Tommy Fleetwood makes career admission ahead of The Open: "I try not to dwell on it"
England's Tommy Fleetwood used his pre-Open press conference to fire back at his critics after years of being the 'nearly man' in the majors.
Tommy Fleetwood admitted frustration at not having won more throughout his career on the eve of The Open.
The popular Englishman is fancied by the bookies as a possible contender for the claret jug at Royal Troon this week.
But in truth he has only ever had one gilt-edged opportunity to claim the storied major.
His best chance was undoubtedly at Portrush in 2019 when he set-up a final round duel with his Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry.
But he was blown away by the Irishman, a final round of 74 compared to Lowry's 72 in horrific conditions saw him finish six shots back.
In 2022, Fleetwood also put in another strong Open performance at the landmark 150th Open at St Andrews by tying for fourth with Viktor Hovland.
But he ended up finishing six shots behind the champion Cameron Smith.
"I try not to dwell on it too much," Fleetwood said on Wednesday when asked about his level of frustration.
"I get frustrated like anybody else. I get down on myself like anybody else.
"I don't win anywhere near as much as I would like, and I'm probably not sort of in a position in the game where I want to be, even though I'm doing perfectly well.
"It's not where I believe I can be, and the results don't always show that."
He added: "Like I said, I try not to dwell on it. I try to focus on positives and what I need to do to actually get to where I want to be or contend in tournaments and win tournaments.
"I try to focus on that every day, but yeah, to be sure, the game's annoying.
"Even when you play well, you come off frustrated because you might have missed a putt or you might have finished a shot or two behind where you thought you could."
"I don't believe I've reached my potential"
Fleetwood has been a professional for 14 years now.
He said even at 33 years old he doesn't believe he has reached his potential.
Given the sport is a young man's game, he will be all too aware the clock is ticking.
He will be absolutely desperate to clip off a major in the next few years to shake the moniker of golf's nearly man in the majors.
"I still love golf," he said.
"I think golf is my absolute favourite thing to do, and I still -- I don't believe that I've reached my potential at all in what I can do. I think I'm still very driven by that.
"I still wake up every day and want to be the best player I can be, and I still want to find things that will make me better and what I can improve on."
He added: "I'm sure one day I might wake up and might not have the same enthusiasm for it, but it's never left me yet, and it continues.
"I'll wake up tomorrow excited to play The Open.
"Whether I play good or bad, I might be disappointed, but I'll probably want to go and practice afterwards and see if I can get better."
Fleetwood has been handed a 9.36am BST tee time on Thursday with Jon Rahm and Robert MacIntyre.
He has been boosted by the return of his long-time caddie Ian Finnis, who had heart surgery earlier in the year.
"I'm wondering if caddieng for me caused him any issues," Fleetwood joked, before shifting to a more serious tone.
"It was a bit of a shock, and I think it does put things into perspective."
"For him to have got back this quick, I told him I didn't think he had a chance really of caddieing in these events, so it's amazing that he's got back and done so well, and see how determined and motivated he was really to get back to normal life.
"He's done amazing."
