This has been a peculiar year for Tommy Fleetwood, who struggled in 18 PGA Tour starts — cracking the top 10 just twice — and lost his Tour card in the process.
He’ll still have a presence on this side of the pond in 2021-22, but the Englishman has slipped from a career-high of No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking back in 2018 down to his current spot at No. 38 (he’s fallen to 40 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings).
Still, there’s plenty for Fleetwood to do, even without exempt status on the Tour. He’s back in his comfort zone on the European Tour, as is evidenced by a 67 during the third round of the DS Automobiles Italian Open. Fleetwood is currently 12 under after three rounds, and just a single shot behind 54-hole leader Nicolai Højgaard.
But there’s also his mentoring of a famous student — Manchester City football manager Pep Guardiola. The two struck up a friendship in 2018, on the day Guardiola’s team was crowned English champions while on a bye. The Spaniard didn’t watch soccer that fateful afternoon and never had any intention of doing so, because he was scheduled to play his first round with Fleetwood.
“The only score I want to know is bogey or birdie,” Guardiola said at the time. He played with his son and Fleetwood at Sandiway Golf Club about 30 miles south of Manchester.
The two have continued to sneak in occasional rounds of golf ever since, with Guardiola insisting he’ll get serious about the sport when his managerial career is through.
“I have Tommy Fleetwood as a good teacher so I have some drills,” Guardiola said earlier this week. “We play once a year. His schedule is busier than mine.”
Fleetwood shot back during this week’s event that in fact Guardiola is the one whose schedule is too tight, and added that while he gives the Man City skipper plenty of free advice on the course, he gets few nuggets of wisdom in return.
“It’s a bit more than once a year. He gets a little bit bitter about it but he’s a much busier man than I am,” Fleetwood said. “I learn nothing from him. He never gives me any advice at all. It’s all a one-way street. Nothing at all. One-way street. You can tell him that.”
As for this week, Fleetwood has displayed a consistency he lacked on the PGA Tour this year, posting rounds of 66, 68 and 67.
“I keep taking every week very individually,” he said. “Let’s face it, I haven’t played great this year and I haven’t had the year that I want to and every week is the chance to start again in golf, that is the beauty of it. I am trying to work hard, I’m trying to get better, and you never know what can turn things around.
“I’ll just keep turning up, keep trying to do the right things and play.”
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