Tiger Woods has always hated coming in second. This philosophy doesn’t work at the Olympics, where Tommy Fleetwood is happy to win a silver medal.
Tiger Woods has always hated coming in second. That philosophy doesn’t work at the Olympics, where Tommy Fleetwood is ecstatic with silver
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Normally in elite professional golf, there’s not much satisfaction in not winning. As Tiger Woods once legendarily proclaimed, “Second-place sucks.”
After a rousing finish to close out the men’s Olympic golf competition, both silver medalist Tommy Fleetwood and bronze medalist Hideki Matsuyama would offer a different assessment. Fleetwood fell short of Scottie Scheffler’s challenge on Sunday, getting mired in the mud on the 71st hole and falling out of gold medal contention, but sank a 6-foot putt for final par to secure the prize. Matsuyama, whose mediocre score of 71 on Saturday put him out of medal contention, rallied with a final-round 65 to finish ahead of French hero Victor Perez and claim the bronze medal. Scottie Scheffler was shocked to see table tennis at the Paris Olympics
Fleetwood, who won 10 times in her professional career, said she never thought about an Olympic medal because it’s not part of golf. She’s in a fundamentally special place now. “We all started playing golf when we were young, and none of us here dreamed of being Olympians or winning Olympic medals,” he said, “so it just wasn’t in our plans at all until golf finally came along.”
“That quickly changes when you’re part of the Olympics. It feels unbelievably special. I know I didn’t win gold today, but a very good golfer did. Standing on that podium with a medal in front of the crowd was one of the most incredible moments I’ve ever had as a golfer, so I’ll remember all of those moments for the rest of my life.
On a more critical note, Fleetwood could have easily been the most frustrated, staying consistent throughout the round as Jon Rahm took the lead and then Scheffler rallied. He birdied a nervy, watery 16th hole to tie with the world’s No. 1 player, but on the long, uphill 17th hole his approach shot from the rough hit the green and he was left with nothing to do but a tricky lie. He lost the lead with a bogey, but his approach shot on the 18th hole landed on the green. The tricky downhill shot provided a look at the hole before stopping six feet away. The putt drew thunderous applause and flags from the crowd, interspersed with British flags, in honour of the man who won Le Golf National in 2017 and helped Team Europe win the Ryder Cup 4-1 a year later. “It was really, really awesome, really, really awesome,” he said. “I thought the ranking was amazing. I think it was a great spectacle for golf to be there and be a part of it, and if you don’t enjoy your time there, you’re not going to get much happiness out of the game of golf. “I loved competing against the best players in the world for something so highly sought after and so valuable, and it’s not going to happen for another four years. You always know about it. Even I last time, normally, would have given this chip a chance somehow. I missed it, and I knew I lost to the tournament, but I was still very nervous and tried to get this silver medal in 6 threads. “
