Fleetwood hopes his new irons strike it rich
I’ve said it before, the course kind of battered me for a few years. Then had two years where I’ve won
Tommy Fleetwood
abu dhabi — Tommy Fleetwood will be using a brand new set of clubs as he aims to win the $7 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for the third time in three years.
A victory on Saturday (the tournament starts on Wednesday) would make the Englishman the first player to win a fully-sanctioned European Tour event three times in a row after Ernie Els at the Heineken Classic in 2004. But the 27-year-old from Southport will be without his trusted irons that he used for over six years.
The Nike VR irons that helped Fleetwood win three tournaments and climb from 188th position in the world rankings in August 2016 to his current No.14 are no longer available after the company stopped manufacturing equipment.
Fleetwood is obviously hoping to reproduce the kind of form that saw him win in 2017 with a score of 17-under par and then last year on 22-under. That came after missing four cuts in his previous five starts at the National course of Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
“I’ve said it before, the course kind of battered me for a few years. Then had two years where I’ve won,” said Fleetwood.
“This is a course where if you play well, you can do well and if you don’t, you kind of struggle. Just so happens the last two years, I played really well, kind of like tee-to-greened it to death. I made very little bogeys over two years, and ultimately that’s ended up in me winning a couple times.
“But again, it’s not really to say that this year will be the same. The rough is a little bit thicker this year. It’s a slightly different test. It’s a fresh start for everybody. People don’t play for a while and whether they had a bad 2018 or an amazing one, they start 2019 all the same.”
On his change of club, Fleetwood said he had been testing various products for some time and felt he just needed to make the decision.
“I’ve got a new driver and I’ve got new irons this week. Eventually, you have to try them in a tournament, otherwise it means nothing. Going on the course is the next step. At some point, I need a more long-term solution. If you think about it, throughout my career I’ve had the same set of clubs for six, seven years.”
Also in the field is Brooks Koepka, who is ranked second in the world after winning the US Open and the PGA Championship last year. —