Fleetwood outshines his shirt and
Calm approach puts Briton in hunt with a 67 Ryder Cup stalwart aims to deny US players again
Sartorial elegance is big business at the Open these days. Indeed, Rickie Fowler was once overheard asking his manager before a round: “When are we doing fashion?” It was in keeping with the times, then, that Tommy Fleetwood headed out yesterday in a shirt designed to draw as much attention as his golf.
His crazed black-and-white patterning depicted, according to those commissioned to create it, a composite silhouette of golfers, mythical creatures and the local landscape. In the flesh, he looked more like a startled zebra.
On this occasion, at least, Fleetwood matched the style with substance. His 67 yesterday, leaving him one shot behind leaders Shane Lowry and JB Holmes, was so polished, it even warranted a message of congratulations from his friend Pep Guardiola.
Fleetwood played 18 holes with the Manchester City manager on the day the club were confirmed as Premier League champions last summer, and the pair have since competed together in a pro-am. “He generally texts me quite a bit,” Fleetwood said with a smile, when asked if Guardiola had been in contact. “He’s pretty busy himself, starting pre-season. I’ll see if he texts me this time.”
This was Fleetwood’s finest 36hole total at a major, and he was full value for it, taming Royal Portrush with exquisite iron play and displaying impeccable calmness from the first shot to the last.
There is an effortlessness about his talent at times, as befitting somebody who two years ago shot a final-round 63 at Shinnecock Hills, the most notorious course on the US Open roster. The light has flickered of late, with Fleetwood yet to record a top-20 finish in a major this year, but he proved here that he was born for the challenge of a rainlashed links.
“You can’t be gung-ho all the time,” said Fleetwood, who sealed a share of third place, the same position he occupied at the halfway
‘When these chances come around, you want to take them and you want to be known’
stage 12 months ago. “At times, you have to be aggressive and take the course on. But at others, you just have to take what it gives you.”
Fleetwood had hoped that last year’s Ryder Cup exploits would be the catalyst his career required. In Paris, he was one half of the all-conquering “Moliwood” partnership with Francesco Molinari, who became the first European player ever to win five points out of five. The Italian was still carrying the effects of his Open triumph at Carnoustie, where he fended off Tiger Woods down the stretch without dropping a shot.
This is the level of composure that Fleetwood has sought, with varying success, to emulate. If he