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Tommy Fleetwood focusing on positives as he targets first Major win at The Open
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Tommy Fleetwood focusing on positives as he targets first Major win at The Open

Tommy Fleetwood's season so far reads impressively. But ahead of The 152nd Open, the Englishman was left hoping everything in his game "will all come together" as he targets his first Major Championship title.

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Fleetwood began 2024 with a victory at the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour, while he has three further top tens that include a tie for third at the Masters Tournament, and he has only missed one cut in 17 events.

Despite all that good form, there is still a level of frustration that he hasn't been in contention for silverware more often.

Something he hopes will change this week at Royal Troon.

"I try not to dwell on it too much," Fleetwood told reporters when asked about how he dealt with putting himself in a great position but being unable to yield more trophies.

"I get frustrated like anybody else. I get down on myself like anybody else. I don't win anywhere near as much as I would like, and I'm probably not sort of in a position in the game where I want to be, even though I'm doing perfectly well. It's not where I believe I can be, and the results don't always show that.

"I try to focus on positives and what I need to do to actually get to where I want to be or contend in tournaments and win tournaments. I

"You always start a new week fresh, and I try to focus on that as much as possible really."

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Questioned further about how he sustains motivation, Fleetwood explained that his ability to focus on the positive side of things is quite simply down his love of the game and his drive to achieve even more success.

"I still love golf," he added. "I think golf is my absolute favourite thing to do, and I don't believe that I've reached my potential at all in what I can do. I think I'm still very driven by that.

"I still wake up every day and want to be the best player I can be, and I still want to find things that will make me better and what I can improve on. There's still so many tournaments that I enjoy playing, tournaments that I want to win.

"I'm sure one day I might wake up and might not have the same enthusiasm for it, but it's never left me yet, and it continues.

"I'll wake up tomorrow excited to play The Open. Whether I play good or bad, I might be disappointed, but I'll probably want to go and practice afterwards and see if I can get better."

One thing Fleetwood does have in his favour this week is the presence of long-time caddie and friend Ian Finnis, who underwent heart surgery earlier this year and made his return back at last week's Genesis Scottish Open.

The initial news came as a shock to the entire golfing community, and Fleetwood admitted that while he has been surprised at the quickness of Finnis' recovery, he is excited that they will be alongside one another for another Major championship.

"It was a bit of a shock, and I think it does put things into perspective," Fleetwood said of when Finnis told him the news.

"I spoke to him most days through the whole process, if you like. Ian's obviously very close to me, and he's much more than a caddie to me. So I think caring about him first and more than anything and his family always came first.

"For him to have got back this quick, I told him I didn't think he had a chance really of caddying in these events, so it's amazing that he's got back and done so well, and see how determined and motivated he was really to get back to normal life. He's done amazing.

"I think for him it's been really cool, just the messages of support that he had, people from the Tour and everything texted him quite a lot. I think it was really lovely for him to see just how popular he is and what impact he's had on a lot of people.

"I've obviously had him on the bag for a very long time, and having him back feels great. I think last week felt very normal, felt very comfortable, and I think when you've had someone by your side for that long, I don't think like a three-month period has a huge effect on the way that you've always worked.

"It's great to have him back. He loves The Open, and we've done well in this event in prior years. So just being back to work together and going out tomorrow is very exciting, and it will be great. It's great to have him back."

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Together, Fleetwood and Finnis have three top tens in their last four Open Championship starts - including both 2022 and 2023 - and last week finished in a tie for 34th at The Renaissance Club.

The Open has undoubtedly been the most successful Major for Fleetwood historically, having not finished worse than 33rd since 2017 - a year after missing the cut the last time this tournament was staged at Royal Troon in 2016.

He's also the most recent Englishman to have finished as runner-up (in 2019 to Shane Lowry), and is one of a handful of British players that have so nearly claimed victory this century.

And while Fleetwood can't explain why it's been such a long time for players that have grown up around links golf, he is hopeful this week will someone can break through for the first English victory since Sir Nick Faldo won at Muirfield in 1992 - the year after Fleetwood was born.

"Like from an individual standpoint, I love the tournament and the times that I've been in contention here and the support I've always had and what the tournament means to me," he said.

"I've always loved those times and looked back on those with a lot of fond memories really. So I always get excited about coming to play this tournament. If it came to it and that was something that gave the country a little boost, then great.

"We've had a lot of good players, and it just doesn't seem to happen. Who knows if one breaks through and then there comes a flood of British winners."