
Tommy Fleetwood reveals he'd be first in line to make key change at the Travelers
The English star flying at the Travelers and willing to take next step in kit choice
Terrific Tommy Fleetwood sealed a special day at the Travelers with a nine-wood epic and admits he'll go even higher in the olf-fashioned club stakes if he is offered the chance.
The English star is bang in contention for his first-ever PGA Tour title after a brilliant Friday at PDC River Highlands.
Fleetwood roared to a back nine of 30 including two eagles to match pace with Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas at the halfway summit in Connecticut.
The Ryder Cup hero finished the job with a magnificent moment as, after a loose drive hit a tree, he produced a glorious approach with the trusty nine-wood that he's had in the bag for the past couple of years.
Fleetwood's use of the club has caught attention and been followed by peers and he said: 'I just sort of caught the right moment to hit a nine-wood. I had like 264 pin, but the minimum that I had to carry on the left was 240 something, so I knew if the nine-wood was turning, it was going to be fine. It came off perfect and then beautiful putt.
'Nine-wood I've had for two seasons now. This week, I don't have a four-iron in. Like four-iron and nine-wood go very similar distance, within five yards of each other, obviously very different performing clubs.
"So it replaced the four-iron. My bag is always sort of changing. But I do feel like this week is a very good course for it. Four [head covers] and a putter so far. Getting more and more. I don't know, there's another season coming back next season, five-iron might be out. See what comes up next.
'No, I haven't been offered an 11-wood head yet, but believe me, if one comes out I'll be the first to try it.'
Fleetwood's charge was stunning with the two eagles lightning up the afternoon and he added: 'I'm not sure I've had one for a while. So 13, wind was flickering off the right, I hit mini-driver off the tee, felt like it was the widest point.
"Those crosswinds, you get around that point and you're obviously waiting a little bit and the wind goes from across to into to down and then 15, the tee shot there was unbelievable looking at it, and it pitched right into that upslope, and I was a bit gutted where it pitched and then chipped it in. Would have been happy walking off with two birdies, but two eagles was a big bonus.'
Fleetwood's scoring belied the tricky conditions with he wind and he said: 'It was really tough, actually.
"I think early on, you had to make sure you got your head around that it wasn't a very scorable day, especially on the front nine. I felt like there was a lot of tough holes, I scrambled really well.
'I guess this course does give you the opportunity to have a little stretch like I did. You can get on a roll like we've seen it in the past, but I don't think it was a day where you were really looking for that at all.
"I'm very, very happy that it happened for me.
'There is a certain element of luck and a certain element of gusts involved and it was very tough. There was a ton of crosswinds all day and there's always an element of luck and timing involved in it.
"All you can do is hit the shots. What I did really well was not let the wind overly dictate my swing. I sort of picked my shots well and hit my shots and took it from there.
'It's easy to try and do too much and I've definitely done that plenty of times before. I felt like I did a good job of the opposite really.'

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