CROMWELL, Conn. — Tommy Fleetwood avoided the type of blunt instrument made by Scotty Schaeffler and Justin Thomas on Saturday.
With the Fleetwood crisis, a regular fixture among the top 25 of the past two years, you have the chance to add a PGA Tour title to your resume, which includes seven European titles and three Ryder Cup appearances.
The direct challenger in the sultry state of TPC River Highlands was New England’s favourite son and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (63) and Russell Henry who had a career of 61 after calling the penalty when he wasn’t entirely sure.
The ones missing are Schaeffler and Thomas, both tied to Fleetwood and a 36-hole lead.
Schaeffler has forgotten his 29th birthday. Thousands of spectators around the first tee serenaded him. He responded with a triple bogey. He did it to start a round in his first PGA Tour career. World No. 1 never fully recovered, posting 72, and this year he surpassed Parki for the fifth time in 55 rounds.
Schaeffler was nine shots behind.
Already a winner at this year’s Hilton Head, Thomas was still in Fleetwood range when he hit a tee shot on the left railway tracks on the par 5 13th, and the club slid out of his hand. And that got worse. He ran up the slope twice to green, bumping into the green that had escaped him, and then back down the hill.
He missed a 6-foot putt and took a quadruple bogey nine. Thomas shot 73, 10 delayed.
Without the wind – only extreme heat – the course average was about 68. Schaeffler and Thomas’ final group went to five over par.
Fleetwood had control of his game and didn’t realize he didn’t miss the fairway until after the round.
He also made an eagle on hole 13 on the second day and gave three eagles that week. They don’t hand out crystals for this, not travelers, and only red umbrellas. However, Fleetwood managed to get some separation for Henry and Bradley to enter Sunday.
Fleetwood, 34, from England, was 194 under 16 years old.
His three-shot lead is his greatest advantage after a round of his PGA Tour career. About 20 of the 22 golfers have won the event by leading with three or more strokes that enter the final round over the past two seasons. If Fleetwood does that, the victory will come at his 159th career start.
“I’m adding to a lot of stats lines for people who haven’t won the PGA Tour, so it’s always nice to be number one in something,” he said with a laugh.
“Of course I want to win on the PGA Tour. I think it’s like an element of your career. Of course I don’t want that. This year, I haven’t given myself a backend chance this year… I haven’t gotten caught up in a few times this year, but I feel like my first real chance.
Jason Day ran off three straight birdies on the back nine to save the 67 and was five shots. There was no one nearby than Fleetwood’s 8 shot.
Schaeffler hasn’t finished from the top 10 since March, and surprisingly, he finished the day with a tie birdie on the eighth day. The start was Shocker.
He left at the 5-inch rough and lied and hit a wedge on the front bunker. But he caught all the balls and sent it over the green, and he went up to the slope and left him on the mound towards the hole. The initial pitch was shortened and I returned to rough.
He slammed the flop 15 feet and putts for a triple bogey.
Bradley, whose name hasn’t faded from consideration of the Rider Cup as a player, cleared a major hurdle by beating the traveler two years ago, trying to play in front of New England fans. To him every turn.
He likes the position he chases, but he still knows he needs to play well.
“Yeah, man, you’re going to have to shoot something at least in the mid-’60s, where I’m probably, maybe low,” Bradley said. “But it’s doable here. When you play a course where you have to make birdies, it brings another challenge. You can’t have a standard of 1 over in 7 holes, or you lose 1 million shots.
“So, in some respects, it’s as difficult as hard courses do.”