Rock on Tommy

There is something to be said for quitting at the top, at thee peak of your game but even George Best didn't exit stage left when he was just 19-years old. The Beatles and The Clash left us wailing for more and it is just the same with amateur golf. The days of a Gary Wolstenholme staying in the unpaid ranks for three decades have long gone the way of wooden-headed drivers and hickory shafts.

Lancashire's Tommy Fleetwood was always going to turn pro this season but there was one more box, as the masters of psycho-babble on the tour like to say, he had to tick. Fleetwood had played Walker Cup golf, was climbing his way up to the top of amateur rankings and had even given the professionals advance notice of his talent by winning the qualifier for the French Open and finishing second in the English Challenge at Stoke-by-Nayland on the European Challenge Tour. But he had never won a national title.

That box was duly ticked upon the glorious turf at Little Aston in early August when he beat Surrey's Warren Harmston, one up, to claim the English Amateur Championship and join Nick Faldo and Paul Casey on the roll of honour. Fleetwood, who was two down with seven to play in the 36-hole final, recalls: “All I was thinking was that I didn't want to finish my amateur career on a low but it all came right in the end. I was due a win in a national event.” His last outing as an amateur saw the talented youngster from Formby help England retain their Home Internationals title at Ashburnham before he embarked on a whirlwind introduction to the pro game – his feet hardly touched the ground in six days. There was a new management company, a club contract with Nike, the small matter of trying to earn his first pennies as a professional at the Czech Open [which he did, making the cut on the mark at +2] and trying to come to terms with no longer being a big fish in a small pond.

Talking after a first-round 75 at the Prosper Golf Resort Fleetwood said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to play on a European Tour course at the French Open and see how the pros do things, because the amateur game is very different. In amateur golf you can be four-over par and not really worry about it. In professional golf everyone makes the most out of their scores. The standards of the top amateurs and those on the European tours are not that different but in the professional game they make every shot count. They just get the most out of their games.

“I was comfortable with the way I was playing when I turned pro but it is different now. When I was amateur people looked for my name on the leader board because I was one of the top people – here people aren't so there is less pressure on me. But most people know everyone else out here and there is a lot of camaraderie – everyone seems pretty relaxed. But as an amateur you play a lot of team golf; out here everyone is playing for themselves.”

Whenever a top amateur makes the transition to the paid ranks comparisons with Ireland's wunderkind Rory McIlroy are never too far behind. But for every McIlroy there is a former star struggling to make ends meet and Fleetwood is realistic about what it takes to make it on the grind of the tour. You are not going to shoot 63 every day and you have to live, eat, sleep and breathe the game. For most of us, golf is a way of getting away from the stresses of work; for these people it is work.

“Rory has been an inspiration for a lot of players. But very few people could do what he has done. He is an exceptional talent and seeing someone like that gives us a lot of confidence. But we are playing for our job out here. I have got to make the most of the opportunities I get given and I have been given some invites which gives me a big advantage. But I have not been able to do anything apart from golf recently and spare time I get I just try to chill out – there just isn't any time.”

Crowds might be sparse at some of the tours lesser events but when the time comes to play in front of packed galleries Fleetwood will be prepared thanks to his Walker Cup experiences at Merion Golf Club last year. Great Britain & Ireland went down for the third time in succession but Fleetwood's singles win on the final day over Drew Weaver will stand him in good stead come pressure-cooker time down the road in his career.

“The Walker Cup was an amazing experience, completely different to anything I have ever known in golf,” recalls Fleetwood. “There were 20,000 people there and all of them were proper golf fans who knew what a good golf shot was. Naturally, most of them were cheering on the Americans but just being part of it was an experience.”

So the English Golf Union bid farewell to another huge talent – a talent it can be very proud of given the support and opportunity it provided. The body has always stated their aim is to keep the conveyor belt moving and Fleetwood's rise to the top of the amateur game is a testament to the quality of the coaching and the playing opportunities they offer. Turning professional is not such a daunting experience as it was back in the old days – elite amateurs are treated like young pro's all the way through and there seems to be no shortage of young players equipped to compete with the Caseys and Poulters of this world.

“For the last two years the elite squad turned my game around completely,” says Fleetwood. “I have gone from a boy to a young man in the space of a year or two. The EGU do a huge amount for amateurs, and at the end of my amateur career I can't thank them enough for all they have done. I've seen the success of Charlie Ford on the Challenge Tour and Sam Hutsby after coming through Qualifying School, and I'll be trying to go down one of those routes. I know some of the lads out there and I know I can compete with them.”