Golf aficionados raised their eyebrows as Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood turned up at the Travelers Championship final day sporting matching outfits.
Fleetwood, eager to mend his $25 million heartbreak aided by a candid Ryder Cup pronouncement, was leading the pack at TPC River Highlands. This surge in form followed a remarkable confession reported by Amanda Balionis just before the event commenced.
On the flip side, McIlroy set off nine shots adrift for the conclusive round. Despite beginning ahead of Fleetwood’s group, both found themselves unintentionally twinning in identical Nike attire.
The duo appeared in matching white Nike polo shirts paired with navy trousers and a three-tone belt blending blue, white, and grey. Though their Nike caps diverged slightly – Fleetwood’s featuring the prominent swoosh and brand name while McIlroy opted for a more minimalist swoosh design.
This fashion faux pas did not escape the attention of viewers, with one spectator taking to social media to express their amusement: “Pretty sure Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy are wearing the EXACT same outfit. Like, everything, polo, pants, hat, even the belt is the same.”
Despite taking an initial lead, Fleetwood encountered a rocky start, quickly surrendering his advantage with several early bogeys. Nonetheless, he steadied his performance to stay in contention as Jason Day began mounting a challenge.
Prior to his final round, Fleetwood made light of his quest for a first-ever PGA Tour victory and his desire to finally break through.
Fleetwood joked: “I don’t know, I’m on top of a lot of stat lines for people that haven’t won on the PGA TOUR, so to always to be a No.1 at something is always nice,”.
He then turned serious, saying: “Yeah, of course I would love to win on the PGA TOUR. I think it’s like an element of your career that everybody wants, and I of course want it. I haven’t, this year especially I don’t feel like I’ve given myself – I’ve given myself like a back end chance a couple of times this year, but I’ve not been in contention.”
Fleetwood continued: “So this is like my first real chance, so I’m really excited about that and looking forward to it. Again, it’s easy to put pressure on yourself, and the longer things go on, the more people talk about it, of course they do.”
He concluded: ” But there’s also things that I’m very proud about as well, like my consistency, where I stand FedExCups and World Rankings and things like that. So there’s a lot to be happy about, but, you know, of course, I’m not going to, you know, be silly and say I don’t care about it, of course I want to win, and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.”