Tommy Fleetwood flies up leaderboard at PGA Championship
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History at TPC Harding Park
SAN FRANCISCO – If Tommy Fleetwood is nervous, you can’t tell
The Englishman, who many consider as one of the best players in the world without a major championship under their belt, moved himself into the mix at the PGA Championship on Friday morning.
Fleetwood, who was runner up at the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Open Championship, shot a sublime 6-under 64 at TPC Harding Park to move to 6 under and sit just two back of early leader Haotong Li.
It looked easy for the 29-year-old who only returned to the PGA TOUR three weeks ago following the COVID-19 outbreak. Off the tee he was rarely troubled, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and he made over 100 feet of putts for the second straight round.
But Fleetwood knows the weekend won’t be easy. He had his chances at Shinnecock a few years ago and the five-time European Tour winner knows his focus must remain throughout the weekend. He hopes his first TOUR victory is one of the game’s biggest prizes.
“Majors are the toughest tests in general, and when you're playing up against the best players in the world and on the hardest golf courses, hopefully it's going to bring the best out of you. But it tests every single aspect of your game mentally and physically, and I've always enjoyed that,” Fleetwood explained.
“I've played with quite a few of the winners of the last few majors, and it's always good to see what they do. You're obviously concentrating on your own game but you see how the events pan out and you see how the guys go and win those events. That in your mind can only do you good.
“Every time these weeks come about you just prepare for it to be your week, and today was a great day. Got a weekend of golf left. We'll see.”
Fleetwood returned to the U.K. at the beginning of the pandemic and had to quarantine for two weeks. He did the same in the U.S. when he returned. But now he’s here for a run at the majors and the FedExCup title. He’s won the season long race in Europe before, but now he seeks the PGA TOUR equivalent.
“If you look at starting last week, there was a WGC, there's a major this week, then you're working your way into the Playoffs and then there's a U.S. Open, so there's a long stint of big events, and if all went well or if all goes well I'll be here for a while playing a lot,” he said.
“I was leaving it as late as possible to start playing just because then it would be a straight stretch in America. For me being over here, it's obviously a very difficult situation the way the world is at the moment, but I think the TOUR have done an amazing job in making it as safe as possible and making you feel as secure as possible.”