Tommy Fleetwood, the man whose flowing locks have earned him the nickname ‘Fairway Jesus’, has conceded that the mulleted Cam Smith would beat him to gold if the Olympics was awarding medals for hairstyles at the Tokyo Games.

“I’m not very competitive about it, but he seems to be putting a lot of effort into that hairstyle so he’d probably win the gold,” Fleetwood said in Tokyo, where he will aim to win Great Britain’s second successive Olympic men’s golf title after Justin Rose’s triumph in Rio in 2016. “Maybe if I trained hard on a daily basis, I might have a chance.”

Smith has been manicuring his impressive mullet since last year’s COVID-19 lockdown and has complemented the traditional Aussie style by shaving ‘AUS’ into the side of his head for this week’s Olympic tournament, which gets underway tomorrow.

“It’s the Olympics. It doesn’t happen too often, and I thought I’d give Australia a shout-out on the side of the melon,” explained Smith.

“I thought about it for a few weeks beforehand and then I just thought, Stuff it, I’m going to do it. I think it’s been received pretty well. My mum called me up, she was laughing, she was like, ‘Oh, you were just on the news’, calling me all sorts of names. But she loved it and she loves that it brings a lot of, I guess, joy. It puts a smile on peoples’ faces, I think she enjoys it the most.”

Smith is relishing the opportunity to pull on the green-and-gold this week and will begin his bid for the podium in tomorrow’s first round alongside Viktor Hovland and Garrick Hugo, teeing off at 11:14am AEST.

“Growing up you really never think that you’re going to wear the Olympic uniform with the coat of arms on it, it’s pretty special,” said Smith. “It’s going to be an awesome experience. It’s always nice to play for something bigger than just yourself every week. It should be good.”

Meanwhile Fleetwood, who will play with late US call-up Patrick Reed and former Open champion Shane Lowry in round one, revealed that people find it hard to believe that he doesn’t tend to his famous flow.

“I’ve been asked twice this week by people if I have a hairdryer they can borrow; they were like, ‘Tommy will definitely have one’. But I don’t carry a hairdryer and I don’t actually do that much [to it],” he explained.

Fleetwood’s British Olympic team-mate Paul Casey confirmed the 30-year-old’s low-maintenance approach to his hair.

“I’m sharing an apartment with Tommy this week and he doesn’t work hard on it; it’s all natural talent,” he said.

Time will tell whether Fleetwood’s natural locks or Smith’s manicured melon are enough to secure an Olympic medal. Play gets underway in round one at 8:30 AEST Thursday.

[Fleetwood Image: Getty]