European Tour professional Tommy Fleetwood speaks to the media ahead of the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic previewing what he expects and also speaking on coming up just short at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Champion where he finished in second place behind winner Lee Westwood.
European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood talks 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic
CLARE BODEL: Well come to the Emirates Golf Club. You started with a great tied second place last woke in Abu Dhabi. You must be feel coming good coming to the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, last week was good. Spoke a couple of times, there’s a bit of unknown when you come back out. Last week, I think Thursday, I struggled Thursday I struggled, but in a good sense that I saw my tendencies come out. I saw I struggled a little bit, practiced and moved on to the next day and got better throughout the week and by the end of the week. The way I played and the way I hit my irons over the weekend, you know, I was struggling to actually build a lot of confidence and I felt really good.
You know, first week out, it’s easy to say like when I’ve done well for a few years, but it’s more the weeks where it can build a lot of momentum, but it’s not something that you put too much pressure on or look at too much. It’s just a week to build on, and it just happens to be a very big week of the year now with it being a Rolex Series Event and lucky enough to play well the last few years.
CLARE BODEL: Obviously there’s something about this part of the world that suits you. You’ve won a couple of times in Abu Dhabi, had a couple of Top-10s here and played well at the DP World. What is it about playing in the desert that you like?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think most players feel very at home when they come out here. There’s so many events now in the Middle East or the UAE; for me, you always start the year out here and hopefully you end the year here. It’s not a given but generally we always end the year in Dubai.
You get used to the golf courses. That’s one side. But I just think as I’ve been playing better, I think there is certain — there’s certain players or there’s certain like styles of golf that fit and people do well around. I’ve not always done well in the Middle East. I feel like I’ve grown to improve, and actually I feel comfortable and it is such a great place to play golf.
I always feel like when we get to this stage, you’re throwing yourself into the game and it’s the first couple of weeks out and you can practice and you feel like you want to be here and you feel really good.
By the end of the year, it’s a great thing to have such a great event and yeah, just always feel like I’m very into golf when I get here.
CLARE BODEL: Is it important, do you think, for momentum to have a good start in the desert? Obviously you won in the region before going on to win The Race to Dubai. Does that help?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It definitely helps. I don’t want to put too much pressure on it because the year goes quick, but it is a long year in general. You know, so when you play good or bad, I think it’s important to keep the same attitude, so just because you’ve done well last week, doesn’t mean you come into this week feeling great, everything’s fine. You want to prepare and play this week like you missed the cut last week almost and make sure you’re pushing. There’s things everybody wants to improve. There’s things that people have worked on over the winter that really you’re only going to find out how it goes when you get under pressure.
So you know, you don’t want to put too much pressure on it but clearly people like Shane, myself, Sergio, Danny, they have won majors after winning early on, and in particular, last year Shane and myself, and ’17, I ended up winning The Race to Dubai. It clearly makes a very nice difference if you do well.
Q. You’ve probably grown up — trying to be respectful — you’ve probably grown up reading about Lee Westwood winning victories around the world. The fact he’s won over four decades, what does it say about his longevity in the game, and as a fellow Englishman, would he be an inspiration to people like yourself?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think Lee — I think longevity, it’s going to be like the standard word used for him now. I think the thing is, you know, just because he’s — what is he, 47, 46? His swing hasn’t changed since he’s about 20 and it’s been working fine for the last three decades, so it might as well work in this one.
I think he’s in a really good place himself at the moment, and it’s a different inspiration now. Because you watch him play as a kid, and now you know, as well as he is a competitor, I class him as a friend and somebody that we can speak to and great to hang around with and learn off. I think we’re all lucky to have Lee out on the Tour and absolutely if you can aspire to somebody, Lee is a fantastic person, looking at his career and the way he’s played and how good he’s been for a long time. It’s very, very impressive. I think he’s a great person to have around.
Q. Just as a follow-up to that, obviously we know the role Lee had at The Ryder Cup in France, and got a long way to go to get back as a player, but how much of an achievement would that be if he could do that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: 100 per cent, yeah. I loved having him around. He was the vice that was around me for two or three rounds, and he had a very calming influence. I guess when you’ve been there for ten, you’re pretty used to it and he knows what he’s doing. There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be on The Ryder Cup Team. I think we’d all love to be there. As a player, I think he’s got a lot to give.
Of course people, it’s going to be something people talk about now that he’s won the first event of the year, and I actually thought he would be on The Ryder Cup Team about six months ago. I think he’s been playing consistently really, really well for a year and a half, two years, and with a win, I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be on the team.
Q. I missed the tee time over here, so I don’t know if you’ve been asked about this or not, but second at the DP World Tour Championship, second in Abu Dhabi; you must be sick and tired of being bridesmaid in the UAE?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It’s better than third. You know what, sometimes — I think one thing that I am learning is that — I think the great thing is, and the positive thing is, I’m putting myself up there now, and last year, I looked at the year and it was clearly frustrating that I had not won an event when I felt like I played some great golf.
Sometimes people just play better. You know, Jon in DP World played the best golf — he played the best golf throughout the year, really, and deserved to win The Race to Dubai. He played the best golf that week. I came up one shy last week; Lee was the best player on the weekend.
