Tommy Fleetwood, wearing a charcoal coloured Masters branded jumper is certainly dressed for winning a Green Jacket on Sunday and he has allowed himself to think about that moment as he hunts his maiden major title at Augusta National.
Fleetwood enters the tournament a different beast after winning the Tour Championship for his first PGA Tour title and the logical step would be to break through in one of golf’s flagship events. The Englishman first came to the Masters as a patron aged 13, dreaming of one day walking parts of Amen Corner that are restricted to the public but now he hopes to produce some tournament winning moments along that stretch this week.
“It would be very special [to win],” said Fleetwood. “There’s no doubt for everybody that plays the game, winning a Masters, whether it be walking up the 18th, holing a putt on the 18th green, the moment you have the jacket put upon you, you can rattle them off. I think it’s on such a mantelpiece in people’s career and how they view it, and it’s so easy to create like those moments in your mind because we watch it every year.
“We’ve watched some of the best shots of all time here on the back nine of Augusta over the last however many years, and you can relate to that because you kind of feel like you know it. Whether you’ve played here or not, you feel like you know so much about it.
“Yeah, it would be unbelievably special. I try to — you always know that how much you want it is there in the background. So I try to let that be a thing and then just focus on what I’m doing at the time.”
The 35-year-old has a career best finish of T-3 at the 2024 Masters but he was never truly close to Scottie Scheffler’s level. Nowadays it’s a different story and the world number four would relish the full experience of a back nine tussle at Augusta.
“I would love to be there late on Sunday in with a chance. Those juices flowing on the back nine of Augusta, I think, is probably — like 2024 I was very much on the outskirts. That’s the best finish I’ve had. I finished third, but Scottie was a long way in front. I was never really in contention. I was having a great week, and I wanted to finish as strong as I could.
“But I’ve never had that joy yet of playing on the back nine with a chance to win the Masters. Yeah, I’d really love that so much.”
There’s always a stigma attached to hitting timber off the tee on a par-3 but Fleetwood, who has bagged his mini driver, believes a 9-wood could add an extra dimension to his game whether it be to hold the marble like putting surfaces on the par-5s or to hit the par-3 4th green with the required towering blow.
“It’s a great 9-wood golf course. I think it’s always been — I can’t remember when I first put like a 9-wood in or a high lofted club, but it’s a perfect like 9-wood golf course. I’ve had that in the bag for a few years.
“No, the bag setup stayed the same really. So the way that I do set it up actually works very well for Augusta, so that’s great.
“Yeah, it’s funny really because I know Augusta is probably associated with being fairly forgiving off the tee in a way, so you think you can whale around driver a little bit. But I don’t necessarily think that’s always the play for me. I think there’s holes that set up really well where I can draw it with the mini driver if I’m feeling less comfortable with the driver and things like that.
“The biggest thing is the 9-wood for me. If I can put myself in position on the par-5s or the 4th long par-3, like it — for me, I can’t really hit that high 4-iron, so 9-wood helps me a lot.”
Fleetwood only boasts the one top-10 finish from his nine starts but he has made eight cuts with a scoring average of 72.00 from his 34 rounds and a low score of 66. Avoiding a false start, similar to what used to plague Rory McIlroy, might help him get into the thick of contention as he has only shot in red figures twice, rounds of 71 in 2019 and 2020 and he has never been inside the top-20 after the opening round.
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