It was almost impossible not to feel for Tommy Fleetwood following the Travelers Championship over the weekend, with the Englishman losing the tournament on the final green.
Tommy Fleetwood will be wondering how exactly he ended up missing out on the Travelers Championship title after beginning the final round with a three shot lead at TPC River Highlands.
Despite a shaky start, the 34-year-old managed to recover to put himself in a fantastic position on the back nine on Sunday in Connecticut. Unfortunately, two bogeys in the final three holes for Fleetwood opened the door for Keegan Bradley to win the event for a second time.
Of course, the disappointment for Fleetwood is amplified by the fact that he does have to face questions about his wait to win on the PGA Tour. No player has ever earned more money on the tour without winning.
What Tommy Fleetwood does better than anyone else in the world
Fleetwood is clearly good enough to win. He is an Olympic silver medalist who has previously been a talisman for Europe in the Ryder Cup. He has also won a number of events on the DP World Tour, so he knows how to clear that final hurdle.
And speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Wayne Riley claimed that one part of Fleetwood’s game is potentially better than anyone else on the planet.
“He’s a machine, the guy is a machine. That golf swing, can we say it’s the best in the world? Yeah, I think there’s no one who swings it better really. Look at it, it’s just tick-tock. It’s set at the top, it’s a little abbreviated follow through when he wants to, when he punches woods,” he said.
“He’s just a beautiful golfer. He can flatten it out, built for an Open Championship, built for it. He ran second where we’re going in a minute, Portrush. He’s built for it, he really is, but so are a lot of other players.”
How Tommy Fleetwood finished second at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush
Fleetwood’s joint best performance in a major championship came at the 2019 Open Championship. He ended up finishing six shots back of Shane Lowry on nine under par for the week.
Fleetwood began the day four shots back of his Ryder Cup teammate, and saw that gap close to three with Lowry making a bogey on the first hole. But that was as close as he got, with Lowry making three birdies before the turn.
He did miss the cut at Royal Troon last year, but Fleetwood finished in the top 10 in the two years before that. So there are plenty of positive signs ahead of next month’s return to Northern Ireland.
Much will come down to the conditions and the side of the draw he falls on, but you can understand why Riley has plenty of confidence in Fleetwood’s chances at the final major of the year.
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