• Rising British player, now ranked 14 in the world, grew up in Southport • ‘I’ll have the most support I’ve ever had in my life,’ says Fleetwood

Plenty of people in Tommy Fleetwood’s position would already be engulfed by fear. It is a further sign of the 26-year-old’s ability to handle life in the limelight that he is ready to relish every aspect of Open Championship week.

On Monday Fleetwood displayed a supreme public confidence normally reserved for major champions. “There’s nobody fainting in the street as I walk past,” said Fleetwood with a beaming smile in response to how he handles being in the public eye.

Still, as a Southport native, the local boy made good, Fleetwood would have been the recipient of Royal Birkdale attention even before a sensational first half of 2017. He finds himself as the 14th ranked player in the world by virtue of a spell which includes two European Tour victories, a close shave with US Open glory and a runners-up finish at a World Golf Championship. His prospects in the Open have been widely touted, despite a record of three successive missed cuts in this tournament.

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“I don’t feel extra pressure,” Fleetwood said. “Obviously it’s going to be a different experience, for sure, something that I’ve never experienced before. But it will be great to have so many people out there rooting for me. It doesn’t happen all the time when you have that many people and they all want you to do well.

“Just to be here is great. I think this week it’s going to be an experience for me I’ll never forget. It’s very rare that you get a tournament this close to home. It’s a massive privilege to be playing at a tournament so close to home. I’ll have the most support I’ve ever had in my life, from people I’ve grown up with, friends, family, you name it.

“It’s nice to see things like my old school did. They had a massive banner, and all the kids saying ‘good luck’, and I think it’s just lovely. It’s very touching, actually, seeing things like that. The banners will be off in a couple of weeks, so I best not get used to it too much but it’s been lovely coming back.”

Fleetwood has understandably been handed star billing in the draw; alongside the recently crowned US Open champion Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama, the world No2.

On the specific challenge of being fancied to win the Open, Fleetwood was again upbeat. “I’d much rather be in this position where people might be talking about me as a contender than turning up and sort of being a no-show,” he said. “Again, it’s a very different experience. Recent results have clearly put me in the eye and made people talk about me as a chance.

“I’ve thought about winning the Open since I was five years old, so thinking about it for another few days isn’t going to make any difference to me. It’s nice to be spoken of in that light, to be honest. I find it very flattering and it doesn’t affect me in any way, apart from it’s very nice and makes me smile.”

Fleetwood has vivid memories of the 1998 Open here. Mark O’Meara lifted the Claret Jug but the golfing focus was very much on another individual; including from the perspective of a then seven-year-old Fleetwood.

“That was the first Open I went to watch,” Fleetwood said. “I remember Tiger Woods walking past me. That was the first time I’d ever seen Tiger Woods and the aura around him at the time. Apart from that I don’t remember much apart from I didn’t get many autographs. I spent the time faking them in my little book.” Nineteen years on Fleetwood himself is the real deal.