BACK ME!
Confident Tommy turns tipster as he heads for showdown with Rose
Head-to-head contests happen so rarely in golf it’s hardly surprising the prospect of tommy Fleetwood versus Justin Rose for the order of Merit, or the Race to dubai as it is now known, is viewed with particular relish.
two englishmen, two great ball strikers and twowo nice guys, it is no shockck to learn neither is interested eres in mind games in the first round off the season’s final event, the dP World tour Championship, today.
Respect is thee name of the game as Fleetwood closes in on a lifetime ambition and Rose tries to deny him by completing a closing flourish for the ages.
‘It might not have been good for me but you have to admire the way Justin has played down the stretch to win his last two events,’ said Fleetwood, who will still begin with a healthy lead that means Rose needs a top-five finish here to make his opponent sweat.
‘ he’s shown an admirable ability throughout his career to pull off the right shot at the right time.’ Rose added: ‘I just enjoy watching tommy play golf and I like chatting with him. I love his iron play and that controlled finish. It’s something I’m trying to emulate.’
Fleetwood, who is 27 in January, is almost the same age as 37-year-old Rose was when he won the order of Merit for the first time 10 years ago. ‘I still thinkthi of that win as one of my biggest achievements,’ menachievements,’ said Rose. ‘ YYou’re taking on wworld- class players oover the course of a year. In many ways that means more tthan beating them in anany given week. ‘then you put your namname on a trophy that’s been dominated by europe’s greatest: Faldo and Seve and Lyle and Woosie, and Monty and Monty and Monty and Monty — and Monty and Monty and Monty and Monty. (Colin Montgomerie has won the order of Merit eight times).
‘I felt with that win I had really achieved something to justify the hype created by the Birkdale boy (Rose finished fourth in the open at the Southport course as a 17-year-old in 1998).’
Nothing sums up Fleetwood’s stunning rise more than the fact his third place finish in the first event in hong Kong last November meant he was ranked in the top 10 in the Race to dubai for the first time in his career.
he reached No 1 with a victory in abu dhabi in January and has maintained his advantage. ‘It’s right up there with the things I want to win in golf,’ he said.
there is a third man who can claim the big prize but it would take an extraordinary sequence of events for Sergio Garcia to triumph. all eyes will be on Fleetwood and Rose, with the former sounding confident.
asked who he would back if he were a betting man, Fleetwood showed the requisite steel behind that gentle persona. ‘With my lead? I would put my money on me,’ he said. ‘every day of the week.’