Fleetwood is made to pay dues

WITH lucky bounces and unexpected kicks, links courses generally take loyal and benevolent care of the local golfer. Not yesterday.

Royal Birkdale left hapless Tommy Fleetwood “bruised”, “punished” and “kicked in the teeth”.

The most-backed Open competitor in Britain crashed to a six-over 76 which leaves his participation at the weekend very much in the lap of the gods that look over the Merseyside course.

Worryingly, it was clear yesterday that his habit as a kid of jumping across the fence from the path where his dad walked the family dog had caused them some sort of umbrage.

At least they were not unduly unkind. They allowed Fleetwood his moment on the first tee, as roared on by the packed gallery he smacked his opening shot safely down the fairway. But from then on it was green-fee payback time.

“I got a few bad breaks,” said Fleetwood. “If I did hit a bad shot, it kicked me in the teeth.

“And when I hit good shots, I didn’t make the birdie putts.

“It was the last few holes really – 16, 17, I got really punished for bad tee shots.

“I wasn’t that far away at all, but it just looks really bad now. I’ll go home and it bruises you for a couple of hours. But come the next round I’ll be ready.”

The 26-year-old has risen from 188 in the world to a career-high 14 after winning the French Open.

His piercing eyes and flowing hair make him an instantly recognisable figure. Before the week, he had only actually played here legitimately as an adult – as opposed to bunking on as a kid – approximately eight times, but he has always been made to feel at home.

Fleetwood’s name got the biggest roar of the morning on the first tee and the galleries followed him to the end.

“The first tee was cool,” he said. “An amazing atmosphere, something you really don’t get very often.

“I striped my first tee shot. It was great. It was obviously great having them out there. They did their part, I just couldn’t quite do mine.”

Perhaps it was intimidating for a relative newcomer to cope with all the attention. This is still just “Tommy” after all, not “Tiger”. Fleetwood insists not.

“I was quite happy,” he said. “I looked around, felt fine. The more I look up, the more I see the golf course anyway. You have to picture your shots.

“I enjoyed it, I was fine. I felt calm. The swing actually felt good. It just probably didn’t look that way from the TV.”

A birdie-free round suffered when he found a bunker on three, played a poor approach on the sixth and got a flier from semi-rough on nine, resulting in a double-bogey. Then he three-putted from just off the 15th green and dropped another at 17. He remains positive.

“I’m not out of it,” he said. “It’s still the Open and I shot six over, but I’m not going to think about the cut.

“People have shot five under today and if I shoot five under tomorrow I’m actually not out of the tournament. But there’s a long way to go.”

And boyhood mischief aside, shouldn’t the course be a bit kinder to the local lad?

“Yeah!” said Fleetwood. “It wasn’t today. The course owes me one.”