Fleetwood shares Tour Champ. lead with eyes on elusive win - ESPN

ATLANTA — Tommy Fleetwood is a familiar story hopeful of a different ending, posting eight birdies in his round of 7-under 63 to share the lead Friday at the Tour Championship with Russell Henley in what's shaping up as a tight race for the $10 million prize.

Fleetwood, increasingly popular for his grace in handling so many tough losses, is searching for his first PGA Tour win to go along with a collection of strong European tour titles. But he has been down this road before, quite often this year. The questions are getting old.

Maybe it ends with the Englishman winning two trophies for his first win — the FedEx Cup and the «Calamity Jane» replica putter that serves as the Tour Championship trophy.

«All I can do is keep learning,» Fleetwood said. «I actually feel like I've played very, very well when I have led the tournaments and been in contention. It's just I might have not got things right right at the end. It's not like I've crashed and burned. It's just that I've not quite finished things off. The people that win the most are the guys that are in contention the most.

»That's where I want to be," he said. «I keep going. I love the buzz when I am in contention, and I'm just excited for the opportunity again.»

The only buzz Fleetwood got wrong was the setting on his clippers when he went to trim his beard, prompting questions about whether he shaved. But hey, it beats the alternative question of when he will win or whether this will be the week.

Winning won't be easy. Henley had another birdie-birdie finish for a 66 to join Fleetwood in a share of the lead at 13-under 127, extraordinarily low scoring except for spells of heavy rain the previous two days at East Lake. With more expected Friday, they moved the tee times