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Tommy Fleetwood is Buzzing For Olympic Games

By: | Tue 27 Jul 2021


WITH the headlines dominated by high-profile failed Covid-19 tests and many of golf’s leading players choosing to give it a miss, it is good to hear Tommy Fleetwood talking about how he cannot wait to represent Great Britain alongside Paul Casey at the Tokyo Olympics.

Both men are seeking to emulate Justin Rose's gold medal performance in Rio five years ago. Before travelling to Japan, the British players had to undergo a special education programme organised by UK anti-doping on the potential pitfalls of entering the multi-sport arena.

"We are in our own bubble of golf all the time," Fleetwood told BBC Sport. "This is something a little bit different and with a few extra rules. It does you a lot of good to just know that there are other scenarios that can happen.

"Golf is huge to us," added the 30-year-old. "You turn up to 30 events a year pretty confident that you know everything that's going on."

Fleetwood describes this week's competition as "something different that is on a massively global scale, with other rules."

He faced a Zoom tutorial with Ukad officials explaining the latest doping policies and how samples for testing will kept for 10 years to ensure ever-improving technology can expose drugs cheats.

They were tested on their knowledge in a series of multiple choice questions. "I wasn't that great on some of the answers, I've got to be honest," Fleetwood admitted. "I'll be better now, I'm well educated now. But, yes, it is different and it's all part of it, something new. You have to go through an education system, questionnaires and stuff, but it is all part of the Olympic experience."

Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood and Casey are part of a 60-man field that has lost world number one Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau after both failed Covid tests prior to leaving for Tokyo. It was the second time Rahm had tested positive for Covid. DeChambeau has been replaced by 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed while Rahm's place in the Spanish team goes to Jorge Campillo.

"I'm excited, just bubbling to get going with the Olympic experience," Fleetwood said. "There's lots of different sports and a bunch of different athletes. Even though we all do something different, I'm guessing we all have a lot of things in common. There's no trepidation at all. I'm just really, really excited to get going and experience it and compete."

And he gets the need for a strict doping regime, even for a sport which, in the past, was perceived to be one where competitors could gain little benefit from performance enhancing substances.

“Throughout sport it's so, so important that it is a fair playing field," Fleetwood said. "Golf is slightly changing all the time into a more and more athletic sport.

"But for a long time it has been a very intricately skilled sport and substances that help you or boost you, have they in the history ever made a difference to you holing a six-foot putt or playing golf? Not really, compared to a sprinter or a cyclist, say. But golf has always been labelled with a lot of integrity, so for my experience it has never been an issue."


Men's Golf at The Olympics Preview


Golf's return at Rio in 2016 was judged to be a huge success when Rose pipped reigning Open champion Henrik Stenson for men's gold and Inbee Park won the women's event for South Korea.

It attracted large crowds and massive global television audiences, many of whom were able to watch the game for the first time. 

And Fleetwood is delighted to be part of a movement that should help continue to popularise his sport. He knows it will not just be golf die-hards who will follow his fortunes. "You watch sports that you don't necessarily know that much about, but you're screaming because you're supporting Great Britain," he said. "And I really hope that I can give people something to watch and to cheer on."

This week there is not a penny in prize money available in Tokyo. It is all about the glory and Fleetwood says it is one of the most important tournaments of his career. "Yes, 100%," he said. "Golf has been given a boost since Covid. People have wanted to take up the game. I am a massive advocate of trying to grow the game, trying to get kids into the game, trying to get teenagers, anybody, to play the game of golf.

"It has a lot of benefits, it's given me so much and I love the game on all levels. Golf being part of the Olympics is great for the spirit, it's great that I can be one of those people that can compete in it and can showcase it to a much wider global audience than a regular golf tournament."


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Tags: PGA Tour Olympic Games european tour



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