PEBBLE BEACH — Tommy Fleetwood paused for several seconds, trying to think of an answer. A reporter inquired what annoyed him. The quick retort was “you.”
It was a joke. Fleetwood, the reporter, and the rest of the media room occupants laughed, and then there was silence. The 16-year pro finally said traffic annoyed him.
But he added: “I think in general there’s probably plenty of things that annoy me, but I’m kind of pretty relaxed off the golf course really. I mean, what have I got to complain about or get annoyed about?”
The subject matter was Fleetwood’s reputation as being a nice guy, an endearing quality unless, as Rory McIlroy once commented, it’s not conducive to winning on the PGA Tour.
Although Fleetwood had vast success internationally, winning on three pro tours, it took 164 career starts until the world’s No. 4-ranked player won on the PGA Tour at the Tour Championship last August. He also captured the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize.
With his second-round 68 on Friday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Fleetwood is in a five-way tie at 9-under par and six shots behind co-leaders Akshay Bhatia and Ryo Hisatsune after two rounds of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
While playing on the DP (European) Tour and PGA Tour throughout his career, Fleetwood accumulated 30 top-five finishes, including six runner-up placings, before his first PGA Tour title.
“I’ve been a PGA Tour winner for a long time,” Fleetwood said after the tournament. “It’s just always been in my mind.”
Fleetwood’s inaugural PGA Tour title could have occurred in two tournaments he was poised to win but didn’t. He led the Travelers Championship last June by one shot after 71 holes but finished second by one shot to Keegan Bradley. He was the 54-hole leader at the FedEx St. Jude Championship early last August but tied for third.
Beyond his Tour Championship win, Fleetwood was victorious in October at the DP Tour’s World India Championship.
A month earlier, his European team won the Ryder Cup. Fleetwood lost his singles match to Justin Thomas, but he won both his foursomes matches with playing partner Rory McIlroy and his four-ball matches with Justin Rose.
“I think it’s important to be yourself,” said Fleetwood about being described as too nice. “I don’t know what that stigma is about being too nice. You know, nice guys can win, of course. I think I’ve always prided myself on being a good person, a nice guy, but I also love playing golf and competing. I think anytime you’re trying to be something that you’re not, things get just like difficult.”
Soft course, better shoulder
Rickie Fowler likes the poa annua grass on the Monterey Peninsula and he’s played in the AT&T many times. But he’s never played to his best.
But with his lingering shoulder injury recovering, Flower capitalized on the soft conditions and played high into the leaderboard.
Fowler, a six-time PGA Tour winner and the runner-up in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, is tied for third with Sam Burns after at 64 at Spyglass Hill at 14-under par.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a specific part of the game that has either held me back or pushed me forward,” said Fowler. “Everything’s been fairly solid. I will say I’ve done a good job, you know, sometimes on the greens especially over at Pebble can get a little bouncy on the Poa.
“Spyglass typically rolls quite a bit better. I’ve done a good job of just committing and hitting a lot of good putts. So for soft conditions, both the greens here at Spy and as well playing toward the back end I felt the greens held up nicely.
Back in a groove
One week after missing a cut at the Phoenix Open, Jordan Spieth’s game is back.
The 13-time PGA Tour winner, former World No. 1 and 14-time AT&T entrant, is in a seven-player tie at 10-under par after a 68 at Pebble Beach.
Spieth, who opened with what he described as a career-best 66 at Spyglass Hill, finished with a birdie on the 18th, adding to four other birdies and one bogey.
The 2017 AT&T titlist hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2022 RBC Heritage Open. He has six top-10 finishes at the AT&T.
“I thought I was really good on and around the greens,” said Spieth after his opening round. “I actually didn’t hit many greens for how kind of well I thought I was swinging the club.
“I pulled a few kind of the wrong clubs. It’s easy to do out here. You can pull a club you think’s going to go far enough and it just doesn’t go anywhere here. So I’ve got to get a little tighter on some of that decision making, but when I got into trouble I got out of trouble.”
