Tommy Fleetwood is four shots clear of Collin Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia after the second round of the St. Jude Championship golf tournament in Memphis, Tenn.George Walker IV/The Associated Press
Tommy Fleetwood had another big closing stretch Friday with four straight birdies, giving him a six-under 64 and the 36-hole lead in the FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship with his sights set on an elusive PGA Tour title.
So much attention is on the top 50 in the FedEx Cup who advance out of the first post-season event. Fleetwood is already locked in all the way to the finale at the Tour Championship. What he cares about is winning.
“It hasn’t happened for me yet out on the PGA Tour, but I would much rather be up there and not quite get it done than not there at all,” Fleetwood said. “And who knows? Maybe this weekend is the weekend and we’ll see, and we’ll crack on from there.”
Fleetwood was at 13-under 127, four shots clear of Collin Morikawa (65) and Akshay Bhatia (69). Justin Rose also was at nine-under par after a birdie on the par-5 16th. Storms rolled into the area, forcing spectators to leave the course and suspending play until Saturday morning.
Fleetwood finished with four straight birdies on Thursday. He made three in a row early, including a 30-footer from the fringe on the par-3 fourth hole at the TPC Southwind. He also had a pair of key par saves around the turn before going on another run.
He holed a pair of 15-foot birdie putts on the 13th and 14th. He stuffed a wedge to five feet for birdie on the 15th. And then he reached the par-5 16th in two and two-putted from about 30 feet for a fourth straight birdie.
The only bogey came at the final hole when he went from the bunker into thick rough, and the safe shot from there was some 50 feet long of the pin.
Kurt Kitayama had the low score of the round at 63, moving him to the top five on the leaderboard as a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., are both part of an eight-way tie for 31st at two under. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is at one under and in a nine-way tie for 39th. Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton is at even par and in a five-way tie for 48th.