Fleetwood was taught lesson by Shane Lowry

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Tommy Fleetwood went to school on Sunday. His teacher was Shane Lowry.

Fleetwood, who finished second to Lowry in the British Open at Royal Portrush, was gutted in the end about not winning his first career major, but he vowed to take something out of Sunday’s experience.

He began the day four shots behind Lowry and finished six behind after shooting 74 to Lowry’s 72.

“I think first and foremost, whatever happened was going to be an experience and you were going to take things from it,’’ Fleetwood said. “That’s the first time I’ve played in the last group of a major on a Sunday. You learn things as you go. You learn things about yourself.

“I watched Shane win the Open. I watched how he conducted himself and how he played, and for four rounds of golf I was the second-best player in the event, which is a great achievement. You have to look at it like that. I’m sure in a few hours or a couple of days I might see that.

“I think I played a lot of very, very good golf this week. For me personally, it was nice to play more like I feel like how I should play again. And of course, in a major, it’s my second runner-up in a major, which is great and I’m trending in the right way. I just hope my time will come eventually.’’

Fleetwood had his chances Sunday. He had a chance to convert a two-shot swing on the first hole with Lowry in trouble the entire hole and taking bogey. But Fleetwood missed an 8-foot birdie putt that could have turned the four-shot deficit into just two through only one hole.

On the second hole, Fleetwood had a 10-foot birdie putt he just missed that could have shaved another shot off the lead.

“He played really well, hit the right shots, didn’t always hit great shots, but it was very difficult out there,” Fleetwood said of Lowry. “He never lost control of himself. He made some key putts at key times, even down to the first hole. The first hole, if you look at it, I have 6 or 7 feet for birdie, 6 or 7 feet for bogey, I hole, he misses, and we’ve got a one-shot gap, and that’s only after one hole.

“He did better in those moments than I did. I just didn’t convert the putts at time. And my errant shots, I didn’t do a great job of fixing them. To lead by four at the start of the day and to keep that and to just control, he literally controlled the tournament from the start of the day until the end, and that’s a very, very impressive thing to do.’’

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