Tommy Fleetwood Loses His Beard, Finds a Place Atop the Leaderboard

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tommy Fleetwood, a golfer as soon as ranked within the males’s high 10, has been lacking from a PGA Tour leaderboard for therefore lengthy, followers could not have acknowledged him when he vaulted into first place in the course of the first spherical on the Gamers Championship right here on Thursday.

Fleetwood has additionally shaved his trademark — and standard — frowzy beard. And it seems the facial hair is lacking, partly, due to his latest two years of jagged play, which resulted in Fleetwood shedding his PGA Tour taking part in privileges.

“I used to be in a extremely unhealthy temper,” Fleetwood, 31, stated. “It was break some golf golf equipment or shave my beard. I went for the beard.”

Fleetwood, a winsome Englishman finest recognized for his shoulder-length hair and second-place end on the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, performed like his previous self for 18 holes on Thursday. His six-under-par 66 was one of many lowest scores among the many a number of dozen golfers who completed a primary spherical that was twice delayed by heavy rain and thunderstorms.

When play was suspended due to darkness on Thursday evening, Fleetwood was tied atop the leaderboard with Tom Hoge. Roughly half the sphere didn’t full their rounds and can hope to tee off early Friday morning, although there’s extra rain within the forecast.

However Fleetwood’s standard sunny disposition broke by means of, and his golf backstory can be relatable to anybody who has performed the sport recreationally or professionally. Whereas he spent greater than quarter-hour making an attempt to clarify how one of many world’s finest golfers had sunk into an on-course funk that at one level dropped him to 137th within the FedEx Cup rankings, he additionally smiled and simplified.

“It’s only a unusual recreation that you just by no means appear to have the ability to perceive or that is unnecessary,” Fleetwood stated with amusing.

Whereas he admitted to being considerably misplaced in a {golfing} abyss, he refused to be downtrodden.

“I nonetheless have the most effective jobs on this planet,” Fleetwood stated. “I’ve simply not been performing to the extent that I need to carry out at. Once more, I’m not going to sit down right here and moan or complain about taking part in poorly for a few years.”

Fleetwood, who performs on each the PGA and European excursions, supplied some explanations for his drop from the world’s ninth-ranked participant in 2018 to forty ninth getting into this week’s Gamers Championship.

“There’s been sure issues in my swing that I haven’t fairly understood,” he stated. “So then your confidence takes successful since you’re not fairly snug out on the golf course. It provides up.”

He added: “My outcomes haven’t been horrible, however I’ve lacked clearly superb outcomes. After which I feel particularly from a world rating standpoint, that makes it very, very tough. So I’ve simply form of been progressively declining.”

Touring the world to play on two excursions has not helped.

“You’re taking part in minimal occasions on each excursions,” Fleetwood stated. “Even in my finest years, I used to be all the time beginning approach behind the 8-ball simply to play constantly all through these years. Once more, it’s arduous to make headway. And if you’re not seeing good scores and the pictures aren’t fairly there, it simply turns into tougher and tougher for it to alter that momentum.”

For Fleetwood, like most golfers, the sport mystifies. And that goes for even the very best of the very best. He didn’t, for instance, come to Florida anticipating to be main the Gamers Championship at any level. Late Thursday afternoon after his spherical, he talked about taking part in “dreadful” recently — however then birdied his first two holes.

That will have introduced some good karma, however it was halted when inclement climate pressured a delay of greater than three hours. Fleetwood, nonetheless, was undeterred.

“I used to be fairly blissful when the delay got here,” he stated. “You knew a delay was coming anyway, so I took the break and later I obtained to observe. Then I began the day by holing a putt and obtained going once more.”

The rain-soaked fairways and greens made circumstances difficult, however Fleetwood remained unfazed, clocking three extra birdies in his subsequent 9 holes. He completed with a birdie on the par-5 sixteenth gap and one other on the treacherous 18th. The shut left him grinning, however he wouldn’t predict future outcomes, not after the final two years. Waiting for his subsequent spherical, he stated: “I would play horrible, I would play nice. We’ll see.”

Fleetwood was way more sure in regards to the eventual destiny of his once-famous beard.

Requested if his spouse, Clare, likes him clear shaven or with facial hair, he answered: “She positively has a choice, and it’s not this one.”

Fleetwood does assume he seems to be youthful with out the beard. He was taking part in in a event along with his fellow tour gamers Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa on his thirty first birthday in January, he stated, when the duo checked out him and advised him: “We needed to Google your age. I believed you had been 37, 38.”

He added: “Everybody sort of seen that I look lots youthful with out the beard.”

However then Fleetwood had a remaining thought.

“Clare positively prefers me with a beard, so I’ll positively develop it again,” he stated. “So long as I can maintain my mood and maintain smiling, then I gained’t need to shave it off once more.”