1 year ago
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ESPN News Services
Jun 21, 2025, 07:41 PM ET
CROMWELL, Conn. -- Tommy Fleetwood avoided the benignant of blunders made Saturday by Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, ne'er missing a fairway and seizing connected the bully scoring conditions for a 7-under 63 for a three-shot pb going into the last circular of the Travelers Championship.
At involvement for Fleetwood, a regular fixture among the apical 25 for the past 2 years. is simply a accidental to adhd a PGA Tour rubric to a resume that includes 7 European titles and 3 Ryder Cup appearances.
The contiguous challengers successful steamy conditions astatine TPC River Highlands are New England's favourite lad and Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley (63) and Russell Henley, who had a vocation low-tying 61 1 time aft calling a punishment connected himself erstwhile helium wasn't wholly definite it was one.
Missing are Scheffler and Thomas, some tied for the 36-hole pb with Fleetwood.
Scheffler had a 29th day to forget. Thousands of spectators astir the archetypal tee serenaded him. He responded with a triple bogey, the archetypal clip helium has done that to commencement a circular successful his PGA Tour career. The satellite No. 1 ne'er rather recovered, posting a 72, the 5th clip successful 55 rounds this twelvemonth helium was implicit par.
Scheffler was 9 shots behind.
Thomas, already a victor astatine Hilton Head this year, was inactive successful scope of Fleetwood erstwhile helium deed his tee changeable onto the railroad tracks near of the par-5 13th, the nine slipping retired his hand. And past it got worse. He doubly watched chips up a slope to a greenish that ran distant from him travel up abbreviated and rotation backmost down the hill.
He missed a 6-foot putt and took a quadruple-bogey 9. Thomas changeable 73 and was 10 behind.
Without the upwind -- lone utmost vigor -- the people mean was close astir 68. The last radical of Scheffler and Thomas combined to spell 5-over par.
Fleetwood was successful specified power of his crippled that helium didn't recognize until aft the circular that helium didn't miss a fairway, cardinal to mounting up birdie chances.
He besides made eagle connected the 13th spread for the 2nd day, giving him 3 eagles for the week. They don't manus retired crystal for that astatine the Travelers, lone reddish umbrellas. But it allowed Fleetwood to get immoderate separation for Henley and Bradley going into Sunday.
Fleetwood, a 34-year-old from England, was astatine 16-under 194.
His 3-shot pb is his largest pb aft immoderate circular of his PGA Tour career. Some 20 of 22 golfers to pb by 3 oregon much strokes entering last circular implicit past 2 seasons won the event. If Fleetwood does it, the triumph would travel successful his 159th vocation start.
"I'm connected apical of a batch of stat lines for radical that haven't won connected the PGA Tour, truthful to ever beryllium a No. 1 astatine thing is ever nice," helium said with a laugh.
"Yeah, of people I would emotion to triumph connected the PGA Tour. I deliberation it's similar an constituent of your vocation that everybody wants, and I of people privation it. I haven't, this twelvemonth especially, I don't consciousness similar I've fixed myself ... I've fixed myself a back-end accidental a mates of times this year, but I've not been successful contention. So this is similar my archetypal existent chance, truthful I'm truly excited astir that and looking guardant to it."
Jason Day ran disconnected 3 consecutive birdies connected the backmost 9 to salvage a 67 and was 5 shots back. No 1 other was person than 8 shots of Fleetwood.
Scheffler hasn't finished retired of the apical 10 since March and remarkably helium ended the time with a birdie for a necktie eighth. The commencement was a shocker.
He drove near into the 5-inch unsmooth and deed wedge into a beforehand bunker with a decent lie. But helium caught each shot and sent it implicit the green, leaving him a pugnacious transportation up the slope and implicit a mound toward the hole. The archetypal transportation came up abbreviated and rolled backmost down into the rough.
He deed a flop to 15 feet and two-putted for triple bogey, his archetypal connected the circuit since the BMW Championship past August.
Bradley, whose sanction has not vanished from Ryder Cup information arsenic a player, won the Travelers 2 years agone and cleared a large hurdle trying to execute earlier New England fans, present chanting, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" astatine him astatine each turn.
He likes his presumption of chasing. He inactive knows helium needs to play well.
"Oh, man, you're going to person to sprout thing astatine slightest successful the mid 60s, astir apt wherever I am, astir apt lower," Bradley said. "But it's doable retired here. When you play a people wherever you've got to marque birdies it brings a antithetic challenge. You can't person a agelong of 1-over par for 7 holes oregon you suffer a cardinal shots.
"So successful immoderate aspects it's hard conscionable similar a hard people would be."
