It was a case of so near yet so far for Tommy Fleetwood last year but coach Graham Walker believes everything points to 2019 being the Southport man’s best season yet.
One half of a totemic Ryder Cup partnership with Francesco Molinari that is now etched in the golfing annals, Fleetwood also narrowly missed out on his first major at the US Open, shooting 63 to tie the championship record for a single round as he roared from behind to finish second.
Emulating those achievements this time around will undoubtedly be an uphill task for the 28-year-old, particularly with a strong field set to line up at The Open later this month.
But England Golf head coach Walker, who works with Fleetwood on his short game, insists the Sandgrounder’s voracious appetite for improvement means a maiden success is by no means out of the realms of possibility.
“You hate to say this incase it jinxs him, but he hasn’t missed a cut this year and he’s become much more consistent,” Walker said.
“I quite like that sometimes there are ups and downs – you can be brilliant one week but not so much the next – but he’s become much more consistent in a lot of different areas.
“We would always say to him to play like he’s with a mate, when you’re nice and relaxed. It’s difficult to do under pressure.
“I think he’s very, very close again now. He has a straighter ball flight player now, he’s getting happier with his putting and he’s improving his putting.
“So, if he pieces it all together, he’ll be fine.”
This year’s Open at Royal Portrush affords Fleetwood a unique opportunity to win his first major on home soil later this month. Situated on the northernmost tip of Northern Ireland, the course offers its own unique challenges for players – not least because of the often turbulent weather.
Our final prize is an exciting one! Win a coaching session with @TommyFleetwood1 short game coach @GrahamWalker18 Prize inc a coaching with Graham at the world class @woodhallspagolf followed by dinner, bed and breakfast and 18 holes⛳ https://t.co/fnLls5mRWT pic.twitter.com/EIxM3vFUkp
— England Golf (@EnglandGolf) July 15, 2019
Walker, though, is certain Fleetwood is perfectly primed to take on whatever comes his way after a meticulous build-up.
“He’ll need to adapt to the wind and the different types of conditions, but the other shot he’s got is the shot on the fringes, which he’s very good at,” Walker added.
“Some modern players now would rather chip than put from the fringe, but he’s very good at pace control and it’s one of his big tools.
“There will be a few different lies at Royal Portrush because they’re not always expansive bunkers. We’ll work on that as well.
“There’s no real special preparation but he’ll usually give me a piece of paper before training with the specific shots he wants to improve.
“We have a little saying: ‘train like a scientist and play like an artist’. If he could do that, it would be great.”
- Nominate a Mate is an England Golf campaign to help you and a friend to #SwitchOffWithGolf find out more at: www.englandgolf.org/SwitchOffWithGolf
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article