Tommy Fleetwood put himself in the mix early at the BMW Championship, opening with a five-under 65 at Caves Valley.
Just last week, Fleetwood saw another chance slip away late, finishing behind Justin Rose and J.J. Spaun at the FedEx St. Jude Championship as Rose went on to beat Spaun in a playoff.
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Now, Fleetwood is looking to respond quickly with a strong showing this week. But standing in his way could be fellow Ryder Cup teammate Robert MacIntyre.
MacIntyre put together an excellent 62 to start his tournament, despite nearly two hours of rain delays disrupting play.
The eight-under round was even more impressive given Scottie Scheffler’s comments about how tough the course was playing.
Tommy Fleetwood reacts to Robert MacIntyre’s strong start at BMW Championship
On the opening day, anything under par was considered a good score at Caves Valley. The seven-time DP World Tour winner spoke to reporters after his own impressive round of 65 in Baltimore on Thursday.
The conversation soon shifted to MacIntyre’s 62, and Fleetwood was asked for his thoughts on that performance.
He replied: “I would love to see the highlights of his round, really, because — for sure when we came back out, the course was a lot softer, so we did have a chance of shooting a score. But did he finish with quite a few birdies maybe?”
After learning that MacIntyre made six consecutive birdies to shoot 29 on the back nine, Fleetwood said: “That helps.”
“He was only 2-under before that. He wasn’t doing that great. Yeah, that’s an amazing round of golf, and I think sometimes those just — how tough this course is, I don’t care when we came out if it’s soft or not. Those scores show just how good these players are.”
“For me if you’d have played or walked the course this morning and then said someone is going to shoot 62… ridiculous really. It shows just how talented so many of these players are. Great stuff from Bob.”
Again, going bogey-free around there is really good. I couldn’t ask for much more in terms of — I think I made like two or three really good par saves other than that, I did a lot well.”
Comparing Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre’s Opening Rounds at the BMW Championship
After day one of the BMW Championship, MacIntyre leads the field, with Fleetwood right behind him in second place.
Here’s a look at how their first-round stats stack up: Fleetwood wasn’t as sharp off the tee as he was in Memphis, but still managed to post a five-under round.
If he can sort out his driving over the next few days, there’s every chance he could finally pick up that long-awaited PGA Tour win.
But to do that, he’ll need to get past MacIntyre on the leaderboard – and keep an eye on Scottie Scheffler, who’s lurking just behind.
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