CROMWELL, Conn. — Tommy Fleetwood’s drive on the 18th hole was headed left, on a line to land in the crowd at TPC River Highlands.

Then it hit a tree and fell nicely onto the middle of the fairway, 228 yards from the hole. It was that kind of day for Fleetwood.

He came an inch away from birdie and the solo lead two strokes later, but he’d already seen enough miracles on the back nine to rise from nowhere to the top of the leaderboard. Fleetwood made eagle on the par-5 13th, then holed-out with a chip from 30 yards on No. 15 for his second eagle in three holes. He is the only player to ever make multiple eagles through 36 holes at the Travelers Championship.

His birdie on No. 16 brought him to 9-under and tied the leaders – Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas – heading into what is sure to be an eventful championship weekend.

“What I did today 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,” said Fleetwood, who is looking for his first win in seven years on the PGA Tour. “I guess this course does give you the opportunity to have a little stretch like I did … 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 today, but it was one of those where you just had to keep hitting shots, and yeah, definitely not looking for something like that on the back nine.”

The 15 mph, gusts up to 30 mph, was enough to slow down some of the biggest names in the field, including Scheffler, who was the co-leader at 8-under after Thursday’s first round.

It all came to a head for Scheffler on No. 17 when his tee shot flew into a bunker on the left side of the fairway, adding a challenge to his next shot across the water. That shot made a splash landing, the next ended up in the rough and he walked away with double bogey — his first in 100 holes at The Travelers, dating back to hole No. 7 in the final round in 2023.

“The tee shot I hit exactly the way I wanted to,” Scheffler said after making his 12th par of the day on No. 18 and signing off on his round of 1-under 69. “Somehow the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker. Then I catch it a hair flat, and all of a sudden I’m dropping and hitting my fourth shot. I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green. If it hadn’t have gotten that gust, it lands a couple paces behind it, spins back right to it. You can’t get every one correct. You just do your best to manage your way around the golf course.”

Still, with a bogey on No. 6 and four birdies, Scheffler’s 9-under through 36 holes was enough to maintain a share of the lead.

This time he was joined also by Thomas, who stood apart with five consecutive birdies on the back nine as other top players in the field fell victim to the conditions. Jason Day posted a 66 for the second day in a row to jump into fourth at 8-under, and Denny McCarthy tied Thomas for the best round of the day, his 64 moving him up 31 spots into fifth at 7-under.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the tournament ends around somewhere between 18- and 20-under or so from here,” Day said. “It’s definitely a golf course you can get after it. It’s also a head scratcher, too, because you can walk off 2-over par for the day and go, ‘How did I shoot that?’ Good first two days. Looking forward to the weekend.”

The second-round scoring average of 70.686 marks the highest single-round scoring average at the Travelers Championship since round two in 2017 (70.824).

Austin Eckroat, who matched Scheffler at 8-under 62 on Thursday, made double bogey on No. 8 and bogey on No. 11 to get to 2-over for the day. Misfortune seemed to be continuing as he slowly slid down the leaderboard, landing in a bunker to the right of the 15th green. But he couldn’t have followed that with a better second shot as he lifted the ball out of the sand and dunked it into the hole for birdie, his second of the day.

Eckroat enters the weekend tied with McCarthy at 7-under, just two shots back of the lead.

Keegan Bradley, Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark were all tied for third at 6-under 64 after the first round and quickly fell down the leaderboard Friday. Bradley, the 2023 Travelers champion, finished even-par for the round after making bogey on two of his first four holes. McIlroy made three bogeys on his first four, but shot 2-under on the back nine to finish 1-over for the day, and Clark finished his round at 2-over.

Still, with everyone stuck in the swirling winds, the trio remains in the top-15 entering the weekend with Bradley just three shots back of the lead, McIlroy four and Clark five.

“I battled well. I hit some good shots and held it together when it could have got away from me early in the round,” McIlroy said. “The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together, and should make for an exciting weekend.”

Scheffler and Thomas will tee-off last at 2:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, just after Fleetwood and Day at 2:15 p.m..

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