By James Diamond |
Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood has his eyes set on his first major as Jordan Spieth looks to defend his title, as the 147th Open Championship begins tomorrow at Carnoustie in Scotland.
Fleetwood, the 27-year-old from Liverpool, is in fine form this season having finished alone in second place at the last major, the US Open, behind the American Brooks Koepka.
Fleetwood has good links form from last year to give him confidence too, having shot a course record at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October.
It will be a tough ask to beat the high quality field of American players however, which includes among others, the reigning Open champion Jordan Spieth, world number one Dustin Johnson, last year’s PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed.
“America has an exceptional bunch of players at the moment,” Fleetwood told the Open website.
“They have generally been the best players in the world at the time that they have won the majors.
“But it would be nice to break that run and I am trying to do it.
“After the US Open, I wanted The Open to come straight away because I was on such a high.”
Fleetwood finished in a tie for 27th place on one over par last year at Royal Birkdale.
Other notable players looking to claim the oldest prize in golf include England’s Justin Rose, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and America’s Tiger Woods, who continues his remarkable return to professional golf this week.
Woods, the 14-time major champion, claimed he considers The Open to be his best chance to add to his tally.
McIlroy, meanwhile, will be desperate to regain his major championship form, having missed the cut at the US Open this year after carding an 80 in his first round.
Ahead of this year’s Open, he has said he will use the driver as much as possible to try and take the hazards out of play, as the current dry conditions mean the rough is short and the ball will roll significantly further than usual.
In contrast, Rose has been in good form lately, and admitted he hopes to emulate his form from Royal Birkdale 20 years ago, when he finished fourth as a amateur.
Since then however he has only managed one top 10 finish at The Open and missed the cut four times, meaning this year he is desperate to “prove his Open potential.”
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.