The conditions on Friday at the Travelers Championship weren’t ideal. 

Winds of nearly 40 mph wreaked havoc on the field at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut, with the second-round scoring average over par. However, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood withstood the gusts and took a share of the 36-hole lead at 9 under par. 

“It was very challenging out there,” Scheffler told the press.

And playing in these conditions is an art. 

“I just think it’s control,” Thomas said after a second-round 64. “I think it’s why Scottie is so good in the wind. He hits the middle of the club face about every time. That’s a huge part of it.”

Scheffler, though, is co-leading because of his round on Thursday, not Friday. He fired an 8-under 62 in Round 1, allowing him some wiggle room in the second round, which he shot 69. 

“When you’re playing under no conditions or very light winds, I think you can hit a similar flight on every single shot and it would be fine,” Scheffler said. “On days like today, you have to work the ball both ways. You have to hit low shots, hit high shots. You’re always playing a different type of shot, especially in conditions like this.”

Scheffler would hold the solo lead if it weren’t for the par-4 17th hole. He’s 3 over on No. 17 over the first two days, but 12 under on all the other holes. He bogeyed it on Thursday and then splashed his approach en route to a double on Friday. 

“You’re not going to get every wind right for 18 holes,” the world No. 1 said, “and if you do, you’ll have a pretty great round. 

“But I think having realistic expectations of what we need to do out there, like 17 is a good example," he continued. "The tee shot I hit exactly the way I wanted to. Somehow, the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying, it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker. Then I catch it a hair fat, and all of a sudden I’m dropping and hitting my fourth shot, and I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to, and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind, and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green. If it hadn’t gotten that gust, it lands a couple paces behind it, spins back right to it.

“So just little stuff like that.”

Thomas, however, feels the conditions benefited him in a way. 

“I have had some good rounds in conditions like this,” he said, “because I can’t really play golf swing, I have to play more golf, and I can’t be worried about—I can’t be over the ball thinking about what it’s like here and if I’m getting this way or weight one way or another. I just have to—if the wind is blowing 25 or 30 off my left shoulder, I need to figure out how to make it not go right and I need to keep it lower than this apex and it’s just all feel.”

Then there’s Fleetwood, who, unlike Scheffler and Thomas, reached 9 under in the afternoon wave. Entering his round, he got his “head around that it wasn’t a very scoreable day, especially on the front nine.” And the Englishman was right. He shot even par on the front, but 5 under after making the turn, thanks to eagles on Nos. 13 and 15, the latter of which he chipped in from 86 feet. 

“Feel like I scrambled really well,” Fleetwood said. 

Yet, he’s surprised this name is atop the leaderboard. 

“I don’t think it was a day where you were really looking for that at all,” he said. “I’m very, very happy that it happened for me today, but it was one of those where you just had to keep hitting shots, definitely not looking for something like that on the back nine.”

Now, Fleetwood’s in a prime position to claim his maiden Tour win. But he’ll have to fend off Scheffler, Thomas and an abundance of the world’s best players who hope to take advantage of more benign conditions over the weekend.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas Lead Travelers Championship Despite Brutal Wind.

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