Olympics: Tommy Fleetwood overcomes discomfort, improbably leads

Tommy Fleetwood scored one of the lowest in the second round at the 2024 Olympics. A member of Team Great Britain shot three strokes better than his round 1 4-under 67.

Friday saw him fire off a 7-under 64 with one eagle, six birdies and one bogey.

That score moved him 11 spots up the leaderboard, giving him a share of the lead with Team USA’s Xander Schauffele and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

While Fleetwood went low, he explained the uncertainty surrounding his swing.

“I haven’t felt particularly comfortable with my swing all week,” Fleetwood said Friday after his round.

“I’ve been doing the things that I know are right. I’ve put the ball in play a lot. I’ve been doing the right things. Gradually, as you keep hitting enough good shots, your confidence builds, and you keep drawing on those feelings.”

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Fleetwood’s last start was the Open, where he went 76-75 and missed the cut at Royal Troon. That early exit in the year’s final major shows how uncomfortable he is with his game.

Before that, he finished T16 at the U.S. Open, T26 at the PGA Championship and T3 at the Masters.

“It’s closer, and I hit some beautiful iron shots. I had a good idea of what I was doing with the golf ball throughout the day,” he said. “Especially today, I think when I had to get up-and-down, or I had to make a par save, I did it, and when you have rounds like to today, obviously 7-under is a really good one, you have to make those as well.”

The Englishman knows Le Golf National reasonably well because he was a part of the 2018 European Ryder Cup team that defeated the Americans. Fleetwood was a big reason for that victory, as he and his partner Francesco Molinari won all four matches they played together.

He also won the French Open at this same track in 2017. Regardless of that experience, the 33-year-old still has to execute.

“I’ve played it enough to understand how the golf course plays,” he said. “I feel comfortable with the decisions I make off the tee. So that’s one thing. You still have to step up and hit the golf shots. I’ve done that good so far and I’ll try and just keep doing that.”

Fleetwood is not playing for a big check this week but an Olympic medal, which comes with different challenges.

“I haven’t been in contention for a while,” Fleetwood said. “I enjoy that on its own, as well as it being the Olympics. You look at the atmosphere this week, we constantly get asked the question, where does the Olympics sit in golf. Looking at how it’s going this week, it continues to grow. It brings nerves and excitement,t and it’s very special.”

The Southport, England native is playing in his second Olympics after participating in 2021. He knows what these games mean and how incredibly cool it would be to be an Olympic medalist.

Fleetwood is in the final group for Round 3 of the men’s golf tournament. He will tee off with Matsuyama and Schauffele at 6:39 a.m. ET. The Ryder Cup veteran is looking to finish in the top three and gain some momentum ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.