Tommy Fleetwood views his previous near misses on the PGA Tour as a positive as he again put himself in position to win at the halfway stage of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis.
The Englishman takes a four-shot lead into the weekend after a second-round 64, which included four successive birdies from the 13th, after three in a row from the second, with his only bogey coming at the last after driving into a bunker.
Fleetwood is still searching for his first PGA Tour victory in 161 events, having finished runner-up six times.
The last of those came in June at the Travelers Championship when he looked like breaking his duck until a three-putt at the 72nd hole handed United States Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley the win.
“It hasn’t happened for me yet out on the PGA Tour but I would much rather be up there and not quite get it done than not there at all,” he said.
“Who knows, maybe this weekend is the weekend and we’ll see, and we’ll crack on from there.
“I’m happy to put myself in with a chance over the weekend. I think that’s exactly where you want to be and keep testing yourself.”
Fleetwood leads from fellow Englishman Justin Rose, who is trying to play his way into automatic Ryder Cup qualification as he currently sits two places outside of not needing a pick from captain Luke Donald, two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia.
Rose has two holes to play when he returns to the TPC Southwind course on Saturday morning after lightning forced an early suspension.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, the reigning Open and US PGA champion, is six off the lead in a share of seventh.
Ludvig Aberg, a debutant in Rome two years ago and one behind Rose on the European list in ninth, shot a second successive 67 to sit a shot further behind, with Matt Fitzpatrick, currently 12th and still needing to convince Donald of his selection, on two under after a 71.
Viktor Hovland, however, is still struggling for form with a two-under 68 only moving him to two over.
Bradley, 10th on the United States’ Ryder Cup list, is on the same score with five holes remaining as his hopes of playing his way onto the team on merit and becoming the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 took a hit.
