DURACELL TOMMY
Tireless Ryder Cup star Fleetwood still hitting heights
Fatigue was blamed for many of america’ s woes at the Ryder Cup, with uS stars citing mental exhaustion following a hectic period of tournaments in the build-up to Paris. Which must have made interesting reading for tommy Fleetwood.
the englishman not only played in the same four Fedex events as the americans, he went on to play a leading role in Versailles. then he flew to Scotland for the alfred Dunhill Links, where he finished in a tie for second on Sunday.
and tommy’s still going. While the americans are presumably lying in a darkened room or by a swimming pool, the golf equivalent of the Duracell bunny is competing in his ninth event in 11 weeks at the Sky Sports British Masters at glorious s Walton Heath.
Far from worrying about t fatigue, Fleetwood is revelling g in his cult status — and the 27-year-old put on quite the show for his growing army of admirers with a first-round 67 yesterday to be tied for the lead with fellow countryman Matt Wallace.
Fleetwood’s fabulous s technique, with that sawn-off f follow through on his iron shots, served him well in the blustery conditions as he outdid his playing partner, Open champion Francesco Molinari, by six shots.
‘i guess people have different thresholds when it comes to mental fatigue and i’m sure i’ll feel tired eventually,’ Fleetwood said. ‘But i hit a ton of good shots here and it was a great round from a ballstriking point of view.’
in front of an encouraging 17,000 crowd, england’s massed ranks of gifted golfers relished the opportunity to show their wares on home soil. eddie Pepperell, who had a hole in one, and Richard Mcevoy both shot 68.
Perhaps the only disappointment was the struggles of world No 2 Justin Rose, although his disrupted preparation with a stomach bug and duties as host surely explained a bogey-ridden 74.
as for Wallace, he wouldn’t reveal what Ryder Cup captain thomas Bjorn had said to him on tuesday, but you could see what it meant. ‘it was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me as a golfer and i’m going to use it to fuel the fire,’ he said. ‘ the quest for the 2020 Ryder Cup starts here. i want to be Postman 2.’ there are definite similarities between Postman 1 (ian Poulter, of course) and the ebullient Londoner, who already has four victories playing in only his 50th european tour event. Certainly, neither will ever be found wanting for selfconfidence can potential Wallace wrong back it with with up but underlined with that six there’s birdies deed. when nothing you his in his Made last in eight Denmark holes to tournament win the at Bjorn’s home club last month and is now on the cusp of breaking into the world’s top 50. ‘that’s where you want to be and this is the first of five big tournaments coming up to make a proper statement,’ said the 28-year-old.