"He’s got no idea how much I loved that" – Tommy Fleetwood shares a special moment with his childhood hero at the Olympics

Tommy Fleetwood took to Instagram to share a picture with one of his childhood heroes Shigeki Maruyama. Fleetwood is currently competing in the men's golf event at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Guyancourt, France.

Shigeki Maruyama is a former professional golfer with 14 professional wins to his name. He won 10 of them on the Japan Golf Tour and three on the PGA Tour. Sharing a photo with his 'childhood hero' on his Instagram handle, Tommy Fleetwood captioned the post:

"So when I was a kid one of my childhood heroes was Shigeki Maruyama, he’s here this week working with Hideki and he asked me for a picture!! He’s got no idea how much I loved that!! @maruyamashigekijuniorf_golf," Fleetwood wrote.

Tommy Fleetwood started well in the first round of the men's golf competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He carded a bogey-free 67 on the first day at Le Golf. He scored two birdies on 3rd and 8th on the front nine while two birdies on 11th and 14th on the back nine.

Fleetwood is currently tied for sixth position with a score of -4. He is tied with Alex Noren, Ryan Fox, Sepp Straka, Scottie Scheffler, Sami Valimaki, Erik van Rooyen and Jon Rahm.

Hideki Matsuyama is on the top of the leaderboard with a score of 8-under 63. After the round, he said (via PGA Tour):

"Fortunately, I was able to keep the ball in the fairway and left myself with a number of chances to score. So in that regard, I'm satisfied with the end result. But also still a number of things I could improve on. Definitely off to a great start and hopefully I can keep the momentum going for the rest of the week."

Both Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood are paired together for the second round with Wyndham Clark. They'll tee off at 5:44 am ET.

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A look at Tommy Fleetwood's performance in 2024

Tommy Fleetwood has had a decent 2024 season with one win on the DP World Tour. Fleetwood won the Dubai Invitational in January of this year by one stroke against Rory Mcllroy and Thriston Lawrence.

Fleetwood has four finishes in top-10 and 11 finishes in top-26 this year. The seven-time European Tour winner's best performances came at the Masters Tournament (T3), Valero Texas Open (T7), and the Genesis Invitational (T10).

The English Golfer is currently 20th in the PGA Tour's FedExCup standings. The Southport native comes to Le Golf National from three top-20 finishes in the last five starts.

Let's take a look at Tommy Fleetwood's performances in the 2024 season so far:

2024 PGA Tour Tournaments

• The Sentry: T47 (70-70-69-70, 279, -13)
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: T31 (69-72-68, 209, -7)
• The Genesis Invitational: T10 (70-68-71-67, 276, -8)
• Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard: Missed Cut (73-80, 153, +9)
• THE PLAYERS Championship: T35 (70-72-69-71, 282, -6)
• Valero Texas Open: T7 (71-69-72-68, 280, -8)
• Masters Tournament: T3 (72-71-72-69, 284, -4)
• RBC Heritage: T49 (71-72-69-69, 281, -3)
• Wells Fargo Championship: T13 (71-70-71-70, 282, -2)
• PGA Championship: T26 (72-69-69-65, 275, -9)
• RBC Canadian Open: T21 (67-70-64-72, 273, -7)
• the Memorial Tournament pres. by Workday: T20 (69-73-73-76, 291, +3)
• U.S. Open: T16 (70-75-70-68, 283, +3)
• Travelers Championship: 15 (67-67-66-65, 265, -15)
• Genesis Scottish Open: T34 (65-69-66-71, 271, -9)
• The Open: Missed Cut (76-75, 151, +9)

2023-24 DP World Tournaments

• Dubai Invitational: 1 (66-69-63-67, 265, -19)
• Hero Dubai Desert Classic: T14 (69-70-70-73, 282, -6)