Almost everyone with an advanced knowledge of men’s pro golf – and especially the man himself – knows Tommy Fleetwood is yet to win either a Major or a regular PGA Tour title on American soil. But he is getting closer.
In his past six events on the other side of the pond to which he was born, the Englishman has secured a T10, a T7, and a T3 result – the latter of which was at The Masters as he finally cracked the first page of the leaderboard at the eighth attempt.
Going back further, Fleetwood has five runner-up finishes to his name on the PGA Tour, with the most painful possibly arriving via a playoff defeat to home favorite Nick Taylor at the 2023 Canadian Open.
Still, it’s not like he hasn’t won at all. Far from it. The 33-year-old has eight international wins under his belt and a couple of starring roles in two Ryder Cup victories.
And it could have been even better for Fleetwood in 2019 when he battled Team Europe buddy Shane Lowry for the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. But while everyone was literally and figuratively blown backwards during disgusting weather conditions in the final round, it was the Irishman who battled on to lift his first Major by six shots.
“It almost seemed to be pre-ordained that Shane would win that week, especially after Rory (McIlroy) missed the cut,” Fleetwood said. “I played great golf that week, but I ran into a wrecking ball in Shane.
“And for as much as I was gutted at not winning, I had to admit that he was a worthy winner, and a really fitting one considering it was the first time the Open had gone back to Ireland in almost 70 years.”
The Southport-born player carded a final round three-over as Lowry managed to limit the damage to just one-over and finish on 15-under. American Tony Finau finished third on seven-under thanks to an impressive even-par Sunday.
Fleetwood admitted that the sting of defeat was an extremely painful one to take for a while after, but time proved to be a great healer for him in understanding that there were plenty of positives to take moving forward.
He said: “But I didn’t feel that way at the time. I couldn’t bear to watch the film of [Royal] Portrush for ages after it finished. It was only when the Covid lockdown came along that I sat down and watched the footage with the kids.
“There…
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