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Tommy Fleetwood admitted he never imagined winning an Olympic medal when he began playing golf.
Fleetwood fired a final-day 66 at Le Golf National to take silver for Great Britain in the men’s competition at the Paris Olympics.
The 33-year-old from Southport finished one stroke short of Scottie Scheffler – who finished on 19 under par after equalling the course record of 62 – with a bogey at the 17th proving costly as he found heavy rough off the tee.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama claimed bronze a shot back, with France’s Victor Perez fourth and Ireland’s Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for fifth with Spain’s Jon Rahm.
“I didn’t win gold and part of me is disappointed,” said Fleetwood, who again showed his liking for Le Golf National after winning the French Open in 2017 and enjoying Ryder Cup heroics here a year later.
“But standing on that podium with a medal is one of the most amazing moments I’ve had as a golfer, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.
“As a young boy taking up the game I never dreamed to be an Olympian and winning an Olympic medal is never on your agenda.
“That changes when you’re part of the Olympics and it feels unbelievably special, even if part of me is disappointed I haven’t won.
Standing on that podium with a medal is one of the most amazing moments I've had as a golfer, and I will remember it for the rest of my life— Tommy Fleetwood
“I haven’t been in the mix that much recently and being back there, playing well and how it felt, the enjoyment of it, is what I will take from the week.”
Golf was reintroduced to the Olympic programme for Rio 2016 when Team GB’s Justin Rose won gold, and Fleetwood started the final round one behind playing partners Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Five birdies on the front nine took him into second, and he was tied for the lead with Rahm after two more on the 11th and 12th.
With Scheffler charging on the back nine, Fleetwood rolled in an eight-foot putt on the 16th to go joint-top of the leaderboard again before one errant drive gave the American world number one the initiative.
After nearly chipping in at the last to force a play-off, Fleetwood said: “There was a fair bit of time when I thought I had a chance.
“I was aware of the leaderboards and you can watch at that back end. I saw him (Scheffler) hole a putt on 17 and knew I had to get something out of the last few.
“It’s a tough closing stretch and I got unlucky where I finished on 17. Even once the chip had missed on the last, I tried to make sure I got the next one for silver.”
Scheffler has been an unstoppable force for most of 2024, winning his second Masters green jacket at Augusta and six times in all on the PGA Tour.
There was plenty of quality on a leaderboard befitting of Olympic competition ahead of him, but there would have been nervous glances from the rest of the field as Scheffler opened with three birdies.
The Scheffler putter, as it sometimes does, went cold for a while but he was soon rewarding breath-taking approach play with six birdies on a back-nine 29.
“I felt it was slipping away after having no birdies from four through nine,” said Scheffler, who was overcome with emotion on the podium.
“I was doing good but getting nothing out of it, and I thank Teddy (Scott, his caddie) for keeping me in the right head space.”
McIlroy had matched Scheffler, picking up shots at the first and third but was quiet until five successive birdies from the 10th.
He paid the price at the 15th for an aggressive approach shot that fell short of the green and rolled back into the water for a double bogey six.
It was also a case of what might have been for Rahm, who walked off the 10th green with a four-shot lead after his sixth birdie.
But the Spaniard capitulated down the stretch with four bogeys and a seven on the par-five 14th in a disastrous back-nine of 39.
Schauffele’s Olympic title defence also unravelled with uncustomary carelessness as three bogeys and a double bogey dropped him to tied ninth.
