HE SURE HITS A MEAN GOLF BALL
Fleetwood is new rock star of Europe and Westwood reckons heavy mettle will make him regular Major contender
LEE WESTWOOD knows a tough character when he sees one and in Tommy Fleetwood he recognises a guy with the steely resolve to become a regular Major contender.
The Ryder Cup hero was not surprised to see Fleetwood in the heart of the final-day battle for the US Open title last night because he’s watched it coming for some time.
Aside from the obvious ability Fleetwood showed to put himself in the frame to win his first Major title, it’s the gutsy manner in which he bounced back from the tough times that has impressed Westwood most.
Having turned pro in 2010 after a decorated career as an amateur, Fleetwood won his first title within three years, taking the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
But a form slump last year saw him tumble from a high of 47th in the world rankings to 188th, forcing the Southport man to regroup and go back to basics.
Returning to his former swing coach and employing best pal Ian Finnis as his caddie, Fleetwood’s comeback was completed with victory at the Abu Dhabi Championship in January.
He hasn’t looked back since and Westwood insists Fleetwood is a stronger contender for having come through tough times.
He said: “I’m not surprised to see Tommy up there. I played with him in Thailand in the last group back in 2014.
“I won that one but Tommy finished second. He looked a good player then and hit the ball really well.
“Then he kind of fell away for a while but that’s golf. He seems to have come back strongly and is playing with a lot of confidence at the moment.” This time last year it was Westwood who was providing the English challenge having gone into the final round at Oakmont in the last group, paired with the eventual winner Dustin Johnson.
The 44-yearold actually thought he hit the ball better this week than when he was right up there challenging but didn’t see the results after a closing 76 left him well off the pace on seven over.
Westwood added: “I didn’t get a lot out of how I played. I played a lot better than my scores suggested.
“I hit a lot of good putts this week but it felt like there was cellophane over the holes at times. But it’s the best I have struck the ball in a long time. I hit it really well today but nothing would happen for me.
“This wouldn’t be my favourite US Open venue. I prefer when they play the traditional courses.
“The two they have played recently (Chambers Bay and Erin Hills) aren’t as good as the older style courses such as Shinnecock, Winged Foot Oakmont and Congressional.
“There are few good ones coming up over the next few years so I am looking forward to those.
“It was very playable out there this morning despite it being windy.
“It was just hard. There were a few pin positions that were borderline. Four and five were particularly stunning!
“But there was a score to be made if you hit it well enough and Jordan Spieth looked like he was putting a score together in front us.”
Spieth certainly was, shooting an excellent 69 in the testing breezy conditions to finish on one over.
By the former US Open and Masters champ’s high standards it’s disappointing to end up so far off the pace.
But the Texan has uncharacteristically struggled with his putter in recent months. So he was pleased to see a few dropping yesterday and put the progress down to not being so hard on himself.
Spieth said: “It was a fantastic round given what we were dealing with to start the day.
“I struck the ball the same way I have been. I hit 17 greens today which was just awesome in these conditions. And then my expectations were lowered on the greens given the conditions.
“That was the difference. I was able to get to a few under by just accepting the fact that the putt might miss instead of having to have it be perfect.
“That’s what we’ve been working on but maybe a day like today is all it needed to just kind of calm down.
“If I was grading my game it would probably be a B right now. It gets to an A or A+ when the putter is hot.
“I feel really good about just about everything else. I’ve just got to get on the greens and have that cup start to look a bit bigger.”
While much of the talk in the build-up to the championship was dominated by the thick rough, on reflection Spieth reckons this previously untried Wisconsin venue has been a huge success. He said: “Any time you’ve seen US Open venues work back towards even par, there are complaints.
“Now all of a sudden they make it tough and fair and people are 12 under and people are complaining about that too. So let’s pick one side or the other here.
“I think it’s exciting. We have an exciting leaderboard. We’ve had a lot of young players in the top seven going out on the final day trying to win their first Major.
“They’re all under the age of 30. I mean, that’s great. You can’t ask for much more. You’ve seen some awesome golf. You’ve seen balls feed towards the hole and you’ve seen shots that aren’t so good end up really far away. “Very few and far between do you see anything that resembles unfair where a great shot doesn’t get rewarded. “The pin position on the ninth green is a little iffy but you can pick out normally a dozen things at US Opens that make the score come back to even and you don’t here. “It’s been a great venue for it and it’s been a tremendous challenge. The USGA did a phenomenal job this week of allowing the course to be what it is and play the way it’s supposed to play. “Not trying to do anything to hold any kind of standard. “Instead, create an environment where if you play well you can score and if you don’t then it can go the other way.”
Tommy’s come back strongly and is playing with a lot of confidence LEE WESTWOOD