There’s just no stopping Fleetwood
How do you follow up a year featuring two tournament wins, a rise of 100 places in the world rankings, a wedding, the birth of your first child and winning the Race to Dubai?
At the end of another extraordinary week in the life of Tommy Fleetwood, it’s fair to say the unassuming and popular Englishman has made one heck of a start.
when you leave Rory McIlroy shaking his head in admiration, you know you’ve conjured up something special — and it’s hard to imagine we’ll see a better back nine this year than the one Fleetwood delivered to retain his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The luckless Ross Fisher finished runner-up, with McIlroy joint third alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.
‘with the wind gusting so hard and the pins where they were, I thought a 69 would be a good score, so Tommy shooting 65 is seriously impressive,’ said McIlroy, who shot 70.
‘I can’t tell you how good it was to come home in just 30 shots in those conditions but there seems no stopping him at the moment.
‘He’s just a great addition at the top of the elite game and he’s going to be some asset for Europe at the Ryder Cup.’
Fleetwood, who could well crack the top ten when the world rankings are released today — he was 188th just 18 months ago — said he was more emotional after this triumph than last year’s.
‘when you’re defending a trophy, you become very possessive, and I think you could see that I didn’t want to give it up over the back nine,’ he said. ‘obviously I had the biggest year of my life in 2017 but I was desperate to show I could back it up and move on to the next big thing.’
He did that all right. Is there a better feeling in golf than winning a trophy firing on all cylinders over the back nine on Sunday?
Standing on the tenth tee, he was trailing the leader, Fisher, who had gone to the turn in 32 strokes, by no fewer than five shots.
Birdies at the tenth and 12th holes were followed by the stroke of fortune at the 13th that would prove the turning point.
A rare poor drive and Fleetwood could easily have been stymied behind a tree. Instead, he had a clear view of the green, played a gorgeous approach to 12 feet and knocked in the putt.
It’s at such moments that great players define themselves and take full advantage of their fortune and the surge in momentum.
Fleetwood knocked in putts from 20 feet at the 15th and 35 feet at the 16th. ‘You do wonder if it’s your day again when those things happen,’ he said.
At the 18th, he capped it all off by playing ‘perhaps the best up-and-down of my life’ to seal yet another birdie.
So, 30 shots for nine holes. In a 25miles-per-hour wind. with everything on the line. Rory was right — this was preposterously good.
Sergio Garcia, the Masters champion, was dreaming of a cold shower after it took a 27-hole final day in tropical heat to win the Singapore open.
The Spaniard finished 14 under par to win his 33rd career title from Satoshi Kodaira and Shaun Norris.
‘It may have looked easy, but it wasn’t,’ Garcia said. ‘It was a tough day and a tough week. It was hard to play 27 holes under this heat. I can’t wait to get a cold shower.’
Garcia, 38, had to resume his third round at dawn, after play was suspended on Saturday because of lightning. He has now won three titles in 12 months, including the Masters.