Tommy Fleetwood is playing a big role in dragging the European Tour out of the golfing shadows as he hosts this week’s British Masters at Hillside.
It is ironic that when Eddie Pepperell claimed the title at Walton Heath last autumn it was feared the Englishman would exist as reigning champion for a prolonged period, as there was then no sponsor or player pencilled in to host this year’s tournament.
The British Masters was destined to be mothballed and Pepperell would join the list on the melancholy “Past Champions – Former Events” pages of the record books.
But the Oxfordshire star now finds himself with a much shorter reign as champion – crowned in mid-October, when the tournament was last played, he is defending his title early the following May.
Not that Pepperell, or any other European Tour player, should complain.
This is a prestigious title and for the health of British golf it was important to preserve it.
The tour had to ensure it stayed on the calendar. An ending to the tournament’s existence, despite recent high-profile backing from the likes of Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald would have been a hammer blow.
It would have fuelled the notion that the circuit was going backwards, an inevitable victim at the hands of the American PGA Tour juggernaut that dominates golf’s schedule.
And let’s not get carried away – this week’s gathering at Hillside does not redress the balance. But an important British tournament has survived, clinging to its existence with the significant help of Fleetwood.
The 28-year-old’s charismatic presence has taken the event to the north-west of England, an area that always embraces top-level golf.
Hillside is a majestic links next door to Royal Birkdale, on the edge of Fleetwood’s home town of Southport.
It is an enticing combination that no doubt played an important role in attracting Betfred as new title sponsors. They know this investment in golf is a decent gamble, given the calibre of ambassador selling the tournament.
“The guys that have done it before me – Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter – were at massively different stages of their careers,” Fleetwood told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.
“So to have the chance to host is very, very special for me and to bring it home to where I’m from was a massive goal of mine.
“To bring it to Southport, to the North West – I’m very proud to do all this.”
This is what you get with Fleetwood. Someone who says the right things because he genuinely believes the message.
“Growing up playing the local municipal at Southport, to then become the face of an event there is something that I never contemplated,” he said.
“That, in itself, is something that I’m always going to look back on.”
For a player of Fleetwood’s standing, currently 16 in the world, a £3m tournament is a relatively small purse. Especially at this time of year when we are firmly in the grip of the majors.
This was a big call for the player to commit to such an event in the week immediately prior to the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York – a course and event where Fleetwood should be among the favourites.
His natural progression would be to win one of the game’s big-four titles.
The vast majority of Fleetwood’s European peers have understandably put themselves Stateside in the build-up to such a major.
Who knows, on this occasion Fleetwood may have compromised his PGA chances with his heavy involvement in this week’s tournament? Regardless, he will remain a world-class player, reaping rewards from career foundations made on the European Tour.
“I would love to have done things quicker, but I also appreciate the journey that I have been on,” he said.
Fleetwood first cracked the all-important top 50 in the spring of 2015 when he was sixth at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. By September of the following year he was down to 188th in the world with his game and confidence shot to pieces.
His bounce back is well documented: victory in Abu Dhabi in early 2017 proved the springboard to winning the Race to Dubai.
On the way he contended at the US Open and finished second in last year’s tournament at Shinnecock Hills, just one shot behind back-to-back winner Brooks Koepka.
Then Fleetwood became a Ryder Cup hero in September, when he won all four matches in partnership with Open champion Francesco Molinari as “Moliwood” became a word for the golfing lexicon.
His long locks make him instantly recognisable, but it is his length off the tee, allied to a gorgeous touch around the greens and an engagingly winning personality, that set him apart.
Fleetwood feels ready to triumph again soon – he has already gone close at Bay Hill and the Players Championship this year.
“You have to build a library of mental images and memories and work off that for when the time comes again,” he said.
This week it is Fleetwood’s turn to enjoy the limelight. Given the venue and the expected crowds, the focus of the golfing world will also turn to the European Tour for the first time since the Middle East swing at the start of the year.
Who knows how anyone, Fleetwood included, will fare on the leaderboards at Hillside?
The one certainty is that the tour have already backed a proper winner in their choice of the man promoting the show.
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