‘I would sneak on to hit a few shots. Now I’m there in Open’
Southport pro secretly played Birkdale as a boy Fourth place at US Open is the perfect platform
The kid who used to creep on to Royal Birkdale to play a few holes before the members spotted him will return there next month as the local favourite to become the first Englishman to win the Open in a quarter of a century.
Tommy Fleetwood’s fourth place in the US Open on Sunday signified how far that young Southport dreamer has travelled.
In fact, his rise to world No21, the highest ranking of the 26-year-old’s career, indicates the huge leaps he has taken in the past nine months. In September, Fleetwood fell to 188th and one of England’s most promising talents was in danger of being wasted. Yet by virtue of reverting to what worked in the first place, as well as remembering how to enjoy the game, Fleetwood now even has the European Open’s order of merit title in his sights.
However, first there is an ambition to fulfil at Birkdale. “I really tried to qualify for the
Open in 2008,” Fleetwood said. “I was 17 and, out of nowhere really, got
to the final of the Amateur Championship. It’s funny, because when anybody wins the Amateur the first thing they’re told is, ‘You’re going to Augusta’. But the night before, lying in bed, I wasn’t that fussed about the Masters. It was all about Birkdale. I ended up losing [to the Dutchman Reinier Saxton] in the final and have basically waited since then.
“My dad walks the dog past there every day, and when I was seven or eight we used to sneak on and hit a few shots when nobody was looking. You simply cannot get a tournament closer to home, and on top of that it’s the Open.
“Yeah, it’ll be special. A year ago I was not even in a position to think it and, to be honest, I do get nervous thinking about it now. But, of course, it’ll be nice to go there in form and having contended in a major for the first time.”
Fleetwood accepts that there will be so much more expectation on him now, with not just his family and friends being there in support. “But that’ll be nice,” he said. “It’s better than people expecting me to miss the cut. I played it a few months ago with my dad, and there were posters advertising the players who are going to be there. One of them was me, and I said, ‘Dad, that’s weird!’ I guess I’ll have to get used to being in the spotlight there now.”
Indeed he will. Having made only one cut in his seven majors before the 117th US Open, Fleetwood announced himself to the world at large, never mind just Merseyside. Granted, his one-shot victory over Dustin Johnson in Abu Dhabi in January and then his second place behind the world No1 in Mexico in March emphasised that the former world No1 amateur was beginning to fulfil all that potential. But the majors are the majors, and they do not resonate differently only with the public. Fleetwood will take so much from his performance,
Sharing the halfway lead at Erin Hills, he never backed off, and even when a few bogeys arrived to stall his progress in the final round, he managed to bounce back, playing the last 10 holes in two under par. He might even have put pressure on playing partner Brooks Koepka, the eventual winner, if makeable birdie putts on the 11th and 12th had dropped.
“The main thing I learnt, which I’ll now know going into the majors, is that once I got up there I felt comfortable, and you never know how you are going to react until you’re in that position,” he said. “You’re sleeping on leading a major and then you’ve got to wake up and deal with it – and on Saturday [in his 68] I played fantastic, I really was brilliant and was proud of myself.
“Sunday was a bit of a different story, I didn’t play as well, but still scrapped it round in level par. You have to take all those things as positives.”
Negatives clearly no longer have a place in Fleetwood’s mindset. In 2016 he was awash with them, before deciding to leave Pete Cowen’s stable and go back to his old coach, Alan Thompson. And against all the advice on the range, and especially among the caddies, Fleetwood asked his best friend, Ian Finnis, to work as his bagman. His game and his mood have been transformed, and he is intent on riding the wave.
Fleetwood is playing this week at the BMW International Open in Pulheim, Germany, and from there will travel to Versailles, Portstewart and Dundonald in successive weeks before pitching up in his home town. He is less than €140,000 (£123,000) behind Masters champion Sergio García in the money list, and everything seems possible.
“By September I’m not playing much at all, because in October my fiancée [Clare] and I are due a baby, so I might as well get my golf in now,” he said. “Obviously I’ve put myself up there with a chance. It would be nice. It is kind of on my agenda now.”
‘I’ll now know going into the majors that once I got up there I felt comfortable’