were going to have some good looks.”
Henley started two strokes up on the field after a first-round 9-under 61. It was one stroke off the tournament record, a 10-under 60 by Zach Johnson in the third round of the 2007 Tour Championship. Henley shot a 4-under 66 and tied Fleetwood with a birdie at No. 18.
“I hit my driver awesome, so I’m driving it really well these last two weeks especially, and just feel like from the fairway, you can attack a lot of these holes,” Henley said. “I feel like I hit a lot of shots today that were really good shots that maybe didn’t end up quite close enough or maybe gave myself a little bit of an awkward birdie putt.
“But still feel like I putted it well, hit my lines really well, and just hit a bunch of fairways. That’s what you’ve got to do around here.”
Robert MacIntyre (66 Friday) of Scotland and Patrick Cantlay (66) are tied for fourth at 10-under.
World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler, playing in the final pairing with Henley, had an up-and-down day. He shot a 1-under 69 and is five strokes off the lead at 8-under in solo sixth.
“I felt like I did some good things,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I could have done things a little better. Overall, I didn’t really feel like I did too poorly. Just didn’t get a lot out of it.”
After severe weather hit Atlanta on Thursday night, the third straight evening of inclement conditions, the tournament was played under preferred lie runs for the second day. Wet fairways added some length to the course but soft greens had players taking aim at pins all day once again.
In total, the field was 96-under par, up from 82-under in Thursday’s first round. Twenty five players were under par, two were even par and only three were over par (all at 1-over). The second round played to a scoring average of 66.8, better than the 67.3 in the first round.
–Chris Vivlamore, Field Level Media
