Sublime Fleetwood surges to solo lead at the halfway stage

A round of 8-under places Englishman on top of leaderboard at the Delhi Golf Course

- Shantanu Srivastava

On the eve of the DP World India Championship this Wednesday, Tommy Fleetwood was asked whether competing after ending the torturous wait for a PGA Tour win will make things harder for him from now on.

Fleetwood took a moment to put his thoughts together and acknowledged that managing one’s own expectations is one of the hardest things a sports person ought to do, and that in the week ahead, his biggest battle would be just that.

“I've missed out on winning so many times that I always knew that I wasn’t going to let one win change anything. My game is still the same,” he had said.

Three days on, he seems to be doing rather well on that front. Staying in the present, taking it shot by shot, and shooting birdies by the dozen, the 34-year-old Englishman has thrown the gauntlet to the elite field with a sublime error-free round on Friday. Teeing off from the back nine, Fleetwood flowered under the unrelenting sun even as greens became faster and his iron play became smarter.

The round of 8-under — 12-under for the tournament — placed him on top of the leaderboard in sole lead, one stroke clear of American Brian Harman and overnight leader Shane Lowry from Ireland. The cut was applied at 2-under as five Indians made it to the weekend rounds.