Outside the (Tee)box

Tommy Fleetwood isn’t just going through a drought on the PGA Tour.

A drought suggests a lull since the last time he was victorious, but despite countless top 10 finishes Fleetwood is still yet to taste victory.

With a two-shot lead going into the final three holes of the Travelers Championship he must have had visions of himself clutching the trophy, only to walk up to his approach shot on 18 and realise he’d seen a mirage.

This rhetoric that Fleetwood has no idea how to win a golf tournament is unjust, as the man has seven wins on the DP World Tour to his name. However, it is clear change is needed, and I’m not here to talk about his golf game, no, Fleetwood needs a haircut.

We are in an era of sport where competitors are constantly trying to find an edge that could beckon success. Some of these efforts are more technical than others, for example, Mercedes F1 team adopted a black livery in 2023 as exposed carbon fibre is naturally black, so why waste weight on paint? Meanwhile on match-days footballer Adama Traore has been known to lather himself in baby oil, hindering opposing defenders from hauling him to the ground during one of his stampedes up the pitch.

Golf is full of examples where the pros seek to find the smallest edge, whether that be through employing AimPoint for five-feet putts or improving the lie of the golf ball, wink wink Patrick Reed.

Bryson DeChambeau epitomises the exploitation of fine margins in golf, from his armlock putter and his chunky grips, to his not only marked but salted golf balls, all of which he claims enhance his performance.

Surely then, the least Fleetwood can do is get a short back and sides. Playing golf with long hair and constantly having to sweep it away while sweat drips down into your eyes is enough to irk the short-fused high handicap golfer into a topped tee shot.

Not only this, but by cutting his iconic luscious locks it could divert conversation away from his PGA Tour trophy cabinet and allow him to focus on his game without pressures of distractions. In fact, the strategic haircut is tried and proven.

Brazilian Ronaldo’s iconic haircut, where he left only a half-moon island on the front of his head, has sealed its place in football history. A crafty solution by the striker to switch conversation in the press from his recent injury and apparent lack of fitness to his horrendous new trim, prior to the 2002 World Cup. And the self-sabotage certainly worked for him, as Brazil won the World Cup and Ronaldo scooped the golden boot.

So could similar accolades come the way of Fleetwood? We may never find out.