Fleetwood keen to follow path taken by European No1

While Westwood, the current European No1, recorded his 1993 victory in the historic Leven Gold Medal, 19-year-old Tommy Fleetwood is competing in the traditional season opener on the Scottish amateur circuit, the Champion of Champions.

He earned his invite after winning the Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship at Murcar Links last May, destroying a top-class field with a 16-under-par aggregate of 268 for an eight-shot win from Gavin Dear, and admits he’s looking forward to being the odd man out in a field full of Scots.

“I don’t imagine I’ll get a lot of support this weekend but that won’t worry me,” said Fleetwood.

Beaten finalist in the 2008 Amateur Championship at Turnberry, he played in last year’s Walker Cup at Merion and will tee off his domestic campaign on the back of three recent runner-up finishes, two in Spain and one in Australia.

“While I’m now a member of a parkland course [Formby Hall], I live in Southport and grew up playing on courses like Southport & Ainsdale,” said Fleetwood. “That’s helped me have a bit of success in recent years and I think links golf suits my game as I can keep the ball quite low.”

Fleetwood has been paired in the opening two rounds with Colville Park’s Ross Kellett, Scotland’s leading player in the world amateur rankings. The duo know each other well, having come face-to-face in the singles when Scotland beat England in the final to win the European Team Championship at Conwy last summer.

“Ross got the better of me then,” reflected the Englishman, who believes British amateur golf was given a shot in the arm when, prior to that, Scotland had also been crowned world champions for the first time by lifting the Eisenhower Trophy in Australia.

Blairgowrie’s Glenn Campbell is defending his title at Leven, where the field also includes David Law, last year’s double Scottish champion, Scottish youths’ title holder Angus Cappi and Peterhead’s Philip McLean.