In some of the recent instances, the heartwarming sight of families uniting on the greens, where fathers step up to support the dreams of the kin have been witnessed. First, it was Tiger Woods, winning over the hearts of the golf community by caddying for Charlie Woods at the regional qualifier for Norah Begay III National Championship.
Junior Woods shot his career-best, winning the 14-15 age division at Mission Inn in Orlando, scoring 71 and 66. He finished off the championship with clutch birdies on the last two holes, securing a one-shot victory. This time, it is Tommy Fleetwood, who took over the dad duties on the greens, caddying for his stepson Oscar Craig at the Challenge Tour.
Right after playing the last three weeks on the PGA Tour, including a T-3 finish at the Masters, Tommy Fleetwood decided to take a week off. But well, not quite. As Oscar Craig debuted, Fleetwood helped him score a 2-under through 36 holes.
The duo made the first cut on the tour as the amateur carded a 3-under 69 on Thursday and a 1-over 73 on Friday! The official Instagram page of the Challenge Tour took to their walls a few hours ago and shared snippets from the greens where Craig was seen putting his last shot to cut.
The duo hugged each other in sheer happiness, walking down to Clare Fleetwood and celebrating victory. The Challenge Tour even congratulated them, writing, “Making your first cut on the Challenge Tour 💪🏻 Job well-done team”. Well, it was indeed a team effort.
Oscar Craig, with the help of his father, who himself was a former Challenge Tour Player, is only four shots behind Wilco Nienaber, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and Joshua Berry, who are at the lead with a score of 7-under. Looks like catching up will not be much of a difficult task for team Fleetwood-Craig.
The golf community cheers for Oscar Craig
Tommy Fleetwood boasted about his stepson on his official X (formerly Twitter) account after their successful round. He shared not just his pride on seeing him conquer together, but also congratulated him for giving out such great rounds. Needless to say, the entire golf community joined in on his tunes.
As Oscar Craig went on for his final shot, his ball stopped just a few inches away from the putt. He switched to his putter right after, Tommy Fleetwood following him with his bag, and very swiftly scored the final shot. It was way beyond an amateurish skill, and that is for sure. Impressed by it, one of them wrote, “Brilliant & what a touch that was on that chip 🔥”
Tommy Fleetwood knows the importance of having a caddie who knows your game in and out. With himself left caddieless at the Augusta National because his long-term caddie and friend Ian Finnis felt sick, he had to play at the masters with Gray Moore, the former caddie of the home course. But well, the greens were not the same for him. He did not want Craig to have to go through that and thus tagged along, helping him out with the bags. Taking to this one of them wrote, “Who can hate Tommy!! 🔥”
The 17-year-old was the only amateur to make the weekend at the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Wishing Craig good luck for the upcoming match, one of them commented, “Best of luck for the weekend Oscar. Boots To Asses! If that doesn’t make sense, ask Tom 😁”
Oscar Craig and Tommy Fleetwood had an exceptional couple of rounds. For the first, on Thursday, Craig went entirely bogey-free, ending the round with a birdie on the 18th hole. Not to forget the birdies he scored on the fourth and eighth holes. Although Friday was comparatively tougher, as he carded four bogeys. Nonetheless, they were balanced out by three birdies, and Fleetwood’s presence turned out to chef’s kiss! Taking to this people left comments like, “WTG Oscar” and “I mean seriously how top draw is that, fella, and fair play Tommy u absolute legend 👏🏼 👍🏼”.
Tommy Fleetwood will continue to be Craig’s caddie for the weekend in UAE. This sure will give an upper hand to the 17 YO amateurs, given Fleetwood knows all about the tour. He was even the youngest player to finish on the top of the rankings in 2011 at 20 when he won the Kazakhstan Open. Whether Craig will be able to take it up wisely or not, is yet to be figured out. Stay tuned to find out what happens this weekend!
