British Open: Will Tommy Fleetwood’s long quest for victory end in triumph at Portrush?

There is an angle of the camera compared to the travelers championship of last month, where Tommy Fleetwood lost against Keegan Bradley on the 72nd and last hole, it is a difficult watch. Fleetwood comes from Bogery on the 18th, and Bradley is in a position for the Birdie, and a CBS camera caught Fleetwood while looking at Bradley to settle for his six -foot Putt winning tournament.

For all his talents – he has spent most of the last two years in the top 15 of the game – Fleetwood has never won on the PGA Tour. This dubious race seemed ready to finish the traveler week, until everything collapsed on him. And now, while Bradley was preparing to tear him off the trophy, Fleetwood could only look.

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Or not. While Bradley aligned the putt, Fleetwood buried his face in the hollow of his left arm, remaining motionless even though the gallery exploded with joy. It was not until that time, after a break of a few seconds, he resurfaced.

This moment, and his graceful interview later, pleased Fleetwood in an even wider golf band.

“I would have liked to do it today,” he said later. “Research continues, I suppose. When this happens, it will be very, very soft.”

This adorable attitude-loser and chin becomes just as little Fleetwood personality as his nic-cage-in-“cascade locks. Fleetwood becomes very good in something in which you do not want to become good – thanks to defeat.

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And yet, because of whom he is, because of his history, because of this still un -fulfilled talent, fans always flock to him. Fleetwood is currently at +2,200 to win the British Open, even with the defending champion Xander Schauffele and the 2019 Champion Shane Lowry, and the follow -up of Scottie Scheffler, Rory Mcilroy, Bryson Dechambeau and Jon Rahm.

Perhaps it is generous (and read the room, anticipating the bettors in the mind of Fleetwood), and perhaps not-Fleetwood has three top-10 in its last five openings. This total includes a solo second place in 2019… which has just occurred in the Royal Portrush, this year’s tournament site.

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Aside from the final result of travelers, Fleetwood enters Open British with a solid form. Through 14 tournaments this season, he made 13 cups, recorded 11 top 25 and reached the top 10 of the five times. Overall, he has seven victories in Europe, and he is one of three European Ryder Cup teams in 2018, 2021 and 2023 – playing a big role in two European victories. He and Francesco Molinari were an unbearable “Moliwood” duo in Paris in 2018, and he won the body point in Rome in 2023 on Rickie Fowler.

But the question for the 34 -year -old Fleetwood is never if he can play in a coherent way, it is if he can earn. His name is high on this “best active active player without list”, just up there with Fowler and Patrick Cantlay. He has eight top -10 in majors, including two second solo place – Royal Portrush, and the 2018 US Open in Shinnecock, where he missed an eight -foot putt on the last hole that would have forced qualifying series with Koepka Brooks. He is also the proud owner of an Olympic medal, the money he won last year in Paris.

There is a little conventional wisdom in the golf course if you continue to kick the door, at some point, you will launch it. “In my mind,” said Fleetwood after travelers, “I won lots of PGA Tour events, I didn’t actually do it, and I’m sure time will come if I continue to work.”

Persistence worked for McILroy to the Masters this year, it worked for Schauffele during the majors last year. But conventional wisdom does not necessarily hold; If that was the case, the Countryman of Fleetwood, Lee Westwood, would have converted one of his eight top-3s to the majors in majors into a victory.

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In the moments that followed this loss of travelers, Fleetwood tried to put his sorrow in context and in perspective. “Right now, I would like, you know, go sulk somewhere,” he said, “and maybe I will do it. … But there is no insufficiency make a negative for the future, really, take the positive points and move on to something else.” He will have the chance to do exactly this this week.

Whatever the way this week at Royal Portrush takes place, Fleetwood will always have the support of the gallery, and it will be a key element of the European team before the Ryder Cup in September. Just an intuition – of course, he would be satisfied with all of this, but he would be much happier with a Bordeaux jug on his shelf.