FLEETWOOD AIMS HIGH AT AUGUSTA
FLEETWOOD READY TO RIP UP AUGUSTA
BOOK lover Tommy Fleetwood is on a mission to write the greatest chapter of his own amazing story at Augusta this week.
Fleetwood will make his Masters debut at the age of 26 and take the next step towards having the sort of career his talent deserves – but once threatened to elude him.
It seems ironic that Fleetwood is reading the famous Charles Dickens novel ‘Great Expectations’ in this week of all weeks.
Just 12 months ago he had no expectations at all after hitting more tee shots into the water and woods than fairways.
Light
Fleetwood turned back to his first coach, Alan Thompson, and it proved to be a masterstroke for the likeable lad from Southport.
Following those dark times, Fleetwood has now seen the light and secured the biggest win of his career with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January.
He held off the challenge of world No.1 Dustin Johnson and now finds himself at Augusta feeling reborn and ready to challenge for the biggest prize of all.
Fleetwood said: “I’m not counting on this being my one and only chance, but I’m excited to be here. It’s really cool.
“You never know. I’m not going to sit here and say I expect to win, but a lot of the shots I feel comfortable with on the course.
“I’ve tried my hardest to take on as much advice as possible. I have played a few holes with Mark O’Meara (1998 champion) and I’ve spoken to Lee Westwood as well.
“It’s a landmark in your career getting to Augusta because it’s the hardest tournament to get into.
“I dropped a long way down the world rankings but this was always one of the goals. “It’s all turned around quickly, but it’s an accumulation of a lot of hard work.” Fleetwood, who
is an 80-1 shot to land the Green Jacket, must feel like life is close to perfect right now.
He is engaged to fiancée Clare and having earned more than £1m from two tournaments alone in recent months, is well down the road to fame and fortune.
Not that down-to-earth Fleetwood will ever let success go to his head.
He prefers meditation to TV and has no intention of forgetting his humble upbringing in a modest house.
Dad Peter, who laid tarmac on roads for a living, will caddy for him in the par-3 contest.
And Clare, who is also his manager, has travelled to Augusta along with Fleetwood’s old friend Ian Finnis to join in the excitement.
“My dad is going to caddy for me in the par three,” he said. “It’s going to feel like an acknowledgement of how far we’ve all come.”
Barged
Fleetwood came as a fan in 2014 to soak up what Augusta is all about and he added: “I was under the radar then. “I came to watch, with the intention of being here the following year, but it didn’t quite pan out like that! “Watching and playing are two very different things. The 12th and 13th holes were the ones I wanted to go and look at. I was getting barged about by the other fans. “I just wanted to walk around the place. I also wanted to know what the clubhouse looked like, but obviously I couldn’t get inside it!” Augusta knows all about Fleetwood now though. His face and recent statistics of success were splashed on big screens in the media centre yesterday. He is one of a record number of 11 Englishmen in the field, but no debutant has won at Augusta since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 – 12 years before Fleetwood was even born. Tomorrow he will be paired with Zoeller in the par-3 contest and he reckons it might be a good omen. Considering his meteoric rise to the top in recent months, it would take a brave man to back against him being right.