Key keywords: Tommy Fleetwood, first major championship, The Open Championship, hometown golf course, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, PGA Tour, major golf victory, British Open, Merseyside native Tommy Fleetwood, the 32-year-old Merseyside native and fan-favorite PGA Tour and DP World Tour star, has officially declared his core 2024 competitive goal: claiming his first ever major championship at this year’s Open Championship, held at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, the iconic links course located just 25 minutes from his childhood home in Southport. For decades, Fleetwood has had an unparalleled intimate relationship with the Hoylake-based course: he first played its wind-swept fairways as an 11-year-old junior golfer, competed in multiple regional amateur tournaments on the grounds throughout his teens, and still regularly returns for casual practice rounds during breaks in his global tour schedule. He knows every undulation of its fast, firm greens, every blind tee shot, and every pattern the coastal wind can shift across its 18 holes, an advantage no other competitor in the 156-player Open field can replicate. Fleetwood enters this year’s Open in career-best form: he has recorded four top-10 finishes in his last six tour starts, including a wire-to-wire win at the Dubai Invitational in January, and has refined his short game over the past two months specifically to adapt to Royal Liverpool’s tricky run-off areas and unpredictable turf bounce. The six-time major top-5 finisher, who has finished runner-up at both the 2018 U.S. Open and 2019 Open Championship without lifting a trophy, says he feels calmer and more prepared for this major than any previous attempt. "I grew up dreaming about winning The Open, full stop, but getting to do it 20 minutes from where I grew up, with all my family, friends, and people who supported me since I was a kid hitting balls at the local driving range in the crowd? That’s the kind of moment you don’t get twice," Fleetwood told reporters during a pre-tournament press conference last week. Golf analysts have pegged Fleetwood as one of the top three favorites for the Claret Jug, alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, with many noting that his home-field advantage could be the deciding factor in what is expected to be a wind-battered, high-difficulty tournament. Tournament organizers report that ticket sales for the final two rounds of the event are up 18% compared to the last time The Open was held at Royal Liverpool in 2014, with much of the surge attributed to local fans eager to watch Fleetwood compete for the title on home turf. Fleetwood is scheduled to tee off for his first round at 9:43 a.m. local time on Thursday, alongside McIlroy and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith.