��������

CROMWELL, Connecticut: Tommy Fleetwood was so locked in on good golf he didn’t realize until after his 7-under 63 that he didn’t miss a fairway in the Travelers Championship. And he certainly wasn’t aware of the stunning blowups behind him by Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas.

All three started a steamy, hot Saturday tied for the lead, but not for long.

Scheffler celebrated his 29th birthday by starting a round with a triple bogey for the first time in his PGA Tour career. All it took was missing the fairway into thick rough, airmailing the green from a front bunker, two chips and two putts.

He never quite recovered, posted a 72 for only his fifth score over par in 55 rounds this year, and was nine shots behind.

Thomas was still in the mix until a wild hook off the tee at the par-5 13th, letting the driver loose that landed near the marshal spotting the shot. After reloaded from going out-of-bounds, it took three chips left of the green and two putts for a quadruple-9. He shot 73 and was 10 shots out of the lead.

Fleetwood avoided those blunders to build a three-shot lead. At stake is a chance to add a PGA Tour title to a resume that includes seven European titles, three Ryder Cup appearances and a regular fixture among the top 25 for the last two years.

“I’m on top of a lot of stat lines for people that haven’t won on the PGA Tour, so to always be a No. 1 at something is always nice,” he said with a laugh.

“Yeah, of course I would love to win on the PGA Tour. I think it’s like an element of your career that everybody wants, and I of course want it. I haven’t, this year especially, I don’t feel like I’ve given myself ... I’ve given myself a back-end chance a couple of times this year, but I’ve not been in contention. So this is like my first real chance, so I’m really excited about that and looking forward to it.”

The immediate challengers at steamy TPC River Highlands are New England’s favorite son and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (63) and Russell Henley, who had a 61 one day after calling a penalty on himself when there initially was some question it was a penalty.

Henley thought it moved a golf ball dimple away.

“When it happened it kind of shocked me a little bit,” Henley said of his chip on left of the eighth green in the second round. “I still hit the shot, and as the ball was rolling on the green I was thinking, ‘Something just happened there.’ So I knew. I knew that the ball moved. I just felt it was the right thing to do.”

Missing are Scheffler and Thomas, both tied for the 36-hole lead with Fleetwood. On a day without wind — just stifling heat — in which the scoring average was 68, Scheffler and Thomas combined to play 5-over par.

Fleetwood only missed three greens and his toughest save a 6-footer after missing the ninth green to the left with a wedge. He holed a 65-foot putt on the fifth hole and converted plenty of other chances, while running his bogey-free streak to 32 holes going into Sunday.

He also made eagle on the 13th hole for the second day, giving him three eagles for the week. They don’t hand out crystal for that at the Travelers, only red umbrellas. But it allowed Fleetwood to get some separation for Henley and Bradley going into Sunday.

Fleetwood, a 34-year-old from England, was at 16-under 194. He has finished among the top 20 in eight of his 14 starts this season. He just feels he hasn’t given himself any chances.

Jason Day ran off three straight birdies on the back nine to salvage a 67 and was five shots back. No one else was closer than eight shots of Fleetwood.

Scheffler hasn’t finished out of the top 10 since March and remarkably he ended the day with a birdie for a tie eighth. The start was a shocker.

He drove left into the 5-inch rough and hit wedge into a front bunker with a decent lie. But he caught all ball and sent it over the green, leaving him a tough pitch up the slope and over a mound toward the hole. The first pitch came up short and rolled back down into the rough.

He hit a flop to 15 feet and two-putted for triple bogey, his first on the tour since the BMW Championship last August.

Bradley, whose name has not vanished from Ryder Cup consideration as a player, won the Travelers two years ago and cleared a major hurdle trying to perform before New England fans, now chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” at him at every turn.

He likes his position of chasing. He still knows he needs to play well.

“Oh, man, you’re going to have to shoot something at least in the mid 60s, probably where I am, probably lower,” Bradley said. “But it’s doable out here. When you play a course where you’ve got to make birdies it brings a different challenge. You can’t have a stretch of 1-over par for seven holes or you lose a million shots.

“So in some aspects it’s difficult just like a hard course would be.”

LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz reached the Queen’s Club final for the second time as the world No. 2 eased to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday.

Alcaraz extended his career-best winning streak to 17 matches in a semifinal played in sweltering conditions at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.

The five-time Grand Slam champion hit 36 winners and 15 aces to dispatch his fellow Spaniard in 90 minutes.

Top seeded Alcaraz will face Jiri Lehecka in Sunday’s final after the Czech world No. 30’s shock 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win against British star Jack Draper in the other semifinal.

Playing his first tournament since his epic French Open victory against Jannik Sinner two weeks ago, the 22-year-old is through to his fifth successive final after lifting titles on clay in Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Monte Carlo.

Alcaraz signalled his emergence as a grass-court force by winning Queen’s in 2023, clinching the Wimbledon title for the first time just weeks later and defending his All England Club crown last year.

He is one victory away from becoming only the second Spaniard to win Queen’s twice, after Feliciano Lopez’s victories in 2017 and 2019.

“I’m playing great tennis. After every match I’m feeling more comfortable. Making the final here is so special once again,” Alcaraz said.

“I love making the crowds enjoy watching my games. Whenever I put a smile on my face I play my best tennis.

“I try to have fun and bring joy on the court. That is why I’m making good results.”

Alcaraz wasted little time taking control against Bautista Agut, unfurling a deft drop-shot to break in the third game of the match.

That was all the encouragement Alcaraz needed as he held serve with ease to close out the first set.

Bautista Agut, 37, enjoyed a surprise win over Danish fourth seed Holger Rune in the last eight.

But Alcaraz never looked like suffering the same fate and he delivered the knockout blow in the second set.

A whipped forehand down the line earned a break-point that he converted to move 3-2 ahead.

The nerveless Alcaraz finished off the win in typically ruthless fashion to the delight of the fans waving Spanish flags to salute their hero.

Earlier, Lehecka ended Draper’s bid for a maiden Queen’s final appearance.

Lehecka, who will be playing in his first ATP grass-court final, is the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990.

The 23-year-old said: “It means a lot. You don’t meet a player like Jack every day, he’s an amazing competitor.”

Draper was hoping to become the first British singles champion at Queen’s since five-time winner Andy Murray’s most recent victory in 2016.

But the world No. 6 will have to wait at least another year to get his hands on the silverware after claiming a bout of tonsillitis played a role in his defeat.

“I haven’t felt good all week. I’m proud of the way I went about things, considering, but it’s tough,” he said.

“You’re an entertainer, an athlete, and you have no choice. No one cares, you know. So you’ve just got to go out there and do the best you can.

“Today’s probably the worst I’ve felt. Did I think about withdrawing? No, not at all. I’m in the semifinals at Queen’s. I’d probably go on court with a broken leg.”

Lehecka had already ended the hopes of one Briton at Queen’s after beating Jacob Fearnley in the quarter-finals on Friday.

He also defeated world number 12 Alex de Minaur in his opening match of the tournament, but knocking out Draper was his biggest scalp yet.