Fleetwood and Henley out in front with Irish among chasing pack

Tommy Fleetwood, of England, lines up his putt on the 17th green. Pic: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

Tommy Fleetwood would very much like to put an end to his ignominious PGA Tour record – most career top 10s without ever winning. 

He could bury it by lifting two trophies this weekend, winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup in one fell swoop.

“I’m not going to be picky about which one I choose to have as the first one – this one would be a good one,” he said before putting together rounds of 64 and 63 to share the 36-hole lead at East Lake Golf Club with American Russell Henley. “But I think it would be pretty funny if I won this week and then got the FedEx Cup as well.” 

The 34-year-old Englishman has a record 44 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour without a victory – 30 of them top-five, 12 of them top-three and six of them runner-ups. 

He’s endured two of his most painful near misses this summer, losing late two-shot leads in the Travelers Championship to Keegan Bradley and the FedEx St. Jude Championship playoff opener to Justin Rose.

He hasn’t let the sting from those two losses keep him from banging on the door week after week.

“I actually feel like I’ve played very, very well when I have led the tournaments and been in contention,” Fleetwood said Friday after making eight birdies and one bogey. “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 … 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.” 

He’ll have to tackle the challenge next to upcoming American Ryder Cupper Henley, who backed up his opening 61 with a 66 on Friday to join Fleetwood on 13-under. 

One shot behind is red-hot American Cameron Young, who shot 62 on Friday to sit along in third at 11-under. Sharing fourth on 10-under is Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and American Patrick Cantlay.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled a bit on Friday but salvaged a red-number 1-under 69 with a birdie on 18 to sit alone in sixth at 8-under.

“Overall I didn’t really feel like I did too poorly, just didn’t get a lot out of it,” said Scheffler. “Just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be, and I kind of paid the price for it today.” 

Rory McIlroy is tied for seventh on 7-under with Shane Lowry and five others after a 3-under 67. They’re six behind co-leaders Fleetwood and Henley heading into the weekend.

“I played the first six holes well, a couple under, and then just got on the par train and couldn’t get off it even though I was giving myself some chances,” said McIlroy, who made 11 consecutive pars from 7 to 17 before finally rolling in 12-footer for birdie on the par-5 18th. “Felt nice to at least hole one at the end and make another birdie.

“Overall … feel like I didn’t get the most out of my round, but at the same time, I’m definitely hitting the ball better than I did last week. Some positives. I’m a few shots further behind than I’d like going into the weekend, but pleased with the improvements that I’ve made from last week to this week.” 

Every player in the field is under par overall after two rounds with ball in hand on a course softened by rain each of the last three nights. More weather rolled through late Friday as tee times were moved ahead to beat the summer storms. So the scoring is likely to remain low and preferred lies in effect on the weekend.

“You’re going to have a lot of chances for birdie because you’ve got a lot of approach shots from not that far, so there is that,” said Fleetwood. “But there’s enough demanding shots. I think if you start losing it a little bit off the tee and you’re in the rough, it obviously becomes a lot more difficult to score.

“I found it very difficult to get the ball near the holes in practice, and the pins obviously in the practice round are kind of in the middle of the greens. I think it was playing a lot firmer and I do think the soft conditions are making the fairways that bit more forgiving, knowing that obviously we can clean the ball in the fairway so you’ve got a nice dry, clean ball. I do think that probably makes a huge difference.

“It’s probably surprising that the scoring has been as low. But yeah, when you add it all together – softness, playing preferred lies, receptive greens – I think it obviously all adds up. And the greens are perfect as well. They’re great greens to hole putts on.”