Tommy Fleetwood had to work hard in his opening round of The Open.
The Englishman, playing at a course local to his home town of Southport, finished his first 18 holes at Royal Birkdale one under par, three shots off the lead.
On the surface, it was a good day at the office for Fleetwood, who is well in the mix after Thursday’s play. But he wasn’t totally happy with his round.
Tommy Fleetwood says he ‘struggled a lot’ on day one of The Open
Despite posting a respectable score through 18 holes, Fleetwood wasn’t happy with how he played. He said that it was hard work just getting under par.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Fleetwood said, “Well I played awful. I struggled a lot. I started to hit some fairways eventually but my iron play was nonexistent. So it was a really good round of battling.
“I really felt like, especially when I got onto 14, and you know there’s two par fives to come, and I just leak a drive into a fairway trap and that becomes a hard par.
“I made life difficult for myself, but I’m really happy with one under. You can play great but not shoot that. I’ll do a bit of work on the range now, but overall very, very happy to get in there with today’s round. It is actually a really good start.”
Fleetwood put in a solid week at the Scottish Open and played well in his practice rounds, but apparently lost his swing on the way to the second hole today.
He continued, “I played so good Tuesday and Wednesday. I hit two good shots on one, and then I just struggled from there on in. Rhythm, start lines. It’s really difficult when you don’t have a start line because you can’t aim anywhere.
“You can put it down to one of those days. Hopefully I can do some good practice now and get it going.
“You’re not gonna play well all the time, sometimes you have to battle. You’re at a major, the course isn’t going to give you anything, so I’m really pleased with how I did.”
Tommy Fleetwood says the home crowd helped him at The Open
Playing near his home town at a golf course he snuck on to as a child, Fleetwood is playing the role of hometown hero this week. And he said the home crowd helped him to battle through his struggles on Thursday.
He explained, “They helped me a lot today. They support me so much and they want me to do so well, and I definitely think they help me in that sense. They carry me that much more on a day like today when I was struggling, I’m never going to let my shoulders drop in front of everybody.
“I’m always going to do the best I can, not just for me, but for everyone else, and try to repay them for their support. I said at the start of the week, regardless of how I do, where I finish and how I play, this is a dream come true, playing an Open Championship at Birkdale.
“When I was a kid I never could have imagined the support I’d get from the town. It’s really really special and I’m so grateful to everybody.”
You can’t expect to play well in every round during a major, so round one was all about damage limitation. Fleetwood did that excellently, and he’ll hope to kick on over the next three days.
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