Fleetwood is ‘a safe bet’ to fend off 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 two genuinely nice guys, it is no shock to learn that neither is interested in any mind games in the first round of the season’s final event, the DP World Tour Championship, today. Respect is the name of the game, as Fleetwood closes in on a lifetime ambition and Rose attempts 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 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. In some ways, it’s something I am 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 ten years ago. ‘I still think of that win as one of my biggest achievements in the game,’ said Rose. ‘You’re taking on world-class players over the course of a year and in many ways that means more than beating them in any given week. ‘And then you put your name on a trophy that’s been dominated by Europe’s greatest. ‘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 amateur in 1998).’ 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.’