Tommy Fleetwood Leads FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship
Tommy Fleetwood had a spectacular finish on Friday with four consecutive birdies, giving him a 6-under-64 and the 36-hole lead at the FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship. Fleetwood is seeking his first PGA Tour title.
The focus is on the top 50 of the FedEx Cup, who advance to the first postseason event. Fleetwood is already assured of a place in the final at the Tour Championship. His main goal is to win.
“It hasn’t happened for me yet on the PGA Tour, but I’d rather be at the top and not quite get it done than not be there at all,” Fleetwood said. “Who knows? Maybe this weekend is the weekend and we’ll see, and we’ll go from there.”
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was at 13-under-127, with a four-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa (65) and Akshay Bhatia (69). Justin Rose was also at 9-under par. Storms forced spectators to leave the course and suspended play until Saturday morning.
Fleetwood finished on Thursday with four consecutive birdies. He made three in a row at the start, including a 30-foot putt from the fringe on the par-3 fourth hole at TPC Southwind. He also had a couple of key saves around the hole before starting another streak.He made two 15-foot birdie putts on holes 13 and 14. He hit a wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 15th. Then, he reached the par-5 16th hole in two and two-putted from about 30 feet for a fourth consecutive birdie.
The only bogey came on the final hole, when he came out of the bunker into the thick rough, and the safe shot from there was about 50 feet from the pin.
“Of course, when you have two good rounds, it’s easy to say everything has gone well,” Fleetwood said. “But I think for the most part I’ve been very good off the tee, put myself in a position to attack the course. My iron game has been good and solid, and I’ve rolled the ball well.”
Kurt Kitayama had the lowest score of the round with 63, which moved him into the top five of the leaderboard as a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change.
The FedEx Cup playoffs were a late occurrence until two weeks ago. He was in 110th place until he won the 3M Open in Minnesota. Now he is in 52nd place and the next goal is to advance to the BMW Championship next week outside of Baltimore.
It’s hard not to pay attention to the top 50 this week because, in addition to advancing to the postseason, anyone in the top 50 is assured of being in the eight $20 million signing events next year.
“I feel like everyone mostly is,” Kitayama said. “But you can’t control what others do. If you play well, it will take care of itself. That’s my way of thinking. But yes, I am looking at the leaderboard quite a bit.”
There’s no need for Scottie Scheffler to look. The PGA and British Open champion is so far ahead in the FedEx Cup that he’s assured of staying on top this week. That doesn’t mean he’s sailing without a care.
Scheffler was hampered by three bogeys in the last nine holes, landing in a rough that swallowed his golf ball and left him visibly frustrated. Even so, he shot a 66 and was six strokes away.
Jordan Spieth had an 8-foot par putt on the final hole that headed toward the cup and appeared to fall in by gravity when it stayed on the edge. That summed up his day of three bogeys, three birdies and a 70 that left him 12 strokes back and facing a lot of stress for the weekend as he tries to avoid a second straight year outside the top 50.
Bud Cauley, one spot behind Kitayama in the FedEx Cup at 53rd, shot a 69 and was tied for seventh when play was suspended.
Once the second round is complete, the third round will follow in trios from both sides.
Fleetwood is ranked 15th in the world with seven victories on the European circuit against some of the strongest fields. He has thrived on a big stage overseas, particularly in the Ryder Cup. It’s just that small matter of a PGA Tour title.
I was about to achieve it at the end of June at the Travelers Championship until a surprising finish, when he three-putted from just before the green for bogey and Keegan Bradley birdied to beat him.
“Right now I’d love to go somewhere and sulk and maybe I will,” he said that Sunday at the Travelers. “But there’s no point in turning it into something negative for the future, just take the positive and move on.”
He has another chance on the weekend at the TPC Southwind, which is still only halfway there, but at least he’s there with a chance and in command of his tee-to-green game.
