Tour Championship – round three leaderboard
-16 P Cantlay (US), T Fleetwood (Eng); -14 R Henley (US); -13 K Bradley (US); -12 S Scheffler (US)
Selected others: -9 S Lowry (Ire), -8 J Thomas (US), R MacIntyre (Sco); -6 R McIlroy (NI), C Morikawa (US); -5 L Aberg (Swe), H Hall (Eng); -4 V Hovland (Nor); -2 J Rose (Eng)
Tommy Fleetwood plans to “go out and enjoy” Sunday’s final round of the $40m Tour Championship as he looks to finally win his first PGA Tour title.
The Englishman, who has had 44 top-10 finishes on the American circuit, is tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay on 16 under par, with the pair two clear of Russell Henley in third.
Fleetwood, 34, joked earlier this week that he would find it “pretty funny” if he were to triumph this weekend to claim the FedEx Cup and a cheque for $10m (£7.4m) in the season-ending event.
And he looked to be in control of his game on Saturday, with a run of four successive birdies on the front nine before he rolled in another on the 13th to move three clear of the field on 16 under.
However, a “terrible” tee shot on the par-three 15th found water and as Fleetwood finally knocked in for a double-bogey five, Cantlay was holing a birdie putt on the last to set the target at 16 under.
“It was so disappointing,” Fleetwood, who has seven wins on the European-based DP World Tour, said on Sky Sports. “But I wanted to bounce back because I had three holes to play, 21 in the tournament and I’m really happy with how I played 16 and 17.”
I’m where I want to be – Cantlay
“The more times you get it wrong or it doesn’t happen for you, you start to not fear it,” Fleetwood said of his chances of winning after narrowly missing out on victory at the St Jude Championship and Travelers Championship earlier this season.
“Experience is something you can’t practise. It’s all to play for and an amazing opportunity.
“Everybody competing this week wanted to be in that final pair on Sunday and I’m one of those guys. Hopefully I am stood on the 18th green with the trophy.”
And on a leaderboard stacked with great potential storylines, US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is on 13 under after shooting the low round of the day, a seven-under 63 at East Lake in Atlanta.
Bradley, who is currently 11th on the US ranking list, has already said he faces “the decision of his life” as he contemplates naming himself as one of his six picks to complete the 12-strong US team for next month’s contest against Europe at Bethpage Black in New York.
Arnold Palmer was the last playing captain on a Ryder Cup team in 1963 when the contest was not the behemoth it has become.
That call will be made public on Wednesday, 27 August and Cantlay must be in Bradley’s reckoning too.
Cantlay was fifth in the world heading into the 2023 Ryder Cup, where he became something of a pantomime villain over his decision to not wear a cap. Since then, he has steadily fallen down the rankings to 23rd.
And he has missed out on automatic qualification for the Ryder Cup, meaning he needs a captain’s pick from Bradley to make his third successive US team.
The 33-year-old, who won the Tour Championship in 2021, closed with a hat-trick of birdies to cap an impressive bogey-free 64.
“I feel like I’m striking it well and in control of my golf ball,” he said.
“I’m exactly where I want to be going into Sunday and I’ll keep sticking to my process.”
The leaders will also have an eye on world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is lurking on 12 under after a 66.
Scheffler opened with successive bogeys but five birdies in his next eight holes lifted him to 11 under.
However, he missed several other short birdie putts and after a wayward eight-foot attempt on the 16th, he angrily threw his putter at his bag as his frustrations boiled over.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre looked to be surging into contention when he reached 11 under with a birdie on the 10th but he too double-bogeyed the 15th after hitting his tee shot into water as he posted a 72 to end on eight under.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy briefly flickered, getting to nine under with a birdie on the 13th but a poor finish with successive bogeys saw him end on six under overall.
Both of those players have secured their Ryder Cup spots but several European players will be looking to give their captain Luke Donald a timely reminder of their quality on Sunday.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who looks likely to be knocked out of the final qualifying spot for the European Ryder Cup team by Rasmus Hojgaard at the British Masters, is the highest placed of those at nine under par.
Lowry cannot improve his ranking at the Tour Championship, while Hojgaard, who is 14th at the Belfry heading into the final round, needs to be in the top 29 to nick that final automatic spot.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland of Norway are at five and four under respectively and require Donald to give them the nod.
The same goes for Sepp Straka, who is set to finish eighth, above Aberg and Hovland in the qualification standings. The Austrian has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, but has had a poor week in Atlanta and is bottom of the 30-man field on six over par.
You can follow the final round of the Tour Championship via BBC Sport’s live text page from 18:30 BST on Sunday.
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