Rising star Tommy Fleetwood of England is the focus of the first in our series of “Faces to Follow” on this season’s Challenge Tour...
Not many golfers are tipped to reach the top 20 in the World Ranking before they have even won their first professional title or made it onto The European Tour, but Tommy Fleetwood is perhaps no ordinary golfer.
The tremendously talented 20 year old from Merseyside, England, only joined the professional ranks five months ago, after a stellar amateur career which came to a thrilling conclusion with victories at the Boys Home Internationals and the English Amateur Championship, with a runner-up finish at the European Amateur Championship sandwiched in the middle.
But it was his performance as an amateur on his Challenge Tour debut which really made the wider golfing community stand up and pay attention, as he lost out by a single stroke at the inaugural English Challenge to Australian Daniel Gaunt – who would later finish seventh in the final Rankings – after three-putting the final green.
Two months later Fleetwood, by now a fully-fledged professional, again had a putt to force a play-off at the M2M Russian Challenge Cup, but ultimately had to settle for finishing in a three-way tie for second place behind the winner, Carlos del Moral of Spain.
Fleetwood’s inability to make the breakthrough might have suggested a brittle temperament but, if anything, it was the fearlessness and precocity of youth which led to his undoing, as his natural instinct to attack and go for the win led to him rushing his birdie attempts past the hole on both occasions.
Players with less mental strength might have appeared crestfallen but, confident in the knowledge that his day in the sun would surely soon come, Fleetwood took the disappointment in his stride with a maturity which belied his tender years.
According to John Petrie, Chief Executive of the English Golf Union, that trait – and his undoubted talent – was entirely evident throughout his amateur career.
“Tommy Fleetwood is a class act,” he said. “We see a lot of great juniors coming through our system, but Tommy’s one of those you just know is going to make it. He has the potential to make it into the top 20 of the world. Even when he plays poorly, he still has the ability to put a score together.
“As our number one player in the England team, he led from the front. We don’t hide our number one – he goes out first in every match. He could’ve turned professional after playing the Walker Cup in 2009, but he wasn’t ready and he benefitted from another year with us in the amateur game.”
Having left the comfort of the amateur game behind, Fleetwood will now attempt to earn his stripes in the sometimes unforgiving environment of the professional ranks.
With his boyish looks and slight frame, Fleetwood might not immediately strike you as a star-in-waiting. But what he lacks in size he more than makes up for in talent, and it would be a real surprise if he did not make his presence felt near the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings come the end of his first full season on Tour.
