'C’mon, Tommy Lad': Following the Fan-Favorite at Royal Birkdale

You could see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. It was as common in little boys holding pin flags as it was in grown men holding beers. Even grandmums and little girls holding up handmade signs along the ropeline shared the sentiment. You could boil it down to a single sentence, maybe even a single word.

C’mon.

C’mon, Tommy Lad. Do it for all of us.

He absolutely tried on Saturday. Tommy Fleetwood felt every ounce of the crowd’s energy in the third round of the 2026 Open Championship. Some players can block that stuff out, but he’s never been great at being a robot. He’s too human. He decided to lean into it. If he was going to win the Open — in his hometown, no less — he was going to do it his way. That meant being true to himself. So he gave out high fives and he tipped his hat after birdies and he smiled when grown men screamed they loved him. He’d been battling his swing, nerves, and adrenaline all week, so his confidence wasn’t where he’d hoped it might be. But somehow the people out there who wanted this for him, nearly as much as he wanted it for himself, made up the difference.

“Like walking up to every green, it's like the most amazing ovation that you can imagine,” Fleetwood said. “Then I sort of acknowledge them in my way because I still want to stay in my bubble in a way, but it just happens that there's like thousands of people in my bubble with me that are willing me on.”

He stuffed it close on the fifth and rolled in a putt for a birdie. He rolled in another birdie, this time a 29-footer on the seventh, and you could almost feel the ground shake as Fleetwood threw an emphatic fist pump.

He was climbing the leaderboard. He was holding up to the pressure. This was it. This was the Open Championship dream he’d had since he was seven years old.

“That's what life's about, right?” Fleetwood said. “You daydream and you dream about the biggest things possible and then you try and make it a reality. To be honest, I've been pretty close to it this week. Today was as close as you're going to get.”

Fleetwood did his best to stay focused. The endless cries of “C’mon Tommy, lad!” and “Up the Toffees!” (a nod to his Everton FC fandom) rang out between shots, but whenever Fleetwood was over the ball, it was as quiet as church communion. He’d send an iron screaming into the sky and the crowd would erupt again, pleading with the ball to be straight and true. When he birdied the 11th hole to get within a shot of the lead, you could feel it in the air: This is it. This is really happening.

I’d love to tell you this day had a happy ending, that Tommy Fleetwood put himself in position to win the major so many people want him to win. But life and golf are not scripted. He bogeyed the 15th hole, then bogeyed No. 18 to finish the day. A 69 put him in a tie for ninth. The crowd on the 18th rose to its feet and rained down applause to let him know that they still loved him, but when it was over, he was five shots back in need of a Sunday miracle.

His smile looked a touch weary when he spoke to the press. But insisted he wasn’t sad.

“Life is all about experiences, and I think I've had some of the best experiences of my life so far this week,” Fleetwood said.

He was grateful for the love. It really did make a difference. And who knows? Maybe if he got off to a hot start on Sunday, he could hold onto the dream a little longer.