Tommy Fleetwood gives his verdict on the crowds at Royal Portrush after playing with Rory McIlroy for two days

Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy are both safely into the weekend at The Open, much to the delight of the crowd at Royal Portrush.

With McIlroy the clear favourite among the home crowd, Fleetwood has also been a popular choice for many fans waiting to get a glimpse of their heroes.

Fleetwood, of course, is still searching for a first PGA Tour win after recently throwing The Travelers away to Keegan Bradley and he’d love nothing more than to break that duck by winning The Open.

For Fleetwood, the task of playing with McIlroy in front of such a raucous crowd could have been too much.

But as ever, the cool and calm Southport native took it all in his stride.

Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images

Tommy Fleetwood says why he loved playing with Rory McIlroy at The Open

With Fleetwood and McIlroy into the weekend, that is very much a ticked box for the thousands in attendance in Northern Ireland.

And for Fleetwood, it just doesn’t get much better.

Asked now it was playing with home favourite Rory McIlroy, the Englishman conceded that he simply loves The Open and that playing with McIlroy only helps the atmosphere.

“I love The Open so much. Grew up in an Open town. I think the atmosphere when you get sort of home players at The Open is really, really cool. I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple. I played with Shane in the final round in 2019, Rory the first two rounds here. Yeah, get to watch some good atmospheres and some good golf,” Fleetwood commented.

“I love The Open. I’ve always said it’s my favourite event just because of where I grew up and the attachment that I have to it, and yeah, creates a lot of special moments like today.”#

Tommy Fleetwood gives verdict on his second round at Royal Portrush

Going round Royal Portrush in three under par can never be sniffed at and while Fleetwood sits a fair way back of the leaders, anything can happen in links golf.

He’s safely in the clubhouse and after improving on his score of plus two for round one, was suitably satisfied.

“Yeah, much better round today. Played a lot better golf, got off to a fast start, which is what I wanted to do yesterday. It was constantly a battle and I felt like I hung in there well, but really wanted to get off to a fast start today,” Fleetwood added.

“Yeah, it was great. You’re always conscious just seeing what the leaders are doing. It’s only round two, but you obviously have to stay within some kind of distance. I would have loved to have got a couple more, and then yeah, just a bat shot off the last, but overall a good day.

“Yeah, I had a couple chances on that back nine. The back nine is the tougher nine, clearly. So I always feel like pars are always going to be good around there. I had a couple of chances that I would have loved to have converted. Those are the days where you get everything out of it, if you like.

“But overall, 3-under is a good score. I didn’t play well yesterday, really struggled. So to have played better today and scored well was really nice.”

With the crowds set to pour in again over the weekend, Fleetwood can expect more support and with a bit of luck, he’ll find himself in contention come Sunday.