CROMWELL, Conn. — In a matter of minutes, the par-5, 509-yard No. 13 at TPC River Highlands saw the Travelers Championship leaderboard make a seismic shift.

Tommy Fleetwood, who made eagle on the same hole to start his back-nine blitz Friday evening, sunk a 30-foot putt for his third eagle in two days and improved his lead to 15-under. When the pairing of co-leaders came through next, Scottie Scheffler landed his tee shot in a left-side bunker and Justin Thomas sent his onto the railroad tracks behind the hole; he released his club at the top of his swing and let that fly, too.

Thomas walked away with a quadruple-bogey 9, getting to 4-over for the day and falling nine shots back of Fleetwood’s lead. Scheffler managed to make birdie, but the damage to his round had already been done with a triple-bogey 7 on the first hole, another bogey on No. 4 and a double on No. 8.

Fleetwood added another birdie on No. 15 and finished at 16-under through 54 holes.

“Thirteen’s been very kind to me so far,” Fleetwood said, reflecting on his round with CBS. “I would like it to keep doing that … (Winning on Sunday) will come down to a bunch of things, really. This year I haven’t been in contention much at all, I’ve been on the outskirts … So actually putting myself there, being in the last group tomorrow, I’m really happy with that.”

When he looked back at the leaderboard, there were all new faces behind him.

Russell Henley, the 36-year-old in the midst of one of the best runs of his career, came out of nowhere with the low round of the tournament. His bogey-free 9-under 61 vaulted him into contention at 13-under, tied with Keegan Bradley for second on the leaderboard, three shots behind the lead.

“I had a couple really good breaks that kept the round going,” said Henley, who shot a 68 in each of the first two rounds. “I somehow made birdie on 4 from the left rough, kind of hit like a chaser kind of shot up to about eight or 10 feet. Also saved par on 14 after I skulled a wedge into a tree limb. So two good things there to kind of keep my round going, but also just putted really well. I feel like I hit it really well, too.”

Bradley, the 2023 Travelers Champion and captain of Team USA for the Ryder Cup, heard familiar roars and “USA” chants on the 18th green as he rolled in a 5-foot putt for his seventh birdie of the day and finished his bogey-free round with a 63.

“Today was just one of those days when everything feels great. I hit the ball good, putted great, felt comfortable all day, which is rare. I felt really, really great out there,” he said, the New England native excited to contend at his home event as the U.S. captain. “I try to enjoy the moments more, look around a little more, look in the crowd, and I’ll definitely do that tomorrow.”

At its current pace, Fleetwood’s enthralling run of good fortune would be tough to catch.

The 34-year-old Englishman, looking for his first win on the PGA Tour, made a 66-foot putt for his second birdie of the day on No. 5. Fleetwood shot 3-under 32 on the front nine and 4-under 31 on the back to continue building his cushion.

Fleetwood’s partner, Jason Day shot 3-under to enter the final round five shots from the lead at 11-under through 54 holes.

Harris English, the 2021 Travelers champion, is part of the trio tied for fifth at 8-under, eight shots behind Fleetwood’s lead, which includes Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark.

With a 3-over 73 on his 29th birthday, the triple-bogey on No. 1 being his first since the 2024 BMW Championship, Scheffler fell back to the cluster at 7-under. Rory McIlroy enters Sunday in the same position after making four birdies on the front nine but giving two strokes back with a double-bogey on No. 12 and bogey on No. 16.

Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, Denny McCarthy and Nick Taylor are all part of that group, which is nine shots behind Fleetwood’s lead.

Overall, TPC River Highlands returned to normal form with birdies falling to make up for Saturday’s high-scoring affair – the highest scoring average (70.686) at The Travelers since 2017. Saturday’s scoring average – 68.002 – made the third round the lowest-scoring of the first three days.

“I think this is a really good course where you can look at the leaderboard,” Fleetwood said. “But the leaderboard almost doesn’t mean (much), you have to stand up and hit the golf shots really because somebody else will be doing it, and somebody else will go low, if not more people. I think it’s a really nice week for that. You look at the leaderboard, but you’ve just got to carry on with your game plan and hitting shots.”

Fleetwood and Henley will tee-off in the lead group at 1:50 p.m. ET on Sunday, just after Bradley and Day at 1:40 p.m.

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