By Kent Gray
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Tommy Fleetwood channelled his inner Martin Luther King at the DP World Tour Championship on Friday, both with actions and words, to haul himself back into the Race to Dubai conversation he’s dominated for so much of this European Tour season.

“Yeah, it’s all about how you react to stuff, isn’t it,” the current No.1 said after responding to his disappointing opening 73 on Thursday with a superb second round 65.

The seven under par loop of Earth saw the 27-year-old Englishman soar 42 places up the leaderboard to -6, three behind clubhouse leader Tyrrell Hatton who flirted with Justin Rose’s 2012 course record before settling for a 63.

“Yesterday I was really happy with how I reacted early on [to an opening double bogey and a being three over after three holes]. Got off to a bad start and got back into it and I didn’t really play great. Missed a couple of putts and it was like one of them rounds.

“ So, yeah, it was a big day [today]. You get over it, you move on, and still three rounds of golf left to play; now there’s two. Swing felt a lot better. I was on the putting green till dark last night. You know, today was just a much better day.”

Rose snatched the projected lead in the Race to Dubai standings with an opening 66 and had just started his second round as Fleetwood fronted the media. So do you think you’ve sent your pal a message after snatching the momentum back, for now anyway?

“I don’t know if he’ll be bothered or not,” Fleetwood said of Rose. “He’s so strong mentally and he knows what he’s doing. He’s been in a lot of situations like this.

“This is my first time. But I’m glad I’ve put my name up there. At least my name is somewhere now, rather than the wrong end of the leaderboard. You still have to go out and shoot scores. He’s on amazing form at the moment. You know, I won’t put him past it carrying it on and shooting another one.”

Fleetwood was just pleased to fight back with a round peppered with eight birdies and a solitary bogey on the 7th.

“You’re always disappointed when you don’t shoot a good score. But I still didn’t count myself out of the tournament at all. If I had shot the same score today, then I would, but luckily I got a good score today.

“The only thing that you can control is the tournament in a way. Race to Dubai I can’t do anything about the maths or what Justin does or anything. So the sole focus was to try to get back into this event today. I knew I needed a low one. You don’t know what the scores are going to be this afternoon but definitely a lot better off than I was at the start of the day.”

Fleetwood told the media in the countdown to Dubai that he hoped for a “boring” end of the season. He knew it was never going to be that easy but is happy to have set up an exciting weekend.

“It’s not boring. It’s not boring. Yeah, you know, all the better for TV.”

It’s not a bad watch live at JGE either. Roll on moving day.