Fleetwood won't give up Open dream after 'special' week

The Open Championship, final leaderboard

-10 R Fox (NZ); -9 C Young (US); -8 S Burns (US)

Selected: -7 S Scheffler (US), T Fleetwood (Eng); -6 L Herbert (Aus); -5 L Aberg (Swe); -4 B DeChambeau (US); -3 M Penge (Eng), J Smith (Eng), D Brown (Eng); -2 R MacIntyre (Sco), S Lowry (Ire); -1 R McIlroy (NI), M Wallace (Eng)

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Tommy Fleetwood says he will continue to chase his dream of winning The Open after falling short at the end of a "special week" on home soil at Royal Birkdale.

Hoping to clinch his first major and become the first Englishman to lift the Claret Jug since Nick Faldo in 1992, Fleetwood started the final round five shots back of overnight leader Sam Burns.

Roared on by huge crowds, Fleetwood birdied three of his first eight holes to vault into contention before a hat-trick of bogeys around the turn wrecked his chances.

"[Walking down] 18 was pretty emotional," said Fleetwood, who carded a final-round 68 to finish seven under and three shots adrift of winner Ryan Fox.

"It was just very, very special. [There is] disappointment that I didn't win or I couldn't get it done when I was in a really good position.

"There's only one person that gets to win it, and my dream of winning The Open will carry on and I'll continue to chase it.

"But walking down 18 and the atmosphere out there, that was beyond stuff that I've dreamt of. That was just stuff that I never imagined. The crowds were amazing, and they made it the most special week ever for me, and I can't thank them enough."

Fleetwood raised hopes of an emotional victory when he holed a monster 75-foot birdie putt on the first hole before adding further gains at the fifth and eighth.

But he bogeyed the ninth after an overly aggressive approach from the fairway and dropped shots at the next two holes to fall out of the mix.

The 35-year-old birdied the final two holes to share fourth place alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler, but his post-round reflections were still tinged with disappointment.

"It was on [a victory]. I was eight under and stood in the middle of the ninth fairway, so I was in a great position, and I was playing really well," added Fleetwood, who returned the ninth top-10 major finish of his career.

"At nine, I hit it in the place that you can't hit it - over the back. It was gusty on that fairway. It was just a terrible mistake."

He added: "People are going to make bogeys. Of course they are; it's tough. Every afternoon it's been the toughest conditions."

"We had a great chance. I just couldn't quite do it."

Fleetwood's next bid for the Claret Jug will be over the Old Course at St Andrews next year before the Open returns to north-west England at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2028.

"How lucky am I to have three Open venues on the rota where really it's so close to home for me," he said.

"People don't play events that close, let alone home town and then Lytham and Royal Liverpool. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that."