If ever there was a time English sport needed a lift then it is now. Tommy Fleetwood is hoping he can provide that one week on from this country’s Euros heartache. It’s 58 years of hurt for the Three Lions football team but golf is catching up with 32 years of pain at The Open.
You have to go back to back to 1992 when Nick Faldo lifted the Claret Jug for when an Englishman was last crowned Champion Golfer of the Year. Fleetwood, 33, will again be the favourite to end the barren spell.
A week on from Spain beating Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions in Berlin, it would prove to be quite the sporting tonic for a nation a bit down in the dumps.
World No. 12 Fleetwood was asked if he would love to bring a smile back to the faces of sports fans on these shores and he said: “Well both individually and for the country, I guess. “I love this tournament so much, and it has been a long time since there’s been an English winner.
“Like from an individual standpoint, I love the tournament and the times that I’ve been in contention here and the support I’ve always had and what the tournament means to me. I’ve always loved those times and looked back on those with a lot of fond memories really. If it came to it and that was something that gave the country a little boost, then great.”
Southport native Fleetwood was runner-up in 2019 here and was tied third at this year’s Masters at Augusta. It feels like he is close. He had a sniff of glory last year near home at Hoylake but couldn’t keep the pace with eventual winner Brian Harman.
It’s 32 years without an English winner and, of course, 25 without a British victor with Scotsman Paul Lawrie the last in 1999. “Don’t know [why it has been so long] because we’ve had a lot of good players,” said Fleetwood, who is 20/1 to claim the Claret Jug this week.
“And it just doesn’t seem to happen. Who knows if one breaks through and then there comes a flood of British winners. It’s just one of those strange runs, I feel like, that hopefully finishes sooner rather than later.”
This is the last Major of the year but there will be another chance for bringing national pride for the likes of Fleetwood when they head to Paris for the Olympics. Chasing a gold medal is still new to most of the pros but Fleetwood feels that may change over time, although he’s unsure it will ever replicate winning a Major.
“I think the Olympics for me is sport in its purest form,” he added. “I think it’s the most amazing event in the world. When I grew up, I was always practising on the range as an 8-year-old, 9-year-old, 10-year-old, I wanted to win The Open. But if I was to win a gold medal, it would go there alongside any other achievement I’ve ever had.”
But first the Claret Jug and ensuring England’s pain ends in golf at least.