Tommy Fleetwood making sacrifices to get back on the PGA Tour

Tommy Fleetwood will be apart from his family for nine weeks as he chases a PGA Tour title.

The PGA Tour has been back for six weeks, but Tommy Fleetwood’s long, flowing locks have been conspicuously absent.

Fleetwood instead has spent the last four months back home in England, enjoying time with his family. He got to watch his 2-year-old son, Frankie, grow up. He tried his hand at cooking, an effort that came to an end after a failed attempt at making Chicken Milanese. And he played some golf after courses began opening up again following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

But he always knew this idyllic existence had to end sometime, so two weeks ago he traveled to the United States to prepare to return to the PGA Tour. He was required to quarantine for 14 days, which he spent with his family in the Hamptons. He got to play Shinnecock Hills — shooting 64, one shot off his score from the final round of the 2018 U.S. Open when his charge to catch Brooks Koepka came up just short — as well as the National Golf Club and Friar’s Head, three courses ranked in the top-30 in the world. It was another wonderful time, and he’s not complaining.

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“Kind of hunkered down. Played some golf, stayed out of the way,” Fleetwood said on Tuesday before playing in the 3M Open in Minnesota, his first PGA Tour event since early March. “To me, it was a beautiful place to be, but I think it was two weeks where I knew it was the last time I was going to have this before getting started again.”

Fleetwood is staying in the United States through the U.S. Open in late September; his wife and son returned to England. He won’t see them again for nine weeks. It’s part of the sacrifice he and other international players have to make in order to play on the PGA Tour. He’ll be alone in America with only his caddie and the other players on tour for company. And he’ll be doing it in pursuit of the one thing missing from his career resume: a PGA Tour title.

The 12th-ranked Fleetwood is the only player in the top-15 in the World Golf Rankings without a win on tour. He’s arguably the possessor of the dreaded label of “best player without a win.” He’s come close a number of times. Fleetwood has five runner-up finishes, including at that Open at Shinnecock and the Open Championship last July. He’s been in the top-five 12 times in 65 career starts.

He looked in prime position to end that drought at the Honda Classic in March; needing a birdie on the par-5 18th to tie Sungjae Im for the lead, he hit his second shot into the water and fell to third place. A missed cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his last start, ended a streak of 33 consecutive made cuts, the longest on tour at the time.

While he’s been playing golf back home in England during his four-month layoff, Fleetwood doesn’t know how his game right now will translate to a tournament setting. “I’ve played quite a lot without any kind of tournament conditions and without that side to it, without particularly trying to get a score. So it will be interesting coming back and seeing if I can continue that rhythm if you like,” he said. “I’ve been playing pretty well. I’ve played plenty of golf, and I’ve been practicing. So we’ll see.”

Throughout the lockdown, Fleetwood never considered uprooting his family and moving permanently to the United States. His whole life is in England, from his and his wife’s parents to his two stepsons, who are still both in school. He watched the last six events of the PGA Tour’s restart knowing he wanted to be out there competing against the game’s best but at the same time understanding it just wasn’t a realistic possibility.

Fleetwood is back now, though, and despite all the sacrifices he’s making to play the rest of the season, he considers himself lucky. “I think throughout this whole period there’s been so much uncertainty in different areas and nothing you could take for granted,” he said. “The fact that we’re able to play golf, whether it be in Europe or over here in America, I think we’re very lucky. There’s a lot of people who’ve lost jobs and don’t have the option to work. And we’re out here outdoors on a golf course doing what you love.”

The 3M Open seems to be an ideal place to get acclimated to playing competitive golf again. Just four of the top-20 in the world rankings, including Fleetwood, are in the field this week, compared to last week’s Memorial Tournament, which boasted the strongest field in a non-major event in history. Fleetwood has never experienced playing without spectators in his pro career and how the energy and atmosphere of a tournament is different.

He’ll finally find out this week. The situation isn’t ideal and he’s being forced to forgo precious time with his family, but he’s glad to be back.