Henrik Stenson leads the Deutsche Bank Championship by one shot as he looks to land a first trophy on the PGA Tour for two years.
The Swede shot a magnificent six-under 65 yesterday to stand at 13-under, with the smallest of advantages over American Rickie Fowler who scored a four-under 67 with 10 straight pars to set himself up for a title charge today.
Stenson’s last title in America was the Tour Championship at East Lake in September 2013, having triumphed at the Deutsche Bank the same month, but he looked in sensational touch with four birdies and an eagle on the par-four 4th.
He said: “It’s always good to be back on a course when you’ve played well before in the past and I’m just trying to keep it going.”
Meanwhile, two-time major winner Jordan Spieth branded his second missed cut in successive tournaments as a "bad dream".
The Masters and US Open champion fired a two-over 73 on Friday to fall three shots short of the halfway cut in Boston. It was the first time in his young career that the 22-year-old Spieth has missed back-to-back cuts on the USPGA Tour.
“It is almost like a bad dream,” said Spieth. The 21-year-old had bogeys on three of his final six holes as he finished 36 holes at six-over 148.
He added: “Normally my mental game is my strength and it’s something I feel like I have an advantage over other players on. These past two weeks it was a weakness for me.
“And I’ve just got to go back and reassess how to remain positive. I’m hitting the ball as well as I was in the PGA, as well as I was at The Open. I have control of the golf ball just fine. For whatever reason I’m not scoring. Just not everything is exact and fine tuned like it has been this whole year.”
Spieth can still regain the world No1 spot from Rory McIlroy if Jason Day doesn’t win in Norton today and the Ulsterman finishes outside the top 10. But Spieth won’t play again until the BMW Championship on September 17.
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He said: “I had really bad selftalk this week, something I haven’t experienced in quite a while.
“Maybe heightened by just everything that’s happened this year, and just being so used to being in contention, that not only was I out of it but I was also outside the cut line.
“And maybe it just heightened my self-talk. I need to walk with some cockiness in my step these next two tournaments.”
