By Kent Gray
What a year. What a player.
In the space of year (to the day), Tommy Fleetwood has celebrated his 26th and 27th birthdays, welcomed a son to the world, got married, clinched the Race to Dubai title to become European No.1 and has now claimed a third European Tour title.
His second Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Sunday (and fourth in all) was arguably the most impressive win of all, a second Falcon trophy snared with a seriously impressive back-nine of 30, six under, en-route to a 65 and a -22 total of 266.
It was blustery mastery from Fleetwood who edged English compatriot and overnight co-leader Ross Fisher by two as Rory McIlroy and Matthew Fitzpatrick shared third, a further two shots adrift.
Fleetwood finished two shots shy of Martin Kaymer’s tournament record -24 total in 2011 and joined the German as the only player to successfully defend the $3 million Desert Swing opener.
The US$500,000 payday is set to see Fleetwood rise eight spots to No.10 when the latest world rankings are released on Monday which, as it stands, makes him a lock for a Ryder Cup debut in September.
“I feel a lot more emotional, actually, than last year. I don’t know why. I just really wanted to win this one. It’s important that — I had the year of my life last year,” Fleetwood said afterwards.
“I know everybody has been talking about it, and just backing it up is the next big thing, really. So to keep it going and hit form, and to defend, it’s a weird feeling coming to defend a trophy because it’s yours and you don’t want to give it away. So keeping a hold of it for another year is very nice.”
The win showed Fleetwood is a real deal after his career year in 2017. So, is there a sense of validation for yourself?
“Yeah and no. You just never know how you’re going to come out after winter. Just felt really good this week. Yeah, validation, you could say it, but it’s nice to show to yourself that you are still moving forward. That score around this golf course is very, very good, so I’m very pleased.”
