Tommy Fleetwood: Course-record experience of Carnoustie has no relevance

European number one Tommy Fleetwood may hold the course record at Carnoustie but he is under no illusions that the 63 he shot at last October’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was on a very different set-up to the challenge being posed at this week’s 147th Open.

The soft fairways and slow greens that provided the conditions for his nine-under-par round nine months ago have given way to fiery and fast with Carnoustie this week playing to a par of 70 over 7,402 yards rather than the par-71, 7,345-yard test it was for the Dunhill.