Rory McIlroy birdied four of his first eight holes to make an early charge up the leaderboard on moving day, but he couldn’t maintain the pace and Tommy Fleetwood takes a three-stroke lead into the final round.
The reigning Masters champion came racing from the blocks in round three of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, carding birdies on two, four, six and eight as all facets of his game were firing. This took the world number two into a share of third on the leaderboard and to within two of the lead, but despite good par-saving putts on the next three holes, his luck ran out on 12 where, after finding an awkward lie in a fairway bunker, he airmailed the green and found himself in thick rough way below the green’s level. It took two from there to get it on the putting surface, and this time, his flatstick couldn’t come to the rescue and the wind was taken from his sails.
From there, he traded a birdie on 15 with a bogey on 16 and reached the clubhouse at -7, harbouring only the slenderest of hopes of overturning the seven-stroke deficit he now finds himself in.
While Scottie Scheffler was the man everybody expected to take control of the tournament, a calamitous triple bogey on the opening hole shocked everybody, including the world number one, and he was a little out of sorts all day, eventually carding a two-over 72 that leaves him alongside McIlroy in a tie for eighth.
Instead, it was Fleetwood, still chasing his maiden PGA Tour victory, who grabbed it by the scruff of the neck. Starting the day alongside Scheffler and Justin Thomas at -9, the Englishman birdied the third to take sole possession of the lead, then holed a 66-footer for birdie on the fifth and followed up with a par-5 birdie on six.
Further birdies on 10 and 15 came either side of a delightful eagle on the 13th, and his bogey-free 63 sees him three clear of Keegan Bradley who matched Fleetwood’s third-round score, and Russell Henley who went two better to charge up the board.
“It’ll come down to a bunch of things really,” Fleetwood said of his chances on Sunday. “Being in the last group, I’m really happy with that.
“I’m happy with the work I’ve done. It’s just an amazing opportunity to go out here tomorrow and hopefully it’s my time.”
Fleetwood hit all 14 fairways which demonstrated the control he was exercising over his golf ball.
“That’s a really cool stat, that’s a really nice stat,” he said. “I just had very much control of my golf ball, bogey-free today, so the odd sort of iffy shot I hit I made good saves, which are massive for momentum especially when you’re having a good day.”
Shane Lowry shrugged off the disappointment from two poor opening rounds to card a four-under 66, with five birdies and a single bogey, and he climbed 12 places to share 51st going into the final round.
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