Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fleetwood’s second 62 has him in contention
Tommy Fleetwood followed up his second round 62 with another 62 Saturday at the BMW Championship, which means that the Englishman and PGA Tour rookie has added to the ever increasing list of players this week who have equaled the Aronimink course record set seven years ago by Nick Watny at the AT&T National.
First came Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on Thursday, and then Kevin Na on Friday. But the 27-year-old Fleetwood topped them all and is now on the list twice.
“Obviously, I hit it great for two days,” Fleetwood said.
On Saturday, his 8-underpar gem was bogey-free, and featured a torrid finish that included four birdies in a row and five in six holes. He heads into the final 18 holes in a tie for fourth place at 15-under-par 195.
“I kept driving it the same the last few days and my irons have gotten a little bit better,” Fleetwood said. “I missed maybe one green over two days. I’ve been really solid there.
“When you start feeling confident with the long irons, your game is coming together. It’s been two good days.”
When Sergio Garcia got the monkey off his back and finally won a major championship in 2017, Ricky Fowler took over the mantle as the best player never to have won a major.
And though Fowler will have to wait until 2019 to get another shot, the 10-year pro is playing great at the BMW Championship, and he’s coming off an oblique injury that forced him to miss the previous two PGA Tour events.
On Saturday, his 5-under 65 was good enough to put him in fourth place, just two strokes behind the leader Justin Rose at 15-under. His round included six birdies in a 10-hole stretch, but his only bogey came on the par-4 18th.
“(Saturday) was nice,” he said. “It would have been nice to get a couple more and not make bogey at the last, (but) it puts me into a good spot for (Sunday).
“It got a little tougher on the back 9, the wind definitely picked up.”
Two days after Tiger Woods tied the Aronimink course record with a 62, he talked about the need to shoot another 62 in the final round.
“Because I’m six strokes back I’m going to have to shoot one of those 61s or 62s just to have a chance,” Woods said. “The golf course is soft. Everyone is making birdies. You can be aggressive, and I’ve got to take a run at it.”
There have been five rounds of 62 already this week.
“At the beginning of the week after we played the course Tuesday, we took a look at it and thought the winning score would be near 20-under par,” Woods added. “It’s gotten even softer since Tuesday and now with the ball in hand, you drive it halfway decent in the fairway and you’re throwing darts at the flag. There’s really no fear.”
After Rory McIlroy suffered a double-bogey at the par-3 8th, he finished the last 10 holes in 5-under, including an eagle at the 9th. “It was a weird day,” said McIlroy, who is only one shot off the lead at 16-under 194. “They put a lot of the tees up and the conditions were very wet. But if you didn’t shoot a 65 you were losing ground. It was one of those days where you had to stay aggressive.” … All gates for Sunday’s final round will be open at 7 a.m., with public parking lots opening at 6:30 a.m.