Rozner: Fleetwood stalks British Open at perfect time

The East Coast of Scotland has played a mammoth trick on the Open Championship.

With virtually no rain the last two months, Carnoustie is baked out from beginning to end and the longest course in the British Open rotation may not be remembered as "Carnasty" this time around.

And that has opened up some possibilities for a portion of the field you may not have otherwise considered.

Suddenly, it brings into play the shorter hitters in the field like 2015 champ Zach Johnson, older players like 45-year-old Lee Westwood, and Aussie Mark Leishman, who won the BMW at Conway Farms last September.

The U.S. Open at Shinnecock exposed what players lacked in their games, and Carnoustie has been known to do the same, but this time around it could play more like a PGA Championship, bombers firing away and those less intimidating with a driver playing less intimidated.

Of course, it's hard to look past the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, who can overpower the course if they can keep the ball in the fairway and out of the pot bunkers.

There's Tiger Woods, who can hit 2-iron all day without having to take a head cover off a club, and if he hits his irons as well as he's shown he can this season and his new putter cooperates, he's a serious threat for the first time in five years.

It's shocking that this is even possible after four years of inactivity, spinal fusion, a swing change, new clubs and a new ball.

Extraordinary.

Sergio Garcia returns to the scene of a painful playoff loss in 2007, and Justin Rose has been on fire for the last 10 months.

Amid a streak of 22 years in which the Euros have won only five Opens, they have taken two of the last four with Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.

In a Ryder Cup year, Ian Poulter is playing better than he has in years and Francesco Molinari is 40-under par in his last two starts with a victory and a second-place finish.

Alex Noren is capable, Paul Casey has flirted and Tyrrell Hatton is back on track, putting the Europeans in a great spot to win the third major of the season, hoping to stop a streak of five straight American major champions.

But there have also been nine first-time major champs in the last 11 events, and that brings us to England's Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a Sunday 63 at the U.S. Open to finish a shot back of Koepka a month ago.

"There's no really good reason why I couldn't do it this week," Fleetwood told the media Tuesday in Scotland. "The good thing about having results like the U.S. Open is that it's proof you can end up there, and you have the game to eventually compete and hopefully win majors. That's what it's all about."

The 27-year-old Fleetwood has seven professional victories, shot a course-record 63 at Carnoustie last year at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and has climbed to No. 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings, making him ripe to collect his first major.

"It really doesn't matter what's happened in the past," Fleetwood said. "The only thing it does is build your confidence and give you examples of what you can do, but at the end of the day, come Thursday, it's the Open Championship and I've got to go out there and hit golf shots."

The Americans have so many good young players right now and they're dominating the sport, but the Europeans are at Carnoustie to make a statement before the Ryder Cup in Paris in September.

Will the Claret Jug be coming home? It's probably the wrong time for him to say it - or sing it - but Tommy Fleetwood might just be the guy to get it done.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.