Washington (AFP) – England’s Tommy Fleetwood positioned himself to strike for a first US PGA Tour title this weekend, firing a six-under par 64 to take a four-shot lead in the weather-hit second round of the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee. Fleetwood used birdie bursts early and late on TPC Southwind to build a 36-hole total of 13-under 127. He had a four-shot lead over overnight leader Akshay Bhatia, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Rose when play was suspended for the day because of thunderstorms.
Morikawa fired a five-under 65 and was joined in the clubhouse on nine-under 131 by fellow American Bhatia, who posted a 69. Rose was nine-under with two holes remaining when the sudden storm brought the round to a halt, with organizers suspending play for the day two hours later. Fleetwood, a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour, has six runner-up finishes on the US tour, including a playoff loss to US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship in June. “Maybe this weekend is the weekend,” Fleetwood said. “It hasn’t happened for me yet on the PGA Tour, but I would much rather be up there and not quite get it done than not there at all.”
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Fleetwood started the day one shot off the lead and got going early with birdies at the second, third, and fourth, where he rolled in a 28-foot putt from off the fairway. He dropped a 16-foot birdie putt at the 13th to launch a run of four straight birdies, and had plenty of cushion even after a closing bogey at 18, where he was in a fairway bunker off the tee. “Those were two nice runs to get on,” Fleetwood said of his birdie bursts. “Yesterday I felt like I stayed very patient, and then today after a hot start I wasn’t feeling that comfortable with my swing, so actually then to get on a run after that — I hit great shots into 13, 14, I played those holes really, really well, played them perfect.”
Two-time major-winner Morikawa climbed the leaderboard with a round highlighted by a hole-out for eagle from the fairway at the ninth. “Yeah, 127 (yards), tried to land it 125. Came off weird off the face,” he said. “It almost came off knuckly …but just with a breath of wind behind you, it just looked like it was diving out of the air.”
For Bhatia, coming off a career-best round of 62, it was a frustrating day. After two birdies and a bogey in the first four holes, he made all pars the rest of the way. World number one Scottie Scheffler, coming off his fourth major title at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, was also frustrated on the way to a four-under par 66 that featured eight birdies and four bogeys. It left him six shots off the lead and prompted a couple of outbursts from the famously even-keeled American.
Scheffler, whose four titles so far in 2025 also include another major at the PGA Championship, came into the first event of the tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs atop the points standings. The top 70 on the list qualified for this week’s tournament and however Scheffler’s weekend goes, he can be confident of emerging on Sunday among the top 50 who advance to the BMW Championship next week. The top 30 after the BMW advance to the Tour Championship, where Scheffler will be defending his FedEx Cup playoff crown.
© 2024 AFP
