Tommy Fleetwood is once again atop the leaderboard at a significant event going into the weekend, this as the Englishman continues pursuing his elusive first PGA Tour win. Fleetwood fired a second-round 63 to reach 13 under and take the lead alongside Russell Henley at the midway point of the Tour Championship.
Despite falling short in brutal fashion twice this season -- adding to a mounting list of lose calls throughout his career -- Fleetwood continues to play some of his best golf. After a strong 64 to put himself in contention after 18 holes, a Friday 63 featured more sensational ball-striking and putting with Fleetwood standing second in strokes gained across both categories this week.
Fleetwood did most of his damage on the back nine at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, making six birdies and one bogey on the inward side to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
That included back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th to close out his round in style, particularly important makes or Fleetwood, who's had issues finishing out rounds in his career. At the St. Jude Championship two weeks ago, he bogeyed the 18th in the middle rounds, ending the tournament on a sour note given he lost by just one shot.
At East Lake, Fleetwood has birdied the par-5 18th twice already, perhaps building positive momentum on the closing holes that can help him Sunday as he tries to finally push himself over the finish line and into the winner's circle.
Fleetwood fell painfully short of his first career win at the Travelers Championship -- in addition to the St. Jude -- this year, but he's responded to those failures in admirable fashion. He has consistently spoken about continuing to putting himself in those positions, noting that the feeling of contending is unlike anything else in golf and the reason why they play the game.
It's one thing to say the right things after heartbreaking losses but quite another to learn from previous mistakes and put corrections into action. Fleetwood should again find himself in the pressure cooker of being among the final pairings heading into Sunday's fourth round. To ensure he pulls through, Fleetwood will have to continue posting low scores as soft conditions at East Lake are expected through the weekend. Players have taken advantage of the soft greens and been attacking pins thanks to the rain in Atlanta.
Henley, the 18-hole leader, will join Fleetwood in the last pairing on Moving Day. The former Georgia Bulldogs star stalled out a bit after his opening 61, only managing two birdies and a bogey on his front nine, but he matched Fleetwood with closing birdies on the 17th and 18th to maintain a share of the lead.
Close behind those two is Cameron Young, who posted the low round of the day with a 62 to insert himself into the mix at 11 under. Young has been playing fantastic golf in the second half of the season, recently picking up his first career win at the Wyndham Championship. His improvement on the greens has been the catalyst for his strong season, and that has continued this week. Young is fifth in putting to go along with being No. 1 in strokes gained on approach, firing a back nine 29 on Friday to charge into contention.
Surprisingly absent from the top of the chase group is Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 was in second place entering Round 2 but could not get anything going Friday in a disappointing afternoon of golf. Scheffler was wayward off the tee and missed a handful of putts that had him quite frustrated. He did birdie the last to shoot a 1-under 69, but he fell off the pace at 8 under and faces a five-shot deficit going into the weekend.
The leaders
1. Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley (-13): At this point, there's an argument that Fleetwood is playing like the second-best player in the world over the last couple months -- especially in the first 54 holes of tournaments. The problem is Sundays. After faltering twice already this year despite holding late leads, Fleetwood will not be given the benefit of the doubt until he proves he can handle that closing pressure. Henley had an up-and-down start to his round and couldn't quite get it in gear until the back nine when he finally settled in and made some birdies. Even with a pedestrian 67, he's still tied for first, and his stellar history at East Lake -- along with his accuracy off the tee -- prove he was deserving of being one of the trending picks entering the tournament.
Contenders
3. Cameron Young (-11)
T4. Patrick Cantlay, Robert MacIntyre (-10)
6. Scottie Scheffler (-8)
T7. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia (-7)
There is a big gap between the top 5 on the leaderboard and the rest of the field, so it'll take something special from Scheffler in sixth or someone in the 7-under group to get in the mix. That is nevertheless an extremely talented group, which includes the top two in the world rankings, each of whom is more than capable of running up leaderboards on a whim.
Accuracy off the tee will be the question for Young over the remaining 36 holes, but he showed Friday what can happen when he finds the short grass consistently. He's hitting it as well as he ever has with the irons and is combining that with elite putting that makes him a real threat to win the $10 million top prize this week.
MacIntyre and Cantlay are also in the mix just three back. The big Scot has shaken off his Sunday struggles at the BMW Championship and is back in the mix. Cantlay, meanwhile, has been off the radar for awhile and looked like he'd fall back Friday until a furious finish with two birdies and an eagle to close out his second round to stay in contention.
2025 Tour Championship updated odds, picks
- Tommy Fleetwood (9/4)
- Russell Henley (12/5)
- Scottie Scheffler (5-1)
- Cameron Young (8-1)
- Patrick Cantlay (12-1)
- Robert MacIntyre (14-1)
- Rory McIlroy (25-1)
It would be great for Fleetwood to finally get his first win and do so at the Tour Championship with such a massive payday on the line, but it's tough to buy him at that price. Young is the best value of this group at 8-1; he's been consistently great with ball-striking and putting, and nothing we saw from him Friday was fluky. Conditions aren't supposed to change much with more rain in the forecast this weekend, so a guy who can move it as far as he can off the tee and is as dialed as he is with the irons could absolutely take it low again on the weekend.
