Fleetwood still dreaming of winning an open Open

Tommy Fleetwood reacts after a bogey in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,

Tommy Fleetwood is aiming to become the first Englishman to win an Open Championship in England since Tony Jacklin in 1969

ByJonathan JurejkoBBC Sport golf reporter at Royal Birkdale

Published5 minutes ago

The sides of the shuttle buses ferrying Open fans to Royal Birkdale are plastered with a picture of Tommy Fleetwood holding the Claret Jug.

Everyone knows it is an AI-generated image.

It is also a representation of the vision which has been in Fleetwood's mind ever since he was a small Southport kid, who occasionally used to sneak over the fence at the iconic course.

The reality is the 35-year-old Englishman has never got his mitts on the iconic trophy.

He still might finally do that on Sunday, but his hopes were set back on Saturday by a couple of late bogeys in a third-round 69.

Fleetwood is five shots adrift of American Sam Burns, who carded a five-under 65 and holds a two-shot advantage over New Zealand's Ryan Fox and South Korea's Kim Si-woo going into the final round.

American superstar Bryson DeChambeau remains in the mix after shooting a one-under 69, four behind Burns after seeing two shots dramatically docked on Friday.

Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau is the only player inside the top 10 with the experience of winning a major and a tight leaderboard means it is an open Open going into Sunday's finale.

Home favourite Fleetwood might have seen his challenge falter, but he has not stopped dreaming.

"I've done it most days since I was seven years old and it still hasn't stopped," he said.

"That's what life's about, right? You daydream and you dream about the biggest things possible. Then you try and make it a reality."

More to follow.