CROMWELL – In a matter of minutes, the par-5, 509-yard No. 13 at TPC River Highlands noticed the Vacationers Championship leaderboard make a seismic shift.
Tommy Fleetwood, who made eagle on the identical gap to start out his back-nine blitz Friday night, sunk a 30-foot putt for his third eagle in two days and improved his result in 15-under. When the pairing of co-leaders got here by means of subsequent, Scottie Scheffler landed his tee shot in a left-side bunker and Justin Thomas despatched his onto the railroad tracks behind the opening; he launched his membership on the prime of his swing and let that fly, too.
Thomas walked away with a quadruple-bogey 9, attending to 4-over for the day and falling 9 photographs again of Fleetwood’s lead. Scheffler managed to make birdie, however the injury to his spherical had already been carried out with a triple-bogey 7 on the primary gap, one other bogey on No. 4 and a double on No. 8.
Fleetwood added one other birdie on No. 15 and completed at 16-under by means of 54 holes.
“13’s been very type to me to this point,” Fleetwood mentioned, reflecting on his spherical with CBS. “I would really like it to maintain doing that… (Profitable on Sunday) will come right down to a bunch of issues, actually. This 12 months I haven’t been in rivalry a lot in any respect, I’ve been on the outskirts… So really placing myself there, being within the final group tomorrow, I’m actually pleased with that.”
When he appeared again on the leaderboard, there have been all new faces behind him.
Russell Henley, the 36-year-old within the midst of probably the greatest runs of his profession, got here out of nowhere with the low spherical of the match. His bogey-free 9-under 61 vaulted him into rivalry at 13-under, tied with Keegan Bradley for second on the leaderboard, three photographs behind the lead.
“I had a pair actually good breaks that saved the spherical going,” mentioned Henley, who shot a 68 in every of the primary two rounds. “I by some means made birdie on 4 from the left tough, sort of hit like a chaser sort of shot as much as about eight or 10 ft. Additionally saved par on 14 after I skulled a wedge right into a tree limb. So two good issues there to sort of maintain my spherical going, but in addition simply putted rather well. I really feel like I hit it rather well, too.”
Bradley, the 2023 Vacationers Champion and captain of Group USA for the Ryder Cup, heard acquainted roars and “USA” chants on the 18th inexperienced as he rolled in a 5-foot putt for his seventh birdie of the day and completed his bogey-free spherical with a 63.
“In the present day was simply a kind of days when the whole lot feels nice. I hit the ball good, putted nice, felt snug all day, which is uncommon. I felt actually, actually nice on the market,” he mentioned, the New England native excited to contend at his dwelling occasion because the U.S. captain. “I attempt to benefit from the moments extra, go searching a bit of extra, look within the crowd, and I’ll positively do this tomorrow.”
At its present tempo, Fleetwood’s enthralling run of excellent fortune could be robust to catch.
The 34-year-old Englishman, on the lookout for his first win on the PGA Tour, made a 66-foot putt for his second birdie of the day on No. 5. Fleetwood shot 3-under 32 on the entrance 9 and 4-under 31 on the again to proceed constructing his cushion.
Fleetwood’s companion, Jason Day shot 3-under to enter the ultimate spherical 5 photographs from the lead at 11-under by means of 54 holes.
Harris English, the 2021 Vacationers champion, is a part of the trio tied for fifth at 8-under, eight photographs behind Fleetwood’s lead, which incorporates Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark.
With a 3-over 73 on his twenty ninth birthday, the triple-bogey on No. 1 being his first because the 2024 BMW Championship, Scheffler fell again to the cluster at 7-under. Rory McIlroy enters Sunday in the identical place after making 4 birdies on the entrance 9 however giving two strokes again with a double-bogey on No. 12 and bogey on No. 16.
Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, Denny McCarthy and Nick Taylor are all a part of that group, which is 9 photographs behind Fleetwood’s lead.
General, TPC River Highlands returned to regular type with birdies falling to make up for Saturday’s high-scoring affair – the best scoring common (70.686) at The Vacationers since 2017. Saturday’s scoring common – 68.002 – made the third around the lowest-scoring of the primary three days.
“I feel this can be a actually good course the place you possibly can take a look at the leaderboard,” Fleetwood mentioned. “However the leaderboard nearly doesn’t imply (a lot), it’s a must to rise up and hit the golf photographs often because any person else will probably be doing it, and any person else will go low, if no more folks. I feel it’s a very nice week for that. You take a look at the leaderboard, however you’ve simply acquired to hold on along with your sport plan and hitting photographs.”
Fleetwood and Henley will tee-off within the lead group at 1:50 p.m. on Sunday, simply after Bradley and Day at 1:40 p.m.
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