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 has fallen painfully short of getting that first win at the Travelers and the St. Jude this year, but has had an admirable response to those results.
Fleetwood has consistently spoken about how he wants to keep putting himself in those positions, noting the feeling of contending is unlike anything else in golf and the reason why they play. It’s one thing to say the right things after heartbreaking losses, but another to put them into action. Fleetwood has done just that and will once again find himself in the pressure cooker of the final pairing on the weekend at a big event.
To finally get that first victory, 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 are attacking pins thanks to the rain in Atlanta, and he has plenty of talented players chasing him.
He shares the lead at 13 under with Russell Henley, and those two will go off together in the final pairing on Saturday. Henley stalled out a bit after his opening 61, only managing two birdies and a bogey on his front nine, but matched Fleetwood with closing birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to maintain a share of the lead going into the weekend.
Close behind those two is Cameron Young, as he 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 and recently picked 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.
The name surprisingly absent from the top of the chase group is Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 was in second after the first round, but could not get anything going on Friday in a disappointing afternoon of golf. Scheffler was wayward off the tee and missed a handful of putts that had him quite frustrated.
Scheffler did birdie the last to shoot a 1 under 69, but fall 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 a tournament. The problem is Sundays, and after faltering twice already this year with late leads, no one will give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves he can handle that pressure in the final round, no matter what his lead is.
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 second round of 67, he’s only one back, has a great history at East Lake and is extremely accurate off the tee. He was a trendy pick coming into the week and will be expected to stay near the top of the leaderboard through Sunday.
Other 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 Scottie Scheffler in sixth or someone in that group at 7 under to get in the mix. That said, that is a very talented group of names, including the top two in the world rankings, who are more than capable of that kind of performance.
Accuracy off the tee will be the question for Young on the weekend, but he showed on 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 very real threat to win the $10 million top prize this week.
Also in the mix just three back are MacIntyre and Cantlay. The big Scot has shaken off his Sunday struggles at the BMW and is back in the mix. Cantlay, meanwhile, has been off the radar for awhile and looked like he’d fall back today 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’d be very cool for Fleetwood to finally get his first win and do so at the Tour Championship, but I can’t buy in at the 36-hole point at this price. Value-wise, I like Young the best of this group at 8-1. He’s been consistently great with the ball-striking and putting and I don’t feel like anything he did on Friday was fluky. Conditions aren’t supposed to change much as the weekend goes on with more rain in the forecast, 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.
