{"id":102904,"date":"2025-08-22T23:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T23:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/102904\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T23:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T23:01:09","slug":"tommy-fleetwood-back-in-the-mix-shares-36-hole-lead-with-russell-henley-at-tour-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/102904\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Fleetwood back in the mix, shares 36-hole lead with Russell Henley at Tour Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood is a familiar story hopeful of a different ending, posting eight birdies in his round of 7-under 63 to share the lead Friday at the Tour Championship with Russell Henley in what was shaping up as a tight race for the $10 million prize.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood, increasingly popular for his grace in handling so many tough losses , is searching for his first PGA Tour win to go along with a collection of strong European tour titles. But he has been down this road before, quite often this year. The questions are getting old.<\/p>\n

Maybe it ends with the Englishman winning two trophies for his first win \u2014 the FedExCup and the \u201cCalamity Jane\u201d replica putter that serves as the Tour Championship trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can do is keep learning,\u201d Fleetwood said. \u201cI actually feel like I\u2019ve played very, very well when I have led the tournaments and been in contention. It\u2019s just I might have not got things right right at the end. It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve crashed and burned. It\u2019s just that I\u2019ve not quite finished things off. The people that win the most are the guys that are in contention the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I want to be,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep going. I love the buzz when I am in contention, and I\u2019m just excited for the opportunity again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only buzz he got wrong was the setting on his clippers when he went to trim his beard, prompting questions about whether he shaved. It beats the alternative question of when he will win or whether this will be the week.<\/p>\n

But it won\u2019t be easy. Russell Henley had another birdie-birdie finish for a 66 to join him in a share of the lead at 13-under 127, extraordinarily low scoring except for spells of heavy rain the previous two days at East Lake and more expected Friday \u2014 they moved the tee times forward to avoid a stoppage in play. Greens are soft, they run true and preferred lies are in place.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a recipe for low scoring and that\u2019s what the Tour Championship has provided. Add to that the new format where the top 30 players start at even, instead of the top seed getting a two-shot lead and the bottom five players starting 10 shots behind.<\/p>\n

Cameron Young bolstered his Ryder Cup hopes with a 62, which included a par save from the 17th fairway when he wisely pitched out from a most awkward lie. He was two shots behind.<\/p>\n

Patrick Cantlay, the FedExCup champion from 2021, was on the verge of taking himself out of the tournament until he shot 30 on the back nine, capped off by a birdie-birdie-eagle finish, the last one a 7-wood from 249 yards to 6 feet. He shot 66 and was three behind, along with BMW Championship runner-up Robert MacIntyre.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"PGA:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Scheffler is five shots behind co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley, which is one shot worse than he was after 36 holes last week at the BMW Championship. He won that event by two strokes.<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler hit a wedge to a foot on the final hole for a 69, not his cleanest round but extending his streak of 19 consecutive rounds under par. He was five back.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust one of those days where it seemed like I wasn\u2019t getting rewarded for the stuff that I was doing,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cJust a touch off all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henley opened the round by holing out from a bunker for birdie, and he played the slope on the green from the bunker on the 18th for a closing birdie.<\/p>\n

The course is playing to an average score of 67 through two rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen conditions are soft and there\u2019s been rain, I think that leads to a bunched leaderboard, so no surprise there,\u201d Cantlay said. \u201cThese 30 guys have played well all year, so not a surprise to see them playing well here this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true for Fleetwood. He was gutted when he took a one-shot lead into the final hole at the Travelers Championship, only to take three putts from 50 feet from short of the green and lose by one shot to a Keegan Bradley birdie.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"PGA:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Tee times and TV times for the third round of the FedExCup playoff finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago in Memphis, he was two ahead with three to play when he played one chip too firm, failed to get up-and-down on the 17th and wound up one shot out of a playoff.<\/p>\n

There is still plenty of work ahead, with 13 players at 7-under 133 or lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know this weekend scoring is obviously going to be very good,\u201d Fleetwood said. \u201cThe scoring is really good, but the course actually isn\u2019t easy. You\u2019ve got to play well. I know that I need to just go out for the next 36 holes \u2014 I mean, I\u2019m not even thinking about 36, I\u2019ve got to start tomorrow first \u2014 keep committing to my golf shots, keep hitting them, and hopefully play well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the more you\u2019re there, the more you are comfortable in those situations and comfortable in that scenario. I\u2019m just really excited to go again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood is a familiar story hopeful of a different ending, posting eight birdies in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-102904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}