Tommy Fleetwood bolstered his hopes of claiming a long-awaited maiden PGA Tour title by grabbing a share of the halfway lead at the season-ending Tour Championship.

Fleetwood mixed eight birdies with a lone bogey during a brilliant second-round 63 at East Lake, where tee times were brought forward due to the threat of thunderstorms, seeing him set the clubhouse target at 13 under.

The Englishman remained in the solo until overnight leader Russell Henley pulled level with a birdie-birdie finish, while Cameron Young is two strokes back after finishing his round-of-the-day 62 with five birdies in his last eight holes.

Patrick Cantlay played his last three holes in four under to jump to 10 under alongside Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler five strokes back in sixth spot as he looks to become the first back-to-back FedExCup champion.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry both head into the weekend on seven under after rounds of 67 and 63 respectively, with Keegan Bradley a further shot behind as he continues to decide whether to select himself as a playing captain at next month’s Ryder Cup.

How Fleetwood grabbed halfway lead at East Lake

Henley – playing alongside Scheffler – extended his overnight advantage by holing out from a bunker to birdie the par-four first, as Fleetwood made his early move by posting two birdies in his opening six holes.

Scheffler briefly got within one when he birdied the third and Henley failed to get up and down from the sand at the fourth, only for the world No 1 to fall back two behind when his playing partner took advantage of the par-five sixth.

Fleetwood started his back nine with a 10-foot birdie to halve Henley’s lead, while Scheffler fired back-to-back birdies from the seventh to also get within one before bogeying the par-three ninth.

Henley dropped off top spot when Fleetwood posted successive birdies from the 12th and holed a 35-footer at the 15th, briefly giving the Englishman a two-shot buffer, as Young moved up the leaderboard after a run of five birdies in a six-hole stretch from the 12th.

Young added another from six feet at the par-five last, closing the lowest round of the day, which gave him a share of the lead when Fleetwood found a fairway bunker off the 16th tee on his way to a bogey.

A five-foot birdie at the 13th from Henley briefly made it a three-way tie at the top, but Fleetwood jumped back when he birdied the par-four 17th and two-putted from 30 feet to add another at the par-five last.

Fleetwood’s fast finish equalled his best 36-hole total on the PGA Tour, matching the efforts of the FedEx St Jude Championship a fortnight ago, with the world No 10 remaining ahead until Henley matched his birdie-birdie finish.

Can Fleetwood claim PGA Tour breakthrough?

Tommy Fleetwood (-13): “I actually feel like I’ve played very well when I have led the tournaments and been in contention. It’s just I might have not got things right right at the end.

“It’s not like I’ve crashed and burned. It’s just that I’ve not quite finished things off. The people that win the most are the guys that are in contention the most and then they keep winning of course. That’s just what I want to do. That’s where I want to be.

“I keep going. I love the buzz when I am in contention, and, yeah, I’m just excited for the opportunity again.”

Rory McIlroy (-7): “I felt like I hit the ball pretty well. I just didn’t take advantage of that good ball-striking. I played the first six holes well, a couple under and then just got on the par train and couldn’t get off it even though I was giving myself some chances.

“Again, feel like I didn’t get the most out of my round, but at the same time, I’m definitely hitting the ball better than I did last week. Some positives. I’m a few shots further behind than I’d like going into the weekend, but pleased with the improvements that I’ve made from last week.”

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