Tommy Fleetwood up 3 at Travelers, eyes first PGA Tour win

England’s Tommy Fleetwood has put together a nice career, but none of his victories have come on the PGA Tour.

He’s in position to change that this weekend, but he won’t even be the sentimental favorite for the final day of the Travelers Championship.

Fleetwood shot 7-under-par 63 in Saturday’s third round to break away from a high-profile group near the top of the leaderboard at Cromwell, Conn.

Fleetwood, who for the second time in three rounds didn’t record a bogey, will carry a three-shot advantage into Sunday’s final round at TPC River Highlands. He’s at 16-under 194.

“I would love to win on the PGA Tour,” Fleetwood said. “I think it’s like an element of your career that everybody wants, and I of course want it.”

Russell Henley shot 61 and Keegan Bradley posted 63 to sit at 13 under. Australia’s Jason Day is at 11 under after a third-round 67.

It’s Bradley, the U.S. captain for the Ryder Cup and a native of New England, who’ll have the attention of the galleries for the final round.

“Tomorrow’s the year anniversary of getting the call for the Ryder Cup, so pretty crazy that we’re a year out,” Bradley said after Saturday’s round. “But special day tomorrow, could be even better.”

On top of that, he considers the Travelers Championship his home tournament.

“It took me a while to figure out how to play here in my home event and pressing and trying so hard,” Bradley said. “Now it’s just about my 15th time and much more ready for the challenge.”

The third round began with Fleetwood, Justin Thomas and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler tied for first place.

Scheffler’s triple-bogey on the first hole and a double-bogey on the eighth hole put him off pace. Thomas had severe troubles later.

Fleetwood’s highlights included a 66-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth hole and a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th. It was his second eagle in as many days at No. 13, which he has played at 5 under for the tournament.

“It’s hard to pick just one thing and it’s funny how weeks can sort of (work out),” he said.

Henley’s bogey-free round — a day after three bogeys in the second round — included 5 under on the front side. He had birdies on both par-5 holes.

“This place is kind of tricky to me and I’ve just tried to be really disciplined and trying to hit it to the fat side of the hole all week,” Henley said.

Bradley notched birdies on four of the first seven holes and stayed in contention. He’ll look to repeat that type of trend.

“Going to have to go out and shoot a low score,” Bradley said. “But you can do it around here. Just hit the ball in the fairway, take care of the par-5s and you can do it.”

Scheffler, playing on his 29th birthday, plummeted to 7 under and in a tie for eighth place with a 72, aided by a birdie on the last hole.

Thomas had a similar, albeit belated, decline on his way to 73, coming undone by a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 13th hole. That meltdown began with a tee shot out of bounds and included three additional shots in the rough before arriving at the green.

Harris English (67), Wyndham Clark (66) and Brian Harman (65) are tied for fifth place at 8 under.

Other than Henley, the day’s best scores were turned in by Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and Australia’s Adam Scott with 62s. Pendrith moved to a tie for 13th at 6 under, while Scott is tied for 25th at 4 under.

Pendrith recovered from Friday’s 74.

“I got off to a nice start, made some nice putts early in the round, and was kind of able to hold on to that momentum,” he said.

Scott, a longtime pro golfer, tied his lowest score in a PGA Tour round.

“I would rather leave today with the confidence shooting 62 than kind of mailing it in and maybe shooting 70 or 72 and not really getting anything out of it,” Scott said. “I’m out here for a reason, so I’ll try and get the most out of it if I can.”

–Field Level Media