Resilient Tommy Fleetwood opens up on how his positive state of mind is driving him to one day break his PGA Tour duck

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Tommy Fleetwood has learned plenty from his agonising second-place finish at the Travelers Championship.
Today, he finds himself in a similar situation: primed to finally end what has been a long and frustrating 11-year wait to break his duck on the PGA Tour.
It is an odd thing that someone who has been ever-present throughout the years on the both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour has never claimed a victory.
Perhaps an illustration of the Englishman's consistency is that Fleetwood, 34, has claimed the most earnings of any player on the PGA Tour, £23.3million, without ever having won a regular-season event, finishing as a runner-up six times during his career on the US circuit.
His stature among some of the best in the world makes it even stranger that Fleetwood has never succeded on the PGA Tour.
His metronomic swing is easy on the eye, and Fleetwood ranks, as of writing, first at the FedEx St Jude for his approach play, greens in regulation and driving accuracy.
The one thing that has troubled the Englishman so much this year is his putting, and that's where he will need to perform on Sunday, especially as he looks to fend off advances from Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler.
It's been a year for climbing mountains. As Fleetwood's Ryder Cup team-mate Rory McIlroy climbed his mountain this year, can the man from Merseyside finally fulfil his own dreams?
His time has been coming for a long while. It finally looked as though he could have cracked it in June at the Travellers Championship, but he came unstuck on the back nine after a couple of wayward putts saw him agonisingly fall behind US Ryder Cup Champion, Keegan Bradley.
But Tommy isn't one to dwell on the negatives.
While he's played brilliantly all week, barring a double bogey after finding the water on the third hole on Saturday, the ever-humble Englishman is staying positive and open-minded about his chances.
'Tomorrow might be my day, it might not, but being there is the most important thing, and I'll continue to try and do that,' he explained on Saturday evening.
That is a very strong position to be in and shows perhaps how focused he is on performing at his best, by removing the expectation and the hopes of finally winning from the equation, and simply focusing on just playing golf.
'I played well last time,' Fleetwood added, speaking about his agonising second-placed finish at the Travellers Championship.
'I came very close. I led the tournament for such a long time and it didn't happen, and I said then, yeah, there's an element to me, sort of it's taken me a long time to win out here, and I still haven't done it, but best possible scenario at that Travelers straight away was can I put myself in that position again sooner rather than later.'
Fleetwood has done exactly that. While he may have slumped to T34 at the Scottish Open, before rallying to end his week at Royal Portrush T16, he finds himself back in contention at TPC Southward just three weeks on from that hugely painful day at TPC River Highland.
'It's just another opportunity for me to go out and try and have the best round of golf I can, enjoy being in that position,' he added.
'The more I put myself there, the more chance there is of it happening, and just go out and keep learning from every experience.'
His resilience must be commended. And so too should his dedication to his craft.
Fleetwood has struggled with his putting at times this year, but is showing vast improvements in his game around the greens, enjoying a great week at TPC Southwind with his flat stick, leaving very few putts short.
It is though, his positive mentality and attitude to keep going that will, if not today, surely one day see him finally pick up a PGA Tour event.
'Probably. I think so,' Fleetwood said when asked whether he has a natural positive outlook.
'Yeah, I just think I would way rather be there and fail than not be there at all. So either way, like, it's a good thing.
'Yeah, it hurts when it doesn't happen for you and that sort of streak, if you like, and people talk about it more and more, that goes on. Obviously, it's not my favourite time, like walking off the 18th at that point.
'But I practice so hard at my game, and I work so hard and I enjoy being out here four days like this, Sunday going tomorrow, and all the times when you're 40th place going into Sunday, 30th, 20th, you might have a great day and you might feel good, but it's just not the same as being in contention.
'As I say, I just look forward to the opportunities and continue to give myself a chance in chasing my dreams, and whether they happen or not tomorrow or the next week or the week after, that's another story.
'But I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.'
He begins his fourth round two shots clear of Scheffler, who was almost infallible with his putter on Saturday, and one shot ahead of his great friend Rose.