Tommy Fleetwood may be fifth on the leaderboard heading into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but the Englishman would be forgiven for feeling pessimistic about his chances of winning his second title of the year.
Tommy Fleetwood was tied with Tyrrell Hatton heading into his third round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with the pair both set to take on St Andrews. But while Hatton would tie the Old Course course record with his 61, his countryman would endure a slightly more difficult time.
The 33-year-old would actually not make a single bogey, with one eagle and three birdies coming in his five under par round of 67. But it would appear that Fleetwood is far from happy with where he stands with 18 holes to play.
Fleetwood is now six shots off the lead, despite finding himself in the third to last group to go off on Sunday. But there have been some promising signs in his form, with Fleetwood only just missing out on a top 10 finish at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, while he came third last week at the Spanish Open.
Tommy Fleetwood not happy despite bogey-free round of 67
It was put to Fleetwood that his long game may be as good as it has ever been right now, but clearly, the Dubai Invitational champion was in no mood to pat himself on the back.
“No, not at all. Doesn’t feel that great to be honest. But I keep hitting it where I can hit it. I keep hitting it in play. It’s a strange game, really. I think you look at the middle part of the year, I felt like I was playing as good as I’ve played for a long time and I was consistent without getting any results,” he said.
“I’m playing well. I’m doing a lot of the right things. I think scoring is something that’s a bit frustrating but at the same time, it’s like there’s so many good things going on. Obviously very consistent. Yeah, I can’t be negative about it. Just have to look at things that I can improve on to obviously reach that next level. Because the consistency is there and I’m doing really well but I just feel like I could be doing that bit better.”
What the statistics show this season
In fairness to Fleetwood, some of the statistics from his season suggest that he is being a little harsh on himself.
According to the PGA Tour website, Fleetwood is sixth for driving this year. While he is 88th for driving distance, he is eighth for driving accuracy. And he is 35th for strokes gained off the tee.
It also has to be noted that Fleetwood has only made one bogey all week. Admittedly, this week’s tournament could have hardly been played in more helpful conditions, but he has largely been able to capitalise.
And if he gets a few early birdies on Sunday, perhaps he will start to believe that he very much remains in contention.
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