HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – When Tommy Fleetwood won the 2019 Netbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, he rose to 10th in the official world rankings and was considered by one and all to be among the game’s best players.
He hasn’t won since.
But the affable Englishman, 31, has yet to pull his long hair out of his head due to frustration. It’s not his nature. Instead, he has plodded along through the difficult times, trying to dig his past form out of the dirt.
“Like everybody else in the sport, in any sport, you’re trying so hard and you have such high expectations of yourself and you’re not getting those results, it’s difficult, and it’s frustrating,” Fleetwood said. “It’s just what it is. You have to get up every week and keep working hard and keep practicing.
“I said it a few times over the last year, standard’s getting higher and higher. So if you’re not playing well, you’re slipping. The gap gets bigger effectively. So you just have to keep up and play your game and trying to find what’s right for you and keep doing it.”
RBC Heritage: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Leaderboard
His third round Saturday in the RBC Heritage was more like the Fleetwood of old. He didn’t make a bogey in his 7-under 64 and raced up the leaderboard into a tie for second when the leaders were through six holes. Harbour Town Golf Links was vulnerable, with little wind and a tad softer conditions, or as Fleetwood said, “scoring would be different by a mile,” compared to Friday’s windy day.
While Fleetwood said he didn’t play “particularity great,” he caught a few breaks and capitalized on them to get into contention not only to win for the first time since 2019 but to win his first PGA Tour title; he has five wins on the DP World Tour.
“I never felt comfortable in my swing. Like I haven’t played well this week. But today was the day where I had nothing destructive in there,” said Fleetwood, who is now ranked 43rd in the world. “If I missed a shot, it was like a skanky one that would be in place somewhere and then I had a chance to go from there. I putted really, really well.
“It was just that I literally made zero mistakes, and then a few good shots where then I capitalized on it. It feels like I should be able to do that all the time.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
But he’s feeling more optimistic about his future.
“This year I feel like I’m on a much better track,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m trying to find it every week. I was never playing that well, and then I always was trying to find the secret. I was never ready to play. I was always working on something on the range, thinking I need to hit it better, I need to hit it better. By the time it came to play, I was never ready.
“This year I feel I’ve got a much better mix of practice getting better, being ready to play, and actually I’m performing better at a more consistent level.
“We’ll see where it goes.”
