Olympics: Tommy Fleetwood has great chance to shake demons, win gold

Tommy Fleetwood has an incredible opportunity on his hands.

He will begin the final round of the Olympics one shot off the pace at 13-under, playing alongside Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, who share the 54-hole lead. Fleetwood, Rahm, and Schauffele will go off in the final group together, meaning the Englishman will have the gold medal—and the lead—well within his sights all day.

“I’m very, very excited to play. You look at the leaderboard, the leaderboard is amazing,” Fleetwood said.

“It’s like a leaderboard that you would expect at the Olympics and probably what the sport deserves. I’m happy to be a part of it and have been doing very well so far. So we’ll see. I’m just looking forward to [Sunday].”

Should Fleetwood go on to win the gold, it would mark the biggest win of his career. He has come agonizingly close in majors, recording seven top-5 finishes since 2018. He also has five runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour, most notably at last year’s RBC Canadian Open, where he witnessed Nick Taylor’s thrilling 72-foot make first-hand.

So a gold medal would undoubtedly shake off these demons and bring Fleetwood—and his hometown of Southport, England—tremendous joy, especially considering the tragedy that took place in the Merseyside town on Jul. 29.

But Fleetwood has received overwhelming support in France this week, leading other players to ask him, “Is this your home country?”

“They have been amazing with me, and it’s definitely a different crowd to what we are used to. It’s definitely an Olympic crowd, and the atmosphere has been amazing,” Fleetwood said.

Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

“I always consider myself very lucky with the support, I guess, connections with people that I make. But these have been great, and absolutely, to be playing the Olympics, to be in contention, and to have the support that you have, I mean, they are things that you dream of; if you don’t enjoy this, then what’s the point?”

The crowds serenaded Fleetwood on seemingly every tee box and every green, leaving the Englishman feeling quite comfortable at Le Golf National, the course where he won four points during the 2018 Ryder Cup. And yet, Fleetwood has felt anything but comfortable this week. He has said his swing is a mess, which the world saw at The Open at Royal Troon, where he badly missed the cut.

“Again, my swing isn’t flowing. It’s not where I would like it to be, but I’ve managed it so well all week,” Fleetwood said.

“I did the same again today, really. I didn’t really hit it in any terrible spots. I made one bogey, which is a great effort around here. I know there are great scores, and obviously, when people play well, they will shoot good scores.”

Fleetwood managed to shoot a 2-under 69, but the most important moment of his round came at the very end, when he made a brilliant par-save on the 18th—the most challenging hole on the course.

The Englishman missed the fairway right, laid up short of the water in the fairway, and then got up and down from 69 yards to save his par and keep his sub-70 round intact.

“A lovely feeling,” Fleetwood said of his closing par.

“Obviously, making bogey on the last is never nice. It’s a tough hole. But it’s an amazing feeling when you scrape a par like that. It keeps me sort of just behind the leaders. As close as I can tomorrow, the better, really. Yeah, it’s a lovely feeling.”

But a gold medal would feel even better, and it is well within his grasp.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.