Southport golfer Tommy Fleetwood looked ahead to competing at The 154th Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale as he said “it’s an absolute dream to play here in my home town in front of people that are all here to support me”.
Tommy grew up in Southport and played golf on local courses, becoming one of the best golfers in the world.
He went to school at Scarisbrick Hall School in Scarisbrick, near Southport, and paid a special visit as he returned to Southport on Monday.
During a press conference at Royal Birkdale, he spoke of his first experiences of playing at The Open; what it’s like playing in his home town; and his hopes for next Sunday (19th July 2026) when the final day of The Open in Southport and the World Cup Final take place on the same day.
MIKE WOODCOCK: Welcome to our opening preview press conference for the 154th Open. I’m delighted to be joined by the World No. 9 and former runner-up, Tommy Fleetwood. Tommy, can I start by asking you how much it will mean to you to compete once again in front of family and friends and local support this week on home turf for you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It’s obviously very, very special. I think for anybody that was lucky enough to grow up in the town of Southport. It’s such a golfing town, and The Open at Birkdale holds such a special place in the area.
Yeah, it’s a dream just to be competing in an Open here, so I feel very, very lucky. I still have lots of memories from the 2017 Open here. Yeah, just excited for the opportunity to play in front of everybody. It’s very rare to have an opportunity to play a tournament, let alone The Open, in the town where you grew up in front of fans that were all there to support you. Very excited
Tommy it’s difficult to go anywhere at the moment without seeing your face. Is that flattering or slightly amusing for you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: A bit of both. It’s amazing really just to see — to see pictures and to see videos of what’s going on in the area. I think — like I say, I think golf is a very individual sport, and I feel like I spend my life, as every other golfer does, chasing your goals and your dreams, and you do that sort of on a very individual basis.
I’ve always been very lucky with support like all around the world, but then to see people sort of very much like emotionally invested in you and showing things like that, I think it’s very special. It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by me. It’s really, really cool, and just to know that people are thinking of me and supporting me, it means the world really.
Q. Have you actually been to the mural at Southport & Birkdale Sports Club?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I haven’t had a chance to go to any of them yet. The way the schedule has been, I had a couple of days home the week before Scotland and I did come over to Birkdale, but being able to see these things, I’ve not been able to yet, which would be great if I did.
Tommy, having the home support is obviously a massive thing and it’s a big thing. It’s a good thing, but it brings its own weight of expectations. Did you struggle with that before when you were here and now you can tell so much more, how to handle it a bit more as an experienced guy?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It does. Like I said, it’s an absolute dream to play here in my hometown in front of people that are all here to support me. There are only positives really. I think what you do have to deal with is how much you want it and your own expectations, but I think at the same time, I’m no different to any other person in terms of every single person that is playing in The Open dreams of winning in The Open and wants to win it.
There’s really nothing different to anybody else in that sense.
I just think I am the lucky one that gets to have home support and use that as like really, really positive fuel. I think the first time I played here in 2017, I obviously had a bad first round. I think my round on Friday was one of the best rounds I ever played to make the cut, and Saturday was a great experience going out so early with Justin.
Then you could turn and look at Royal Liverpool when I shot a great first round and was kind of in contention all the way through that week. I think those are experiences and memories that I’ll have forever because it was such an amazing atmosphere and amazing support.
I have all those things to draw on and I have all those things to sort of aim for, but it really is — like I say, if I just go back to the original me being an 8-year-old kid, the thought of playing in an Open at Birkdale was unbelievably special.
Can you give us an estimate of how many times you’ve actually played on the course, and when you’ve seen it as firm and fast out there as it is? And what you can make of the changes to the course.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I played a couple of times before the Scottish Open. That was my main time sort of seeing it. I did play — I think I played around March time, but that’s obviously just coming out of winter, so it’s more about seeing the course, sort of coming out in winter conditions. Obviously, like I said, there’s two brand new holes really, 5 and the par-3, which is now 15. I think they’re good, like positive changes. But the other changes, like different greens, I actually don’t know the course well enough to understand the subtleties of the difference and how different that makes the course play. Birkdale was always kind of hallowed turf for people that lived in Southport, and I definitely didn’t get to play here as much as I would like to.
The two changes that I would recognise, the 5th, I think, is a much better hole. And I think 15, as is always the case in par-3s, you have to wait until a tournament plays to see how the par-3 plays. I think the way that the course runs is good, and I think it’s going to be an amazing finish. I think it’s a great addition to the finish of the golf course. That’s definitely — I feel like, having played it, that’s going to be one of the tougher holes of the week.
Local town, completely a dream it would be if you could pick your first major here. You’ve also made a habit of wearing local merch, going to the pro shop and wearing either a hat or a T-shirt or a marker or something. Have you done something here at Birkdale this time, or did you do it in 2017?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we’ll see. There’s plenty of options, and I think wearing something local would be something really cool and something lovely. Yeah, I’m still a golf fan, and I actually think — you know, it’s like I am a golf fan. I do like a lot of merchandise from golf clubs, and sometimes when you’re from an area, it kind of passes you by. Why would I go shopping somewhere where I’m from? Yeah, it might be in the wardrobe. We don’t have the wardrobe set, so we’ll see.
