Tommy Fleetwood will not win the 2023 U.S. Open, but he nevertheless made history Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club. Signing for a 7-under 63, the Englishman raced up the leaderboard reminding of what he did at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills when he carded the same score only to finish second to Brooks Koepka by a single stroke.
Fleetwood’s 63 at LACC falls short of the record 62s posted by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele in Round 1, but it still puts him in illustrious company. The 32-year-old became just the fourth man in major championship history to post more than one round of 63 or lower, joining Greg Norman, Vijay Singh and Koepka. Fleetwood now owns two of the three lowest final round scores in U.S. Open history; Johnny Miller in 1973 at Oakmont possesses the other.
“I just need to be higher up the leaderboard coming into Sunday and then have another day like today,” said Fleetwood. “It’s a nice little piece of history, of course it is. And you can be disappointed with what I didn’t get out of today, but I think having something like that and shooting multiple 63s in a major, and I think anything like days like today where you can put in the memory bank and know that you can get rounds going and your game can stand up on a major golf course and shoot low scores is really nice to have.”
Fleetwood’s day didn’t start with a bang as he failed to convert a 5-foot birdie look on the accessible par-5 1st. He made amends immediately with a rare birdie — the only one in Round 4 — on the difficult 2nd hole. Three straight pars brought him to the drivable par-4 6th where a front right pin location has tempted players to go for the green off the tee.
Fleetwood was tempted, and his temptation proved fruitful when his tee shot settled 6 feet from the pin. Fleetwood’s first eagle of the tournament and only the second of his U.S. Open career followed to get him to 3 under on the day. Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 8-9 saw him turn in 5 under and become the ninth man to shoot 30 or better on the front nine at LACC this week.
A missed chance on the 10th was followed by a piercing 5 wood down the hill into the long par-3 11th. Landing on the front of the green and rolling out to 3 feet, Fleetwood’s birdie put him at 6 under with seven to play. He skirted past a difficult stretch before hitting yet another beautiful fairway wood into the par-5 14th.
From the rough, Fleetwood’s approach was sent tumbling towards the putting surface and gave him a look at his second eagle of the day. He converted to reach 8 under, and the possibility of another 62 was sent reverberating throughout the grounds of LACC.
A dropped shot at the onset of the brutal three-hole finishing stretch put a damper on this sentiment, but Fleetwood gave himself a chance on the last when his second finished 5 feet from the pin. However, similar to Shinnecock Hills, Fleetwood let the golden opportunity to card a 62 fall by the wayside and instead settled for 63.
“I think I’m a better all-around player than I ever have been for sure. The more I can just keep doing the right things, putting myself in contention and keep experiencing Sundays like last week, keep having rounds like today, the more your confidence builds and the more examples you give to yourself that everything is good enough and it can be your time anytime soon,” said Fleetwood. “… But I think overall my game is better than it was [in 2018], and it’s starting to show.”
By the time Fleetwood’s round had ended, he had moved from T38 to T5 on the leaderboard.