You know, there’s plenty of times that’s going to happen, but I’m not going to crumble at this at the moment. Of course, it’s so easy to look at, I missed the cut on Friday or I could have done this better. The great thing is that I’m there or thereabouts and if I can keep going that often enough and keep doing the same things, eventually get it will be my turn. I’d like to be the one that wins, but also, I’d rather be the guy that’s second or third or fifth and if I can keep my golf consistently, and if this is the level I’m playing at more often than not, then it’s a very, very good thing.
Q. Is there something about desert golf that you really like? Is there something technical about the golf course or something that really suits your eyes?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Not really. No all honesty, Abu Dhabi has felt like a hard golf course for me for a long time. I think after 2017, I turned up in 2018 and felt like it suited me a lot better but even this year there’s shots that just don’t fit my eye that often and I feel like I could do better on this course. I feel this course, I almost feel more comfortable on it than Abu Dhabi, but I haven’t played anywhere near as well on it.
I’d like to feel that the way I work and how I try and improve certain areas of my game, that generally most golf courses I feel like I’ve got a chance of competing on and doing well on. So just so happens that the Middle East has been very kind to me at the moment.
Q. Do you ever take much of an interest in the field at the start of the season? Obviously it’s been new names coming about, a 15-year-old this week, new young talent every week. Do you take an interest or do you just carry on?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I’m very self-focused, really. I love the game and I love following the game when I’m kind of not playing, if you like. I still enjoy watching it on TV.
But I think, yeah, I just think any time I come to play, it’s how do I get the best out of it. I don’t really look at rankings too often. I just think there are extra things to think about that get in the way. Players, to be honest, there’s so many new players coming through, I think so many different dynamics to the Tour these days, I think last week is a prime example of how strong the standard is. That golf course, and the way Friday played, the cut nearly went to 2-under around this golf course, and that’s an unbelievable standard.
So guys are getting younger I guess, and new faces that are coming out that are hungry and talented. It’s always changing, but all I can do is improve myself, really, so I try and stick to that.
Q. You just said that you love playing golf in the Middle East and your record is pretty impressive here. When you do win at the start of the year, is there a temptation to add a couple of events as the year goes along?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I guess so — our schedule was done and started before Christmas and we’ll pretty much stick to that. There might be one that comes out or one that gets added it in. It really won’t change much.
I guess I’m getting used to the notion the last two years; trust yourself to play well when you decide you’re going to play and not just bulk up and play. I’ve always been somebody that plays a lot, and I think that as you get better and as more things arise, if you take this year, for example, hopefully there will be a Ryder Cup.
Hopefully there will be an Olympics and hopefully I’ll get all the way through to the end of the FedEx. You know, hopefully I’ll be at DP World in a chance to win in The Race to Dubai, and I think there’s so many things that go on in the year and I think it’s important that you trust yourself and you’re going to do the work and you’re going to play well when the time comes and not just get carried away with just trying to play all the time and hope for a result, if you like.
That’s something I’ve done in the past. Maybe that’s the wrong way of putting it, but it’s just different, and as my career is progressing, hopefully it keeps going in the right direction, and it is about knowing exactly what you’re going to play and not changing it and backing yourself to play in those events.
Q. What is an ideal stretch for you? Is it two weeks, three weeks, four weeks?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Honestly, I don’t really have one. I think more than four is getting a bit carried away, and I’m not somebody that likes to play one week on and then two or three weeks off. I definitely like at least two, but no more than four and then take it from there.
Like you say, so easy if you play well for three weeks in a row, so easy to carry on because you know you’re playing well. But yeah, it’s going to run out eventually, so you need to rest up.
Q. I was going to ask you about the major venues this year. Apart from Augusta, what do you know about the other three venues? Do you feel as though when you go to majors, you have the talent to be a Major Champion?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I hope so. I’ve been very close. Things could have gone either way in one or two majors in the past.
I haven’t played St. George’s, ever, and I’ve never played Winged Foot, but I know they are obviously very classical U.S. Open and an Open venue. I played Harding Park; I played that in the match play and enjoyed it. Actually played well that week and obviously Augusta is Augusta.
The majors are the toughest tests and that’s it. They challenge every part of our game. They challenge your mental side. They challenge patience and if you’re up there with a chance to win, they challenge how ready you are to go on and win those events. Unfortunately it’s not happened for me yet, but like I say, hopefully my career is progressing in the right way to eventually become a Major Champion.
Those are really the events that change your life or change your career. They can definitely add to your career. Any time they come around, like I say, it’s a test, really, because everybody wants to win those ones. You can put so much emphasis on, which is actually right, and some people are better at winning than others. I think last year, preparation, I got a couple of things wrong; disappointed but you learn, and hopefully I’ll be better at that this year.
You’re talking about second-place finishes in the last couple events in the UAE or second-place finishes in the in majors, the positive thing is they’re second-place finishes, I’m up there plenty of times, and hopefully it’s just a matter of time and eventually it will be my time and I would love to get one whenever that is.
CLARE BODEL: Thank you, Tommy.
January 21, 2020
Dubai, UAE
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
