Paris Olympic runner-up Fleetwood, ranked 17th, matched his season-low round. He has seven European Tour wins but seeks his first PGA Tour victory.

Fleetwood eagled the par-five 13th after reaching the green in two and sinking a putt from just inside 10 feet, then chipped in at the par-four 14th for eagle from the fairway from just inside 90 feet.

“It was really tough, actually. I think early on, it was — like you had to make sure you got your head around that it wasn’t a very scorable day, especially on the front nine.”, said Fleetwood.

“I felt like there was a lot of tough holes. Feel like I scrambled really well.

“I guess this course does give you the opportunity to have a little stretch like I did. 13 — I played 12 great but I had a really good chance on 14 in the middle of 13 and 15, birdie 16, and you can get on a roll like we’ve seen it in the past.

“But I don’t think it was a day where you were really looking for that at all. 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, and yeah, definitely not looking for something like that on the back nine.

“Would have been happy walking off with two birdies but two eagles was a big bonus.”

A 12-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th gave him a share of the lead.

Fifth-ranked Thomas, a two-time major winner, opened the back nine with a bogey then birdied the next five holes.

The last two in the run, at the 14th and 15th, were from just beyond 26 feet each.

“I was very patient. I hit a lot of really good iron shots. I felt like I was in good control,” Thomas said.

“I didn’t feel like I drove it very well. I kept it in play and kept it in front of me, which is a big part of it, but I just kept it out of trouble. Finally made some putts on that back nine. It was nice.”

Scheffler, who won his third major title at last month’s PGA Championship, stumbled back with a double bogey at 17, plunking his second shot into the water.

“I played really nice,” Scheffler said. “Had a weird lie on the second shot and kind of chunked it. After that I hit each shot the way I wanted, just didn’t get the results from it.

“Outside of that, I felt like I played pretty well. It was very challenging out there with the wind gusts.”

Scheffler made a bogey at the par-five sixth after missing the green with his approach but responded with birdies at the seventh on a putt from just inside seven feet and the ninth from just inside 10 feet.

At the par-five 13th, Scheffler reached the green in two and two-putted for birdie from 24 feet to grab the solo lead, then sank a birdie putt from just inside 17 feet.