ATLANTA (AP) — One swing cost Tommy Fleetwood the lead Saturday in the Tour Championship. Another great closing stretch gave Patrick Cantlay a shot at the ideal ending to three years without winning.
Cantlay birdied four of the last five holes on a rain-soaked course at East Lake for a 6-under 64 and a share of the lead with Fleetwood, who rebounded from his double bogey on the par-3 15th hole with a pair of birdies for a 67.
And still the most compelling name of all is Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley,
who has until Wednesday to decide if he should pick himself for the U.S. team and made a compelling case with a 63 that left him very much in the mix.
Bradley is consumed with the Ryder Cup, and it didn't help that when he registered for the Tour Championship, he saw the Ryder Cup bag of Arnold Palmer from the 1963 matches at East Lake. He was the last playing captain in the Ryder Cup.
“It was really weird looking at it,” Bradley said. “Like really strange. Because I’m nowhere in the world of Arnold Palmer and somehow I’m in this with him right now.”
Throw in Russell Henley and Scottie Scheffler, and Sunday is shaping up as a thriller to conclude the PGA Tour season with more than one cup in the conversation.
In a FedEx Cup finale in which no started with an edge in points or shots, it comes down to those five players separated by four shots, with Cameron Young (71) six behind.
Fleetwood ran off four straight birdies on the front nine, and he appeared to be in control after a wedge into 6 feet for birdie on the 13th. Then came the 15th, 220 yards to a peninsula green. From a shorter tee, only one tee shot went into the water each of the first two rounds.
Fleetwood was the 10th player to hit into the water Saturday, a 6-iron he knew was wet when it left his club. Even so, the congenial Englishman didn't let that ruin his round, answered with a pitching wedge from the bunker to 12 feet for birdie on the 16th.
He failed to birdie the par-5 18th, leaving him in a tie with Cantlay at 16-under 194.
Cantlay won the FedEx Cup in 2021. He hasn't won since the BMW Championship in 2022, though he never looks too far off his game. One change was working with putting guru Phil Kenyon two weeks ago on his setup, and perhaps that's the spark.
“It's nice to close the way I did, especially the last two days,” Cantlay said. “I'm pleased with where I'm at.”
Cantlay might have assured his spot at Bethpage Black. Even at 15th in the Ryder Cup standings, he was seen as logical choice given how he performed under pressure in Rome and at the Presidents Cup last year in Montreal.
Now he has a chance to win the FedEx Cup for the second time.
“It’s always nice to have your game shape up at the end of the year, but like I said, I’m focused 100% on this week, and we’ll worry about the Ryder Cup a little later,” he said.
For Fleetwood, it's another shot at his first PGA Tour title after gut-punching losses at the Travelers Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship two weeks ago. All he wanted was another chance, and this is another great one.
Henley went quiet on the back nine until a birdie on the final hole for a 69, leaving him two shots behind.
Scheffler was so frustrated with putts he felt he slightly misread that he tossed his putter at his bad after missing an 8-foot birdie try on the 16th. He had missed two other birdie chances from slightly closer. He still shot 66, his 20th consecutive round under par.
“Felt like another frustrating day,” Scheffler said. "I felt like I did some things well out there. I was just a little bit off on my reads most of the day. I hit some good putts that just didn’t fall. Overall, I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament, which making bogeys around this place can very easily do that.
“Proud of the turnaround,” he said. “But man, I wish I could have gotten a little bit more out of the round.”
Sunday is for the FedEx Cup and the $10 million prize, a chance for Scheffler to become the first repeat FedEx Cup champion, for Fleetwood to finally get that first PGA Tour title, for Bradley to make it virtually impossible not to pick himself.
He already has two wins in the last 13 months, as many as any American this side of Scheffler.
“I’m either going to win or I’m not and we’re going to know the picks,” Bradley said. “We’re pretty confident with the picks that we have. One more day of golf to kind of finalize this whole thing, and I can’t wait. I’m done with this whole process. I want it over with either way.”
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