It was going so well for Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose. Fleetwood arrived on the 1st tee to vivid applause and shouts of “Go Tommy”. He flashed that winning, slightly shy smile and waved cheerily to those in the grandstands. Slim, high cheekboned and with his luxuriant hair tucked back behind his ears, he looked more than ever as though he was auditioning for the role of Jesus Christ in the Oberammergau Passion Play.
In fact, he was trying to win his first major championship. Local boy makes good. That was the sentiment after Fleetwood, the 26-year-old who was born in Southport, had climbed from No 137 in the world rankings in December to No 14 this week. The man who as a youngster had sneaked on to Royal Birkdale with his dad to play a few holes was back and a sentimental favourite for the most open Open for years.
Moments earlier, there had been another roar when Rose emerged from the tunnel to walk on to the same tee. The wobbly-legged teenager who had stunned golf by finishing tied fourth in the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale was now golf’s Olympic gold medallist.
Nineteen years ago, Rose began his first round just before 4pm. Ken and Annie Rose, his parents, and Margi, his sister, provided the majority of his gallery. Now thousands of pairs of eyes were focused on Rose, the golfer who might have won the Masters in April and believes that he should have done so.
Watching her son from behind the ropes, Annie said: “A man walked past my house the other day and said, ‘I saw Sergio on television wearing Justin’s jacket.’ ”
Advertisement
Fleetwood striped his tee shot down the 1st and punched his second to the front of the green, his hands barely reaching shoulder height on the follow through. Moments later his putt for a birdie slid just past the hole. Rose birdied the 1st and the 3rd and at two under par his name was near the top of the leaderboard.
It was going so well for the Englishmen. Perhaps too well. Fate often strikes when it is least expected. The moment a player believes that he is beginning to get the hang of this infuriating game is a fraction of a second before he is hit by Wodehouse’s sand-filled sock. Cue troubles for Fleetwood and soon troubles for Rose.
By the 7th Fleetwood had dropped two strokes and would drop two more on the 9th to be four over. He would make more mistakes on the 16th and 17th and finish without a birdie in his 76, six over par, 11 strokes behind the leaders.
From two under after eight, Rose inched his way down the leaderboard. His bogeyed the 10th and his tee shot at the 14th thumped into the turf to the left of the green before rolling into a bunker. A short putt missed the hole on the 16th and a drive ended in a bunker on the 18th to wipe out a temporary improvement with a birdie on the 17th. What had looked as though it might be a significantly under-par round turned out to be a 71, one over par.
Rose left the course muttering. The change in their fortunes was heightened by the efforts of some of those playing alongside them. Justin Thomas first caught the eye by wearing a knitted blue tie loosely fastened near the top button of his shirt and a cardigan. Then the American’s golf demanded attention. Level after the 6th, he would eagle the 17th and finish three under.
Advertisement
Brooks Koepka, playing with Fleetwood as in the final round of last month’s US Open, which he won, moved under par as smartly as Fleetwood moved over it. Koepka is brawny with the physical skills to force Birkdale to a draw at least and possibly a submission. He was on one under par at the 11th tee, but then got going and eagled the 17th to finish five under par.
When Seve Ballesteros did not win the first tournament he entered as a professional, he cried. Believing that he should win every event, he perceived not doing so as a failure. It was some time before he realised a truism of golf, namely that it is a game at which you fail far more than you succeed. It’s a truism of life too.
Yesterday was meant to be a day of success for Fleetwood and Rose. Instead it was a day of failure.