Tommy Fleetwood is an English golfer from Southport, Lancashire, ranked approximately world number 17, with multiple DP World Tour victories and a Ryder Cup record that makes him a European icon. He grew up minutes from Royal Birkdale, which means the 2026 Open Championship is, quite literally, a homecoming.
Fleetwood’s swing is one of the most aesthetically pleasing in professional golf: smooth, rhythmic, and repeatable, producing a ball flight that works in all conditions. His game is particularly suited to links golf, which is no surprise given his upbringing on the Lancashire coast, where he learned to control trajectory in the wind before he learned to hit it high and far. He drives the ball with both accuracy and distance, and his iron play is precise enough to compete with the best in the world. The flowing hair, the easygoing smile, and the relaxed demeanor have made him a fan favorite on both sides of the Atlantic. But the relaxed exterior masks a fierce competitor, as anyone who watched him at the 2018 Ryder Cup can confirm.
At Shinnecock Hills in 2018, Fleetwood shot a final-round 63 at the U.S. Open, a round that remains one of the finest in recent major championship history. He finished runner-up to Brooks Koepka, but the quality of his golf that day, on one of the most difficult courses in American golf, in full U.S. Open conditions, announced him as a player capable of winning any major. His Ryder Cup partnership with Francesco Molinari at the 2018 matches in Paris was legendary: the pair went 4-0 together, dominating the team format with chemistry that felt almost telepathic.
In 2026, Royal Birkdale is the story. Fleetwood will walk the same dunes he played as a junior, with the galleries of Southport and Lancashire squarely behind him. The hometown factor at The Open is powerful, and Fleetwood’s links game is perfectly calibrated for Birkdale’s corridors. His 2018 Shinnecock experience also makes the U.S. Open return relevant, since he knows the course intimately. He will play all four: The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. Fans across England can follow in United Kingdom time.