It’s the fans that create Cup joy
TOMMY Fleetwood has taken a “backwards” approach to his schedule this season as he bids to claim a first major title.
Fleetwood, who celebrated his 30th birthday last week, finished as runner-up in the 2018 US Open and was also second behind Shane Lowry in the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
“Majors are your careerchangers,” the Ryder Cup star said ahead of the weekend’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he finished joint sixth.
“And this year I have planned the schedule a little bit more around the majors than in the last couple of years, so I’m going to try and prepare for them in what I feel is the best way possible for me and then back myself to play well in those tournaments.
“I’m trying to have a week off before every major and play the week before that. I feel like that’s a good run into the events for me. I think just working backwards on the schedule that way is something I’ve done a little bit differently.
“I didn’t really look at the schedule and go, ‘oh, I love these courses or I want to play here or I want to do that.’ I kind of did it backwards and then went from there. That’s the main change. I’ll see how that goes and go from there.”
Fleetwood’s approach means he is set to skip the British Masters, which he hosted in 2019, ahead of May’s US PGA Championship.
Ahead of the Open Championship at Royal St George’s he will also play in the Irish Open rather than the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, where he lost a play-off to Aaron Rai last year.
Fleetwood’s year got off to a decent start as he ended the Championship in joint sixth on 10 under alongside Chris Paisley and Matt Wallace. Tyrrell Hatton overturned Rory McIlroy’s lead to win the event by four shots on 18 under.
Fleetwood had remained in the hunt for a third tournament victory after an impressive fightback at the Rolex Series event.
Fleetwood was three over par after 10 holes and 11 strokes off the pace when play was suspended due to bad light on the opening day, following a three-hour fog delay, only to battle back on Friday and pull himself into contention.
The two-time Abu Dhabi champion made the most of the calm morning conditions to salvage an opening-round 71 before posting a bogeyfree 67 under a strengthening breeze to jump up the leaderboard and get to six under.
“I tried to force a few golf shots playing in the wind, tried too hard to hit good golf shots and didn’t do the things that we work on,” Fleetwood said about his opening-day display.
“Missed some putts, hit a few bad wedges and it was an all-round bad ten holes.
“Today (Friday), I did things a lot better. Did what we discussed in my golf swing and drove it really, really well there this afternoon and that made such a big difference in the wind. I hit some great irons, holed out really well and didn’t really give anything away, so it was a much better day.”
The Englishman holed a five-footer to save par on the 11th - his opening shot of the morning - and fired his tee shot to four feet to pick up a shot at the parthree next, before following a 10-foot birdie at the 15th with back-to-back gains over his closing two holes to get back under par.
Fleetwood birdied two of the first three holes of his second round and added a tap-in at the parfive 18th to reach the turn in 33, with the world No 19 then rolling in a 10-footer at the second and adding another at the ninth - his final hole - to close out a blemish-free day.
Speaking about the putt on the 11th hole, Fleetwood added: “I looked at it, looked at Finno [caddie Ian Finnis] and we both thought we’ll cut our losses, save it and come back tomorrow. That was probably the best thing we did, really.
“I’ll be honest, probably wasn’t going to go in last night, I have a feeling I might have missed it! Slept on it, hit a good one this morning and stiffed it on 12 and got playing again and got going.”
Fleetwood, who had briefly led during round three, remained in contention after a third birdie of the front nine took him within one shot of the lead at the halfway point.
That would be the last birdie of his round though and a bogey on the 16th was followed by a double bogey on the 17th as his challenge faded.
The Abu Dhabi Championship was the first event to offer Race to Dubai and qualifying points since the Covid-19 pandemic halted proceedings last March.
The four European players who earn the most Race to Dubai points and the five who collect most world ranking points will qualify for Europe’s 2021 Ryder Cup team.
SOUTHPORT golfer Tommy Fleetwood said he was struggling to envisage what a Ryder Cup without fans would look and feel like.
The 43rd Ryder Cup event is set to take place at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin, in September this year, with a decision on whether or not spectators will be permitted to attend yet to be taken as the world battles the Covid pandemic.
Fleetwood said: “I want fans to be there. I don’t know what the answer is if we’ve missed a Ryder Cup for three years. I really don’t know. But I would say, please, let’s have fans at the Ryder Cup. I think that’s only right.
“You could play one Ryder Cup in your life and your experience be like, nobody around.
“And I think arguably the biggest part of the Ryder Cup is the fans and the crowd and the interaction you get. There’s 50,000, 60,000,
70,000 people watching the Ryder Cup and there’s four matches on the golf course.
“How many people talk about them standing on the first [shot] of the Ryder Cup and not being able to get the ball on the tee?
“Or tell stories of their first tee experience?
“Or having their big Ryder Cup moment?
“I holed a putt on the 16th on the Friday morning, which I’ve watched over and over again.
“And you listen to the noise when that putt goes in and you watch the emotions.
“And from a player’s perspective, I straight away just thought, and I still do, to be fair, that it’s just not the same.
“And I feel like it should always be with the fans. And the home fans make such a difference, the support.”