Tommy Fleetwood tees off on the 9th hole, his 18th, at Abu Dhabi Golf Club during the opening round of the 2018 Abu Dhabi SHBC Championship. Photo: David Cannon

By Kent Gray
Tommy Fleetwood speaks like a starry-eyed fan but plays very much like the man.

Continuing on from where he left off in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago and more recently as the freshly minted Race to Dubai champion, Fleetwood got his defence of the Falcon trophy, and New Year, off to a flyer on Thursday. A bogey and “stress-free” 66 earned the 26-year-old Englishman a share of the first round lead with Japan’s Hideto Tanihara at the 13th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – and another scarcely believable scrapbook moment.

Fleetwood might be the reigning European No.1 but in a three-ball featuring the best player on the planet and one of the best golfers of his generation, the Southport lad humbly knows his station, even in the upper echelons of the game. The thing is, he isn’t playing like a lesser golfing mortal as illustrated by his three and six shot eclipsing of playing partners Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson respectively.

“Yeah, I think during my career, I think I’m going to struggle to find a better three ball, really. Doesn’t matter how long I play. That might be the best one I get,” said the fan-like Fleetwood after his man-like opener left him a shot clear of five players on -5: Thomas Pieters, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wieseberger, Sam Brazel and Fabrizio Zanotti.

“I don’t know what I’ll do in my career, nobody knows what the future holds, but I think these two might be going down in the history books. So it will be nice to tell them [maybe infant son Frankie when he’s old enough] that I played these two in a three-ball.

“All you can do is concentrate on your own game…set out to play the best you can.”

Fleetwood’s best on Thursday was mightily impressive. His six-under loop of The National is ominously one better than his start last year and the way he played, and putted in particular, there’s no reason why he couldn’t go on to snare successive Falcons.

There were 18 greens in regulation and some deft putting including a birdie fright on the 3rd (his 12th), a delightful downhill left-to-righter from long range that burnt the cup on the next hole and a masterful two-putt from around 100 feet on the par 3 7th.

“Yeah, it really was [a terrific start],” Fleetwood said. “Had control of my ball really from the get-go. Felt like I did what you need to do well around this golf course, which is drive it well, hit your irons, but you can’t really be too greedy all the time. Then sort of my pace putting was really good. Very stress-free.”

Tanihara also went bogey-free, rattling off four birdies going out before a decisive gain on his lst hole, the 9th, to join Fleetwood.

There are 34 players within three shots of the lead and the major surprise was that Johnson, fresh from his eight shot romp to victory in Hawaii a fortnight ago, wasn’t amongst them.

The world No.1 had four birdies but as many bogeys, including a watery dropped shot on his final hole (the 9th), and struggled around the greens. Still, his 72 matched his opening round 12 months ago when he ended up just a shot shy of Fleetwood. With his power off the tee, the 2016 U.S. Open champion is far from done even after the dusty start.