Everton fan Tommy Fleetwood has been backed to win the Open at Royal Birkdale by artist Paul Trevillion who pioneered the pencil grip used for putting by the Merseyside-born player
Everton fan Tommy Fleetwood has been backed to win the Open on home turf by a putting pioneer who reckons the golfer’s switch to a technique he devised has transformed his game.
Fleetwood saw his world ranking peak at number three last November with his best showing to date in the Open coming in 2019 when he finished runner-up at Royal Portrush, six strokes behind Shane Lowry. He’s currently third favourite with the bookmakers though and the lowest-priced Englishman in the field for this year’s event at Royal Birkdale – a mere Jordan Pickford punt from his birthplace in Southport – which begins on Thursday.
Unfortunately, the ECHO understands timings have not worked out for Fleetwood to accept Justin Rose’s challenge of some Upper Deck Golf at Hill Dickinson Stadium this week, but when it comes to the main event, the 35-year-old will be determined to break his duck. Fleetwood joined the golfing elite last August when he made his major breakthrough in the United States by capturing The Tour championship for his first PGA Tour victory along with The FedEx Cup and its $10million first prize.
This victory had been coming after going close on many occasions and is proof that he is now very much ready to go to the next step and win a Major. If he achieved it next weekend at Royal Birkdale it would thrill his many fans on Merseyside and would be the perfect homecoming for the local boy made good, so good in fact that in March last year he received an Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University.
Fleetwood’s climb to the pinnacle of golf has been impressive. It started with a stellar career as an amateur where he won The English Amateur and played for Great Britain and Ireland in The Walker Cup and he reached number three in the R&A’s World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro in 2010.
He made a steady start in the pro ranks, but the turning point came around early 2017 when he turned to the split hand pencil putting grip. Suddenly he went up a level and captured his second European Tour event, the Abu Dhabi HSBC championship and then in March he was runner up in the WGC-Mexico championship, a shot behind Dustin Johnson.
In June of 2017 he finished fourth in the US Open and moved from 99th in the world ranking at the start of the year into the world top 20. At the end of that year he won the European Tour season-long Race to Dubai and was now very much pointing in an upward direction.
The switch to the pencil grip had played a crucial role according to the man who invented it, world renowned sports artist Paul Trevillion who once illustrated the life story of legendary Everton centre-forward Dixie Dean. He told the ECHO: “I was watching Tommy closely from 2017 and the improvement in his putting was striking.
“He was taking his left hand out of the stroke and striking the ball with his master hand, and it meant that the left hand was no longer blocking the stroke. I am convinced that his change to the pencil grip changed his life in golf and has helped earn him a lot of fame and money.
“He has the complete game and now he has had the big breakthrough Stateside I can see him going on to win majors. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it started at Royal Birkdale this week in The Open.”
Tommy Fleetwood and the pencil grip drawn by Paul Trevillion
Tommy Fleetwood and the pencil grip drawn by Paul Trevillion
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As well as that aforementioned second spot in the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush. Fleetwood tied third in the 2024 US Masters, tied fifth in the 2022 US PGA championship and was second in the 2018 US Open. Trevillion said: “Tommy can go on amazing runs with his pencil grip holing putts from all over the green and putting often decides majors.
“It is only a matter of time before Tommy has one of his hot streaks with the putter in a major and he will leave the field standing. At 35 he is just reaching his peak.
“He reached number three in the world rankings in November 2025 and is more than capable of going higher than that if he keeps splitting those hands on the putter and believing in the grip which has served him so well over the years. None more so than at the 2018 US Open when he became the sixth golfer to shoot a 63 in US Open history, tying the championship single round record before finishing one stroke behind winner Brooks Koepka.”
Scottie Scheffler and the pencil grip drawn by Paul Trevillion
Scottie Scheffler and the pencil grip drawn by Paul Trevillion
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Fleetwood however will not be alone next week using the pencil grip for world number one and tournament favourite, the American Scottie Scheffler, will also be splitting the hands on the putter. The New Jersey-born ace turned to the pencil grip during the opening round of the 2024 Hero World Challenge in early December of that year and he has used it ever since, going on to win the 2025 US PGA title with it and then captured the 2025 Open championship title soon after.
Trevillion smiles as he remembers how he devised his tried and trusted method, explained in his book The Art of Putting: He said: “Back in 1970 and for several years after that I was called ‘The Putter Nutter.’
“Very few could see what I had discovered by noticing that I could only draw a straight line with my pencil when I held it in one hand – my master hand. I reckoned the same must apply to putting and it did, I simply couldn’t miss – I never missed.
“Now for the first time I will reveal the secrets of just why I never missed a four-foot putt. The first secret was linked to my drawing.
Paul Trevillion explains the pencil grip he devised for golf in his book The Art of Putting
Paul Trevillion explains the pencil grip he devised for golf in his book The Art of Putting
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“When at my easel, I am very aware that with pen and ink if I make a mistake I have to start all over again and that isn’t much fun. It means with my drawing I have to give it 200% concentration and that is what I did when I stood over a four-foot putt.
“My pen and ink drawing had taught me how not to make a mistake. My skills and discipline at the easel gave me the edge when it came to putting.
“My other secret was that when I putted, I imagined that the hole was six feet away, and the ball would drop on the last roll, and not four feet, so I was never short with a putt, but crucially it would take out any borrow on the green.”