Tommy Fleetwood savours albatross at Wentworth
Saturday 23 May 2015 18:49, UK
Tommy Fleetwood could not contain his delight after playing one of the shots of his career on an entertaining third day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The young Englishman vaulted up the leaderboard with a stunning albatross at the par-five fourth hole, where he followed a perfect drive with a seven-iron from 198 yards - his ball pitching hole high around eight feet right of the pin before digging in and spinning left into the cup.
Remarkably, Fleetwood went on to complete a "perfect set" on the par fives with an eagle on the 12th, birdie on the 17th and par on the 18th in a round of 65, which took him to 11 under par and three behind joint leaders Francesco Molinari and Byeong Hun An.
It was only the third albatross in tournament history, the last being achieved in 2009 by Miguel Angel Jimenez, who set a new European Tour record with his 10 competitive ace at the second hole moments after Fleetwood's moment of magic at the fourth.
"That was about as good as you can play a hole of golf," world No 54 Fleetwood said of his first albatross. "Perfect drive, 198 yards to the pin. I was thinking one (club) less but went with a normal seven iron and it pitched seven or eight feet right of the pin and span in.
Adrenalin
"Wobbly (his caddie Phil Morbey) was pretty excited because it was his choice of club, not mine. You have to try and calm down after that, and I fired a five iron miles over the green on the fifth with a little bit of adrenalin."
Fleetwood was the youngest player to win the Challenge Tour in 2011 and claimed his first European Tour title in a three-man play-off for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2013.
But despite finishing 19th in the Race to Dubai last season, it took a change of coach after finishing 19 over par in the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March to kick-start his season.
"I played practice rounds at Doral with Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell and knew I could not compete with them," the 24-year-old added. "Any time you feel like that you have to do something about it.
"Doral is one of the toughest courses I've ever played and that was a nightmare. The course just completely ate me alive. The stuff we've done with Pete (Cowen) has been excellent and it's made a massive difference.
"The last seven or eight months I've had a lot of top fives and a lot of top threes. I've come close and people have just played better than me. There's not much I could have done about it. It's just such a fine line between winning and finishing second and third.
"You want to be remembered for winning and it would be great to win this week. This ranks as high as it can get. It's the biggest event on the European Tour and the European players' fifth major. So many great players have won it and it's one you want on your mantelpiece at the end of your career."
Live coverage of the final round at Wentworth starts Sunday at 12pm on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf