TOUR Championship Round 2: Tommy Fleetwood Fires 63 to Share the Lead With Henley

Tommy Fleetwood has spent the summer as golf's most painful near-miss. Halfway through the FedExCup finale, Fleetwood is right back where the near-misses always start: at the top.

Fleetwood shot a 7-under 63 on Friday at East Lake and shares the 36-hole lead of the TOUR Championship with Russell Henley at 13-under 127. Cameron Young is two back after a 62. Patrick Cantlay and Robert MacIntyre are three back at 10 under, and Scottie Scheffler, after a scratchy 69, sits alone in sixth at 8 under.

Fleetwood Keeps Knocking

Fleetwood's card had eight birdies and one bogey, and the remarkable part is how little the putter had to do. Fleetwood needed to make just one putt from outside 25 feet to post the second-lowest score of the day, according to the PGA TOUR. The iron play did the heavy lifting, and through two rounds Fleetwood ranked second in the field in both Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Putting.

The 127 ties the best 36-hole total of Fleetwood's PGA TOUR career, matching the start at the FedEx St. Jude Championship earlier this month. That week ended with Fleetwood two clear with three to play and then one shot out of a playoff. At the Travelers in June, a three-putt from roughly 50 feet on the final hole handed Keegan Bradley the trophy.

So the questions are coming, and Fleetwood has heard them all. This is the seventh time Fleetwood has held or shared a 36-hole lead on TOUR, and none of the first six turned into a win. This is also career start No. 164.

"All I can do is keep learning," Fleetwood said, per the AP. "The people that win the most are the guys that are in contention the most."

Henley Holes Out and Holds On

Henley could not repeat Thursday's 61, but Friday's 66 had its own fireworks. The round opened with a birdie holed from a greenside bunker at the 1st, and it closed with another bunker shot at the 18th, played off the slope, that set up a birdie to finish birdie-birdie.

In between it was workmanlike golf with one bogey, and the putter stayed hot. Henley leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting through 36 holes. Henley has now held or shared the 36-hole lead 11 times on TOUR, converting two of the previous 10, at the 2013 Sony Open and the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship.

Young Joins the Party

The round of the day belonged to Young, who made nine birdies and one bogey for a 62 that matched the lowest 18-hole score of Young's season. The only real wobble came at the 17th, where Young had to pitch out of an awkward lie from the fairway and saved par anyway.

That 62 jumps Young into solo third, two back, and it also lands at an interesting time. With U.S. Ryder Cup picks looming, Young is making a loud case in front of the man who makes them, captain Keegan Bradley, who shot 64 on Friday and is part of a big group at 6 under.

Cantlay's Closing Kick

Cantlay's 66 was a rollercoaster that ended in the right place. The card had five birdies, three bogeys and an eagle, and the best of it came at the end: birdie, birdie and then the eagle at the par-5 18th, where Cantlay hit a 7-wood from 249 yards to 6 feet. That stretch produced a back-nine 30 and a 36-hole total of 130, Cantlay's lowest of the season.

The 2021 FedExCup champion summed up what everyone can see on the board. "When conditions are soft and there's been rain, I think that leads to a bunched leaderboard, so no surprise there," Cantlay said, per the AP.

MacIntyre matched Cantlay at 10 under with a bogey-free 66, quietly the cleanest card among the contenders.

Scheffler Stuck in Neutral

Scheffler's streak of rounds under par reached 19, which tells you how high the floor is. It also tells you Friday was the floor. The world No. 1 made three bogeys, was "just a touch off all day," as Scheffler put it, and only found some life at the last, where a wedge settled a foot from the hole.

"Just one of those days where it seemed like I wasn't getting rewarded for the stuff that I was doing," Scheffler said, per the AP.

Five shots is a real deficit with 36 holes left. It is also the kind of deficit that looks a lot smaller when the name chasing is Scheffler's.

The Weekend Setup

The scoring has been relentless. The course averaged 67 through two rounds, and 13 players are at 7 under or better. Shane Lowry and Chris Gotterup each shot 63 to join a seven-way tie for seventh at 7 under that also includes Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Sam Burns, Ben Griffin and Akshay Bhatia.

With no staggered start this year, every one of those numbers is real. There is no two-shot head start to protect and no 10-shot hole to climb out of, just a $10 million FedExCup prize and the Calamity Jane replica putter that serves as the TOUR Championship trophy.

Fleetwood knows what is coming. "I love the buzz when I am in contention, and I'm just excited for the opportunity again," Fleetwood said, per the AP. Saturday will show whether this lead is the start of something different, or just the next chapter of a familiar story.

Catch up on Thursday in our Round 1 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 2 recap, Fleetwood feature and leaderboard), AP, Golf Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.