Hopefully a slightly different take on the home experience. I can kind of imagine you’re in a bit of a bubble, but in terms of your family and friends, thinking back to 2017 and thinking to this week, do you see like it’s a lovely experience for them in your hometown?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I hope so. I think definitely. I think it’s nice for them to see the support that I get, like I’m definitely very grateful for it, and sometimes it takes me back a little bit. I think it’s nice for them to see that — the one thing family do is they live and breathe every moment with you, and sometimes it’s a lot more stressful being the ones that aren’t hitting the shots than are. So there’s always that side of it for them.
Yeah, I think overall, I think my — especially my kids. Frankie’s 8, so he’s sort of my age when — well, I was 7 when The Open came here in 1998, so it’s a very similar age. That’s definitely where my dreams of making it as a golfer sort of started. He’s at a lovely age where he gets to experience that and have his dad playing, I guess, and having him to watch.
Yeah, for all of us, my family are there to support me, but for all of us, I think it is a great experience and it’s something that’s very special. I think they’re there as a constant reminder to me to enjoy it as well. At the end of the day, as much as it means to me — and I would never play it down how big it feels to play an Open at Birkdale and how amazing it would be to win an Open, but it is still like a game of golf and people would dream of being in the situation I’m in. It’s still important to remember that and enjoy it.
Going back to your local roots in the game, where did you play most of your golf as a kid? Did you win the club championship at a really young age or anything cool like that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I wasn’t that young. My home course was Formby Hall. That’s where I grew up. I started playing at Southport Municipal. They had a junior program on Monday night. I started playing there, and then I got a membership at Formby Hall, so Southport and Ainsdale had a really good junior section, so I played a lot of junior games there and scratch team tournaments. Yeah, the only club championship I won was at Formby Hall, so I am up on a board somewhere. That’s where I’m still a member at to this day. I joined Hillside when I turned pro as well. So I got around a little bit of the Southport golf courses.
When you came here as a kid in ’98, whose autograph did you get? I heard you didn’t get Tiger’s, but whose did you get, and did it shape the way you go about giving kids autographs now that you’re a pro?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, so we went into the tented village, and I remember Retief Goosen, Patrick Shelton, and Colin Montgomerie were the three I got. Colin Montgomerie was absolutely amazing with me. He really, really was. He gave me such a lovely experience. Like he was great, sort of spending five minutes with me as a kid. I mean, my hero was Ernie Els. Like he was who I wanted to swing it like and who I wanted to play like. When I watched him play golf and he did — I went to Wentworth, I think, a year later, and Ernie Els did a clinic and he was sort of my main hero. Also, Formby Hall was a new course, and just down the road, Lee Janzen did a clinic. I remember watching him. He was the U.S. Open champion at the time I think, so those were kind of my interactions with players at that point.
Tommy, what is the thing that you like least about The Open?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That I like least?
Apart from silly questions from the media.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I love those. I don’t really think there’s anything I particularly dislike about The Open. Maybe I’d like it to come to Southport more or the northwest more. No, I really have nothing that I dislike about The Open. I would take everything that comes with it, whatever it is, whether it’s weather. There’s nothing really I can think that dislike about it
In terms of the local angle, obviously, as well as yourself, there’s Matthew Baldwin who’s a member here. I believe you played with him before. Can you tell us about your relationship with him and what it will be like to play an Open on his home course?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: My first time playing for the men’s Lancashire team, Matt Baldwin was my partner. I was 13, I believe, and Matt was arguably the best player in England at the time, and he was my foursomes partner. Matt was somebody I looked up to a lot as a junior golfer, amateur golfer, very good golfer in the area. I’ve known him for a long time. I think it was amazing, I was really rooting for him to qualify for The Open because, yeah, I’m definitely not the only one that gets to enjoy like a home Open.
If anything, Matt is closer than me. He’s a member here, and this is going to mean an awful lot to him. I was really happy for him.
I saw him before, and I hope — I really hope he has an amazing tournament and does great. But yeah, Matt was always somebody that I looked up to when I was younger, and he’s always been someone who was so great with me, a junior golfer that was a bit younger than him, and he was always willing to give me the time or give me advice or play golf with me if I wanted to.
Matt’s always somebody that I’ve held sort of in very high esteem. He’s always been great.
Tommy, I don’t believe you’ve allowed yourself to think about, or any of the English players, if things go okay tomorrow, I’m sorry Wednesday night could be a massive day for English sport on Sunday. Are you following it? What do you make of it? Do you ever think what a great day it would be if there was English players here on Sunday and England in the World Cup?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That would be a great day. No, I’d rather tee off late on Sunday for sure; I’ll start with that. Yeah, the lads have been doing great. It’s been great to watch. The World Cup’s not easy. I think they’ve done really well, and they continue to win, which is all you can do in those World Cup matches. For those guys, they definitely carry a nation on their shoulders a lot more than we do. They’ve been doing a great job, and it’s
great to have them in the semifinals again. We’re a great team, so it’s great to watch and great to have that positive hope.
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