Too good to be true: Who has best Open Championship storyline, Fleetwood or Rose?
Hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood or course veteran Justin Rose? Golf Channel's Paul McGinley and Brandel Chamblee discuss which English player would be the best story if they won at Royal Birkdale.
Video Transcript
You know, it's not just some romantic idea here.
They have a real chance.
They have real contenders, Brandel.
They do.
I mean, look, they could finish one, two, three, four.
I mean, you could make a strong argument as, everybody just did for every single player out there.
But with Justin Rose, it would almost be too good to be true.
It'd be the stuff that they write movies about, honestly, where he, broke out of the pack to finish, fourth.
And here he is, what, almost 30 years later, and he's still a world-class player, top 10 in the world.
And maybe his numbers are not that great this year, but his numbers are really good in the major championships.
There wouldn't be two, three players, in all the major championships this year that are better than him in an aggregate.
Third at the Masters, 10th at the PGA, 11th at the US Open.
He played beautifully at The Players Championship as well.
And Fitzpatrick, the one things that really matter the most here are approach play and around the green.
He leads the PGA Tour in both of those.
Tommy Fleetwood leads the PGA Tour in scrambling.
Hits the ball low, hits the ball straight.
Aaron Rai, one of the straightest hitters in the game of golf.
If you're of the mind that you gotta pick this golf course apart, that you can actually find fairways, Aaron Rai is very much a Nick Faldo type of player.
So yeah, a strong argument can be made for all four of those players, amongst a few other Englishmen as well.
Yeah.
Again, you know, the one that I would pick, the sentimental favorite for me would be Tommy.
I mean, I take your point on Justin.
As he comes to the conclusion of his career, I think his career deserves another major championship.
And, and I would be very pleased should Justin do it.
But you know, the other guy, the, the, the story on, on Tommy i- is well-known, it's well-documented.
Great players rise to arenas, and this is an arena.
We're seeing it in the World Cup where all the great players, the Mbapps, the, the Messis have all risen to the occasion of what the great World Cup is.
And this is the World Cup for Tommy.
It's an Open Championship in the prime of his career on a golf course where he used to sneak over the, over the fence here and play a few holes when nobody was looking.
It would be a great story.
This country is full of euphoria at the moment around the World Cup, and it would just be great, to see Tommy in contention if nothing else.
I have a que- I got a question for you.
Let, let's just say England wins the World Cup, Tommy wins the Claret Jug.
How do the tabloids handle that?
Who gets back page?
How they, how do they do it?
No, no, Eng- They'll split them probably.
No, Eng- no, England will get it for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is a soccer-mad country here.
I know.
As, as much as it would be great, it's, uh- You, you don't think Fleetwood would sneak in there in any way on the front page?
No, the Scousers as they're loved to be called around here.
People who live in Liverpool are called Scousers.
And, it's, it's, the, the city is divided in two.
You've got the blue of Everton, who Tommy supports, and the red of Liverpool.
And, so a lot of com- competition between them.
The Scousers would certainly be put on the front page.
But the general country, I mean, honestly, the euphoria around the World Cup soccer is off the scale.
They're very giddy around here about England, uh- certainly beating Argentina tomorrow night and, and maybe getting to the final.
And should they do so, anything can happen, as we know that.
But you know, my point is great champions rise to the occasion, rise to the arenas.
When arenas are set, they get like a magnet, get dragged into that, and we've seen Tommy do that.
We've seen him do them in Ryder Cups.
Now he's gotta do it in the biggest stage, for him individually, which is an Open Championship in his hometown.
And he's come so close in major championships.
He's played his best golf, I would argue, in major championships and the Ryder Cup.
You, you, you, you think Rose would be the better story than, than Tommy?
I, I do, with all due respect to Tommy.
I think Rose would be the better story.
I mean, it's where he got his start.
It's where he broke out.
You know, not saying that he doesn't have a lot of runway in front of him and a lot of great golf in front of him- but it would complete the story- Yeah in a very romantic way.
The idea that he's only got one major championship is bizarre to me.
He's come so close so often.
Yeah.
And to break through and win his first Open Championship where he broke through and said hello to the world- Yeah again, I'm not sure Taylor's shared it yet but- It, it's a great story, but, but I think Tommy- It could be a bookend would, would be the number one most emotional story.
Well, I don't know, maybe a dead heat there.
I mean- Dead heat I'd have to see the photo finish on that one.
Tommy is incredibly charismatic, you know?
He is.
People who don't know a whole lot about golf when they come out here, Tommy is easily identifiable.
He's got incredible charisma.
And that charisma is ready to put an Open Championship, beside-
