French success for flawless Fleetwood, now into world top 15

Tommy Fleetwood had never made a cut at Le Golf National before, he has now made it three wins on the European Tour and he will move inside the world’s top 15.

Five birdies and no bogeys added up to a 66 to pip Peter Uihlein by a shot in the French Open, part two of the Rolex Series.

For the American (68) there was the consolation of a place at the Open in three weeks along with Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Alexander Bjork.

Fleetwood had only won once coming into 2017, at Gleneagles four years ago, but he now has three victories to follow up on his success in Abu Dhabi in January. He was also fourth at last month’s US Open.

The 26-year-old almost made a hole-in-one at the 2^nd and played the par 5s beautifully with a trio of brilliant fairway woods and there were plenty of other chances after a succession of greens found – he missed 14 greens all week.

Tommy Fleetwood's winning round in under four minutes#HNAOpenDeFrance pic.twitter.com/TkZQhEtwHh

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 2, 2017

Uihlein was two over after five holes but then produced four birdies in the last eight holes but, needing one more at the 72^nd hole, he missed out.

“To win a Rolex Series event, the way the Tour’s going, it’s a big deal for me. It was good, from start to finish really, nearly holed my first two iron shots. I didn’t mis-strike a shot at all,” said Fleetwood.

“I can’t believe how close he got actually. On 14 I was four clear – finished with four pars, didn’t think I’d be scratching a win by a shot!”

Life off the course is also equally as sweet for Fleetwood.

“I’m engaged, I’m expecting a baby, my caddie is my best mate in the world. Everybody around me, I have really strong relationships with.”

“All I was trying to do was just put a little pressure on him. I didn’t want him to feel like he could bogey a couple of holes and still be okay.

“The only thing I probably would try and redo is maybe be a little bit more aggressive on 15, 16. It was just a bad tee shot on 18, so I didn’t give myself much of a chance. But other than that, it was a good week.

“It’s a good event to finish runner-up and it gets me into The Open and it moves me up the Race to Dubai rankings a little bit.”