OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | To say that Tommy Fleetwood smiles a lot is like saying Rory McIlroy hits enormously long drives or that Oakmont Country Club, a steely golf course in a steel town, is very difficult. Sometimes Fleetwood stops smiling to hit a shot.
During a practice round for the U.S. Open on Tuesday as he prepared for his first start on one of the most storied golf courses in the U.S., he smiled when American spectators bellowed “Tom-my, Tom-my, Tom-my” as if he was some kind of rock star.
He smiled when they shouted: “We’ve got our money on you, Tommy.”
And he smiled when one lone voice simply said, “Go, Tommy,” as Fleetwood walked past, his eyes set on the massive 18th green in the lee of the old clubhouse in the distance.
The thing is, Fleetwood, an Englishman, may be one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour.
Ten minutes later he stood on the bridge that took him from the 18th green into the clubhouse. He had worked his way down a line of autograph hunters, signing generously for each, and he was smiling now because he was looking at a cutting from a British golf magazine dated August 1999.
It showed an 8-year-old golfer wearing a blue peaked hat and a canary yellow shirt who had just hit a drive. He looks perfectly balanced at the end of what one assumes was a copybook swing. It is certainly a copybook follow through.
There is a quote from the young man printed over the photograph: “I want to be world No. 1 in ten years.”
The accompanying article doesn’t stint on the praise for a young Tommy Fleetwood because that is who the 8-year-old is. Fleetwood “…has the most outstanding natural talent I’ve ever seen in 38 years as a golf coach,” Eddie Birchenough, a well-known teacher in the north-west of England, said. “Most pros on the European Tour would kill for a swing like his.”
Fleetwood is a man for the big events. He has a second in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills (and a last round of 63), a fourth in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, a T5 in the 2023 U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, and a T3 at the 2024 Masters to his name.
Fleetwood looked at the photograph for perhaps 15 seconds, immersed in his childhood. The clamour all around him fell away as he stared into his past. For a moment he wasn’t a 34-year-old man competing in the 125th U.S. Open Championship outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was back at the municipal golf course in Southport in his native Lancashire 26 years ago using cut-down clubs and dreaming of what lay ahead of him.
He looked wistful. “This is cool,” he said, fingering the article and noting that his young self was wearing Europe’s Ryder Cup colours. “I will show it to my son Frankie, who will be 8 in September. I remember Eddie [Birchenough]. He was a nice man. It’s true my dad did cut me down some clubs so I could play the game and I loved it straightaway.”
Reading the reference to how he wanted to be the best in the world in 10 years, Fleetwood said: “I didn’t make it, but I was No. 1 world amateur at 19 so I wasn’t that far off.” He is currently ranked 13th in the world, one place behind Shane Lowry, his Ryder Cup teammate, and one place ahead of Viktor Hovland, another Ryder Cup teammate.
Fleetwood is a man for the big events. He has a second in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills (and a last round of 63), a fourth in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, a T5 in the 2023 U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, and a T3 at the 2024 Masters to his name. “I think these kind of tests suit me,” Fleetwood said. “I am a very patient person. I feel I can be very disciplined in major championships.”
So it is odd that in events other than the major championships Fleetwood has yet to record one victory on the PGA Tour. He has had more top-10 finishes without a victory (41) than any player since 1983. On hearing that statistic a slight frown passed over his face and he asked: “Is that true? I didn’t know that. At least I am top of one list.”
“A lot of things go into winning that clearly haven’t gone my way, if you like,” he said. “That’s in America, the PGA Tour and the majors. I’ve done pretty well in Europe when I have played.” (He has seven victories on the DP World Tour and starred for Europe in the 2018, 2021 and 2023 Ryder Cups.) He has played 12 events on the PGA Tour this year, never missed a cut and finished in the top 10 four times.
“I still have the same dreams now as I had when I was young,” Fleetwood continued. “Winning majors, winning the Open, they’re all still in my dreams in a good way and if I do happen to achieve one or some of them I’d be quite happy that it took me a long time because I got to chase them every day rather than having to find new ones. Whether they happen or not is a different story, there’s other players that go into the mix and are trying to be world No. 1 as well.”
He looked over the bridge, down at the spectators clamouring for players’ autographs and then at the wooded hills in the distance. If he was in his boyhood a few minutes earlier, he was back to reality now as he prepared to take on one of the most fearsome golf courses in the world, one where the members take pride in how difficult it is. “Attitude is going to be huge around here for everyone,” he said. “This course is tough. There’s going to be mistakes, good shots that get punished.
“I feel like I’ve been a couple of shots away from being in contention, in that mix, in tournaments. I feel I am always like that step below. I think it can’t be underestimated that I am 13th in the FedEx Cup, in the hunt for a Ryder Cup place again, world ranking’s high … all those things. It is very, very difficult. The standard of golf is ridiculously high at this level. I think there has been loads of good stuff and hopefully the best is yet to come.”
With that he was off, down the steps of the bridge and heading towards the sanctuary of the clubhouse. He was smiling, of course.