Local favourite Tommy Fleetwood gave the fans exactly what they wanted on the first day of the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool, the Southport-man shooting a sparkling five-under 66 to the delight of the galleries.
By the time the six-time DP World Tour winner walked off the 18th green at around 3pm to sign caps and flags for his many young fans, Fleetwood had earned himself a share of the lead alongside amateur Christo Lamprecht.
The Open runner-up from four years ago was understandably very pleased with his day’s work, especially given a number of slow starts that have plagued some of his Major Championship showings in recent times.
Fleetwood, who also finished joint fourth at St Andrews last year, admitted that it was “up there” with the most enjoyable rounds that he’s ever had at a Major Championship.
“It was very cool, and I think you can't ask for more from the fans and the support,” said a smiling Fleetwood. “They were so great to me today.
“The northwest is where I'm from. I'll always be a northwest boy, and to have so many people out there from the area supporting is really, really great.”
The majority of the Englishman’s good work was done on the back nine. After turning in one-under, the 32-year-old, who was playing alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and former Masters champion Adam Scott, got the fans going with four birdies in seven holes.
A par at the last made it a good day for Fleetwood and a good day for the fans, who had already enjoyed seeing another local lad in the form of Royal Liverpool member, Matthew Jordan, shoot a very tidy 69.
Fleetwood also said it was “cool” to see the Amateur champion, Lamprecht, at the top of the leaderboard, a player he recently got to enjoy watching on television.
“My boys wanted to watch the British Amateur. What a great round. Sort of seeing an amateur's name up on the leaderboard is always something that's so special about Major Championships. You're watching somebody's career start to blossom.”
Lamprecht’s Amateur Championship victory came not too far away at Hillside, a course Fleetwood is very familiar with having hosted the British Masters there in 2019.
He added: “I think in general if you have the ability to play well on links golf, you can sort of adapt to any golf course.
“You see so many people now playing the Scottish Open before The Open, and I think just that feeling of it and the way the courses play, I think if you get familiar with it and if you seem to play well in those, it's obviously going to follow at some point.”
