It’s a family affair for Tommy Fleetwood at The Open Championship, with the season’s final major serving as a homecoming for the Englishman.
Fleetwood will try to capture his long-awaited first major championship on the course he used to sneak onto as a kid.
The return home has also given Fleetwood a chance to share special moments with family and friends, including a special walk around Royal Birkdale with his dad Pete.
Tommy Fleetwood Has Dad Pete on Bag for Open Championship Tune-Up
Pete Fleetwood was on the bag for his son during a midweek practice round on July 14, as shared by the PGA Tour on social media.
The Fleetwoods were making their way around the local track alongside rugby great Bryan Habana and LPGA star Miyu Yamashita in the inaugural Heroes Classic. The trio finished second of three squads, finishing behind the troika of Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and Paula Martin Sampedro.
The father and son used to sneak onto the historic course together when Tommy was a lad, and getting a chance for a more proper walk had to have been a thrill for the Fleetwood men.
“(Birkdale is) where my love for The Open started,” Fleetwood recently told Golf.com. “It’s probably my biggest dream in the game is to win that tournament.”
What Returns to Royal Birkdale Means to Tommy Fleetwood
As the de facto host for the week, Fleetwood has spent the week in the spotlight ahead of The Open at Royal Birkdale. This isn’t new for the 35-year-old, who was in the field the last time Birkdale hosted The Open. Fleetwood had a respectable T-27 finish in 2017.
The demands and pressure that come with being the hometown kid will only be intensified this week for Fleetwood, who is coming off winning the FedEx Cup a year ago. He was playing arguably the best golf of his career at the time, including a top-20 finish at last year’s Open. While he’s not in the same form anymore, he’s also not hiding from the hoopla of the week.
“It’s an absolute dream to play here in my hometown in front of people that are all here to support me. There are only positives really,” he told reporters on July 14. “I think what you do have to deal with is how much you want it and your own expectations, but I think at the same time, I’m no different to any other person in terms of every single person that is playing in The Open dreams of winning in The Open and wants to win it.
“There’s really nothing different to anybody else in that sense. I just think I am the lucky one that gets to have home support and use that as like really, really positive fuel.”
Tommy Fleetwood Shares Personal Moment With Dad Before Open Championship