SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 As a kid growing up in Southport, Tommy Fleetwood regarded Royal Birkdale as virtually off limits \u2014 except for those rare occasions he sneaked on to hit some shots while accompanying his father on evening dog walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cHallowed turf,\u201d is how a young, wide-eyed Fleetwood viewed the course in this golf-crazed corner of northwest England that, every few years, would welcome the world\u2019s best players for the\u00a0Open Championship.<\/p>\n
His dream of making it there himself one day and lifting the claret jug \u2014 a scenario which, who knows, might just happen on the 18th green at Birkdale on Sunday evening \u2014 began a 10-minute drive down the road in more humble environs.<\/p>\n
Southport Municipal, a club that proudly labels itself as England\u2019s oldest municipal links course, staged a junior program on Monday nights and it was there where Fleetwood\u2019s golfing journey launched around the age of 6.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s why Will Burke, a 40-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, pitched up there on Wednesday with his father, Randy. They paid $25 each to play 18 holes under a gorgeous blue sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here for the golf this week,\u201d Will said, \u201cand we met with some locals who were really complimentary about the place and said it\u2019s right down the street from where we\u2019re staying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you hear the story about Tommy Fleetwood\u2019s origins and how he got started in the Southport area, that\u2019s the cherry on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing inside this muni\u2019s modest club shop, or indeed anywhere at the course, points to Fleetwood being its most famous son. Strangely, there’s not a mention of him anywhere.<\/p>\n
Look further afield around these parts, though, and it\u2019s clear this popular golfer with distinctive flowing locks and a forever-friendly manner is a hometown hero.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood sees huge support as \u2018really positive fuel\u2019<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a mural of Fleetwood \u2014 pumping his fists and wearing his blue Team Europe Ryder Cup uniform \u2014 on the wall of Southport & Birkdale Sports Club.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the Tommy Fleetwood Academy at nearby Formby Hall golf club, where he first became a member and won his only club championship as a kid. Youngsters from the academy have lined up for autographs from Fleetwood next to the practice putting green this week.<\/p>\n
There’s been no bigger buzz during the practice days than when the 35-year-old Fleetwood has been on the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very rare to have an opportunity to play a tournament, let alone the Open, in the town where you grew up in front of fans that were all there to support you,\u201d Fleetwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see people emotionally invested in you \u2026 I think it\u2019s very special. It definitely doesn\u2019t go unnoticed by me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The natural question is, will it heap too much pressure on him?<\/p>\n
Fleetwood sees it as \u201creally, really positive fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I just go back to the original me being an 8-year-old kid, the thought of playing in an Open at Birkdale was unbelievably special,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you\u2019re not going to enjoy it, then you\u2019ve kind of let yourself down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleetwood has already had experience of playing in the Open at Royal Birkdale, in 2017 when he shot a first-round 76 to essentially drop him out of contention. He described a bounce-back 69 to make the cut as \u201cone of the best rounds I ever played\u201d and finished tied for 27th.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood was tied for the first-round lead at the\u00a02023 Open Championship\u00a0staged nearby at Royal Liverpool, where he also was billed as the home favourite. He faded to a tie for 10th, nine shots back from champion Brian Harman.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy knows what Fleetwood is going through. McIlroy was the guy most in the crowd were rooting for when the Open Championship made an emotional return to Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland in 2019 \u2014 after an absence of 68 years \u2014 and again last year.<\/p>\n
McIlroy missed the cut the first time after a nightmarish first-round 79 but said he handled things better the second time, when he tied for seventh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel like you\u2019re trying to play well for everyone else and not for yourself,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI think there\u2019s already enough pressure on anyone in this field to play well for themselves, so to add that extra layer on top of that is always pretty difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut,\u201d he added, \u201cI feel like Tommy\u2019s more level-headed than I am and won\u2019t fall into that trap like I did in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Away from the lofty expectations of the locals in this seaside town, Fleetwood comes back home under pressure to end his wait for a first major title.<\/p>\n
Winning the Tour Championship\u00a0last August was celebrated beyond English shores because it was his first PGA Tour title and he’d come so close so many times, handling each near-miss with dignity and grace.<\/p>\n
Now it’s time for Fleetwood to capture that elusive major and there’d be no more popular winner on Sunday, especially to the people of Southport, who keep welcoming back with open arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody loves him, everybody respects him, whether they’ve met him or not. We own a little bit of him,\u201d said Patrick Hodgson, a 71-year-old member at Southport Municipal who has followed Fleetwood’s rise from talented local kid to one of the world’s best players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he wins, it would be celebrated here for days and months and years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 As a kid growing up in Southport, Tommy Fleetwood regarded Royal Birkdale as virtually off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-803913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}