MEMPHIS — England’s Tommy Fleetwood struggled early and lost his lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championships before recovering on the back nine Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard after three rounds of the opening leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Fleetwood shot 1-under 69 and is at 14-under 196 after the third round at TPC Southwind. He will carry a one-stroke advantage into Sunday’s final round over England’s Justin Rose and a two-shot lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Rose posted a 67 and finished with birdies on holes 16 and 18, which sandwiched a bogey at the 17th. Fleetwood bogeyed the final hole after missing the fairway on his drive, his only missed fairway of the round. Fleetwood had a three-shot lead after 17 holes.
Fleetwood, 34, is seeking his first win on the PGA Tour. Rose, 45, is attempting to become the first player in his 40s to win on Tour this season.
“It’s just another opportunity for me to go out and try and have the best round of golf I can,” Fleetwood said. “I enjoy being in that position. The more I put myself there, the more chance there is of it happening. But tomorrow might be my day, it might not, but being there is the most important thing.”
Scheffler closed with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18 to post a 5-under 65, tied for the best round of the day, and is at 12-under 198.
U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun made one of the biggest moves Saturday. He matched Scheffler’s 65 to advance from a tie for 11th to a tie for fourth at 11-under 199. Andrew Novak is also at 199 after making back-to-back pars to end his round.
“I struck my irons a lot better than I had all week,” Spaun said. “I started to get it more in the fairway, too, (Friday), so it was kind of a good combination of everything starting to click.”
Rickie Fowler shot a 66 to put himself in position to qualify for the second round of the playoffs. He’s tied for sixth at 9-under 201 and just inside the top 50 in the Cup standings.
“All in all a solid day,” Fowler said. “(I had) a good par save at the (18th) after a Spanish fade from the edge of the water. Solid day. If we can go put together another good one (Sunday) and see where that puts us, we’ll see if we can get ourselves a tee time next week.”
Those who finish in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings after Sunday’s round will advance to next week’s BMW Championship — the second of the PGA Tour’s three playoff tournaments — in Owings Mills, Md.
Fleetwood has had five top-five finishes this season, including a runner-up showing at the Travelers Championship in June.
Rose was runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Masters and had two top-20 finishes — sixth at the Scottish Open and 16th at The Open — last month.
“Coming off a couple weeks off, I couldn’t have asked to be in a better spot,” Rose said.
Fleetwood opened the third round with a three-stroke lead over Rose and a four-shot cushion over Collin Morikawa and first-round leader Akshay Bhatia. But Fleetwood’s struggles began early when he double-bogeyed the par-5 third hole after placing his second shot in the water and his approach in a greenside bunker.
Rose caught Fleetwood at the par-4 sixth with a tap-in birdie and built a two-stroke lead on the following hole with a third consecutive birdie. Fleetwood bogeyed the hole.
At the turn, Fleetwood and Rose were tied at 13 under. Fleetwood birdied the hole and Rose settled for bogey after his approach found water.
The English duo renewed the battle on the back nine. Fleetwood built some breathing room (two strokes) when Rose bogeyed No. 14. He moved ahead by three strokes when Rose bogeyed the 17th before the two-shot turnaround on 18.
Second-round play was completed by 21 golfers early Saturday before third-round action started. Play was suspended late Friday when heavy rains hit the area.
–Phil Stukenborg, Field Level Media
