Is this finally the week for Tommy Fleetwood? A seven-time victor on the DP World Tour, the 34-year-old Englishman has yet to grab hold of a long-awaited first trip to the PGA Tour winner’s circle. Up three strokes with just 18 holes remaining at the 2025 Travelers Championship, it’s possible Fleetwood achieves his crowning moment on Sunday at the final signature event of the season.

Despite the number of close calls, Fleetwood (-16) has never been so well-positioned as this week in Cromwell, Connecticut. His three-shot lead over Russell Henley and Keegan Bradley (-13) provides him with necessary breathing room as only one round stands between him and not only that first PGA Tour win but also a substantial $3.6 million winner’s check.

Fleetwood’s near misses have been well-documented; they feature a fair share of agonizing performances. A couple of years ago, it was Fleetwood who failed to birdie the par-5 finisher in regulation at the Canadian Open only to watch Nick Taylor’s famous putt find the bottom of the cup in extra holes.

He has come close both in major championships (U.S. Open, Open Championship) and various stops on the PGA Tour. Zero wins have been accumulated to date, but Fleetwood has amassed 41 top-10 finishes — the most among active players without a win on their resume.

Final-round performances from deep in the pack, such as his final-round 63 at the 2018 U.S. Open, have given Fleetwood chances from afar, but rarely has he found his name this far in front with just 18 holes to go.

Thanks to a 7-under 63 in Round 3 at TPC River Highlands, Fleetwood’s advantage marks the latest 54-hole lead of his PGA Tour career, one that may well lead to his first victory.

The stars have aligned for that possibility as world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the 18- and 36-hole leader, surprisingly slumped on Saturday with a third-round 72 despite ideal scoring conditions. Similarly dropping out of the chasing pack was world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who was on a roll early with four birdies in his first eight holes only for a bad double bogey and multiple unsuccessful scoring conversions leaving him well off pace. Justin Thomas, who shared the 36-hole lead with Scheffler and Fleetwood, was unable to follow up a magical second-round 64 with anything of substance, dashing his chances when he penciled a nine onto his scorecard.

This has left the door wide open for Fleetwood, who will have to fend off American firepower to keep alive an English flag atop the leaderboard along with his hopes of nabbing a first PGA Tour win.

The leader

1. Tommy Fleetwood (-16): It seems like destiny almost when one considers how some of the stars fared on Saturday with Scheffler, McIlroy and Thomas giving themselves a tall mountain to climb. Fleetwood finds himself with a nice head start for the 18-hole sprint, and what he does on the greens may ultimately be the difference. Putting from 5-10 feet has had a way of holding him back in past final rounds, but a switch to the TaylorMade Spider putter in the spring has brought a pep to his step the last couple of months. Fleetwood has split 21 straight fairways and carded just one bogey this week, which is going to come in handy if the birdie well runs dry at any point of his final round.

Contenders

T2. Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley (-13)
4. Jason Day (-11)
T5. Brian Harman, Harris English, Wyndham Clark (-8)
T8. Rory McIlroy, Lucas Glover, Patrick Cantlay, Nick Taylor, Scottie Scheffler (-7)

In 2024, Scheffler won half of the signature events. In 2025, there has yet to be a repeat winner in this series with Henley having the best chance to raise more than one trophy across the eight biggest tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule. The Arnold Palmer Invitational winner was flawless Saturday following a second round in which he called a penalty on himself for his ball moving inadvertently.

That stroke could loom large, but he did his best in the third round to make sure it would not by firing the low round of the week — nine birdies and nine pars leading to a 61. As an added bonus, a win would assuredly lock up Henley’s spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team via automatic qualifying.

“I putted great; I feel like I did everything pretty well,” Henley said. “I had a couple really good breaks that kept the round going. I somehow made birdie on 4 from the left rough, kind of hit like a chaser kind of shot up to about 8 or 10 feet. Also saved par on 14 after I skulled a wedge into a tree limb. So, two good things there to kind of keep my round going, but also just putted really well. I feel like I hit it really well, too.”

Shocking stuff from Scheffler

On his 29th birthday, Scheffler received no well wishes from TPC River Highlands. Leading this golf tournament for the last two days, the world No. 1 slipped out the gates and never got things rolling in the right direction on Moving Day. Scheffler signed for his first triple bogey in 300 days on the par-4 1st, dropping him from tied for the lead to four off pace.

He failed to recover as the big numbers kept on coming. An ill-advised tee shot on the par-3 8th found a watery grave and led to Scheffler’s third double bogey or worse in his last 10 holes dating back to his second round. That made it so that he turned in 4 over, barely breaking 40.

Given how often it has occurred the last few years, golf fans (and golfers) have come to expect a Scheffler surge on Saturday as highlighted by performances this year at the PGA Championship and the Memorial. This scoring run did not materialize this weekend. Instead of racing up the leaderboard, Scheffler’s name sunk and his chances, too.

2025 Travelers Championship updated odds, picks

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Tommy Fleetwood: -200Russell Henley: 9/2Keegan Bradley: 9/2Jason Day: 20-1

Oh captain, my captain. Let’s roll with Bradley. He will tee off in the penultimate pairing and will be able to skirt any nerves the final twosome may possess. He is striking the ball well and still has some juice to squeeze out of his rounds given his iron play can get even better. That’s a very encouraging sign as he has still scored well up to this point.