PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. _ For the second straight week, Tommy Fleetwood has the lead going into the weekend.
This time, he hopes to keep it and pick up his first PGA Tour win.
Fleetwood carded a 5-under par 67 during Friday's second round at The Players Championship to build his 18-hole lead to 12-under-par 132 total after two days to share a three-shot lead with Rory McIlroy.
Last Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Fleetwood ended the day sharing a four-shot lead with Keegan Bradley but carded a 4-over-par 76 during the third round to squander his chance.
The 27-year-old Englishman prefers to focus on the positives of the past two weeks.
"I've just played two really, really good rounds of golf," he said. "And I played three really, really good rounds of golf last week. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and see where it goes from there."
Fleetwood looked as if he might run away with the PGA Tour's showcase event following what he called "a perfect, perfect start" to his second round.
The world's 13th-ranked player was 4-under after his first three holes but lowered his score only one more stroke the rest of the day _ with a rare birdie on the closing par-4 18th hole.
"My game clearly is in a good place," Fleetwood said.
McIlroy knows the feeling.
The world's sixth-ranked player began his day with a bogey on the par-4 first hole but did not make another mistake on his way to a 7-under 65.
McIlroy capped his day with an eagle on the par-5 16th hole, a birdie on the par-3 17th island green and a routine par on the difficult 18th hole.
Last week at Bay Hill, McIlroy was in the weekend mix but shot just even par on Sunday. It marked the ninth time he has been in the final group and failed to win.
"Winning is a byproduct of doing all the right things," he said. "I feel like if I can continue to do those things well, hopefully I do end up with the trophy on Sunday. But there's a lot of golf to play before that."
McIlroy has three top-10 finishes in nine previous appearances at TPC Sawgrass but also has missed the cut four times, including in 2018.
