‘Disappointed’ Tommy Fleetwood Finds His Olympic Pockets Empty as Hideki Matsuyama Gets an Upper Hand

Successful, yet unfortunate! As everything calmed down, the fans could only spot a half-happy, half-sad Tommy Fleetwood on the greens. Moments later, the athlete from Great Britain acknowledged his fans at the Olympics with a heavy heart. One might think he should be happy seeing as how he finished ahead of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. Even so, the English pro could find only himself short of dollar bills as he stood on the podium with a silver medal around his neck.

The International Olympic Committee themselves do not offer any money to the podium finishers, including Scottie Scheffler, Fleetwood, and Matsuyama. However, that isn’t the case with their home countries, for they offer rewards to the winners. As per reports, the United States awards its gold medalists at the Olympics with a whopping $37,500 while Japan offers $6000 to the bronze winners. But that’s not the case with Great Britain which does not, interestingly, reward its medalists with anything.

Couple that with Tommy Fleetwood’s close call at the Paris Games with the gold medal, and it appears the Japanese golfer has found himself with a unique win over the Englishman. But had the 32-year-old bronze medalist finished T2, then he would have been able to receive $13,000, not to mention the $32,000 for clinching a gold.

When it comes to American golfers, they were promised $23,000 for claiming the silver medal at the Olympics and $15,000 had they won the bronze medal. However, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa could only finish at T9, T14, and T24 after putting up figures of 12-under, 11-under, and 6-under, respectively.

It might seem a bit unfair for Tommy Fleetwood but that’s just how it is. Even so, one can’t deny that the professional dished out his best at Le Golf National while registering a score of 18 under 266 after four days of play. But surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, in this case, the golfer could only express regret at not clinching the gold medal.

Is Tommy Fleetwood disappointed with the silver medal? Pro goes candid

“It’s a strange feeling,” divulged the 33-year-old while alluding to his podium finish, “it was so close to getting the gold so there’s always like, there’s a slight disappointment there.” Nevertheless, Tommy Fleetwood admitted how he never dreamt of being an Olympic medalist. Back in the 2020 Olympics, he could only finish at T16, owing to his score of 273 but his second appearance at the quadrennial event proved to be successful.

“I am constantly in awe of the athletes that are here at the Olympics.” disclosed the DP World Tour Pro while counting his stars. He added how the whole thing is a bit hard to digest still while hoping it slowly settles in; “This is my second Olympics and… I don’t really think of myself as, sort of, an Olympic medalist… but it’s very cool.”

Anyhow, Tommy Fleetwood will be going home more successfully than most after his scintillating performance at Le Golf National. Although a failed birdie at the par-4, 18th caused him to be unable to force a playoff with Scottie Scheffler, par putting it did help him win the silver. His fans would surely be proud!