THE INCREDIBLE SULK! TOM.. AND MERRY

Fleetwood’s missed play-off putt haunts him on long journey home

TOMMY FLEETWOOD sulked all the way back to Southport after blowing his chance of victory in the Scottish Open.

The Ryder Cup hero was left dejected after “cocking up” the playoff and handing victory to Aaron Rai.

Fleetwood roared into the shootout with a nerveless 15-footer on the final green to match Rai’s total of 11 under par, only to miss the same cup from 12 feet closer in the first suddendeath exchange.

The Englishman, though, reckons missed chances throughout the week and not just the one at the 73rd hole cost him and made for a miserable drive back south last night.

Fleetwood said: “I’ll sulk for about five hours on the way home. I’m sure there will be positives when I get to Wentworth, but it just stinks now.

“I missed a lot inside five or six feet this week and the one in the play-off was a bad one. I cocked it up on the first play-off hole. It’s Aaron’s week. It’s his time – he’s a worthy winner.

“But in general it’s been a good week. I felt like I played really well, especially on that back nine. What

I’ve been working on is coming good. I felt more like the player I should be.”

Rai, who finished second in the Irish Open seven days ago, had sympathy for Fleetwood but was delighted to have come out on top.

He said: “It’s hard to sum up. It wasn’t nice in that fashion, Tommy had finished off incredibly and it’s not nice to see him miss that but it feels incredible.”

England’s Rai , 25, who pocketed almost £900,000 by lifting the ASI Scottish Open title and joined the elite as a

Rolex Series winner, added:

“It was a bit of a shame for it to end that way. It’s not the way I think anyone wants to see it and Tommy is a fantastic person.

“He’s a better person than he is a golfer, which says a lot. I genuinely didn’t want or expect to see that.

“When I walked off the last green and looked at the leaderboard and saw Robert Rock and Tommy were one behind with three holes to play, I thought a play-off would be a good situation to be in as either of them could have birdied two of the last three holes.”

Fleetwood blew it in a play-off drama as Rai (below) was able to celebrate