FEEL THE HEAT
Fleetwood piles the pressure on Dubai rival Wiesberger
Tommy Fleetwood has ramped up the mind games ahead of his tee-time with Bernd Wiesberger today as he seeks to reel in the Austrian over the final leg of the Race to Dubai.
Two years ago, the Englishman put in a jittery performance when in the same position as the frontrunner Wiesberger and was almost caught by Justin Rose, before claiming the biggest honour of his career.
‘you think it’s going to be a lovely experience but I can promise you it doesn’t feel that way while you’re trying to get over the line,’ said Fleetwood. ‘Sure, the chances are that Bernd will do it. He’s playing well and has a good lead. But I know what it’s like when I had Justin playing great golf chasing up behind me and it isn’t nice. you never know what is going to happen.’
While Fleetwood was leaping into contention with his first win of the year in South Africa on Sunday, Wiesberger was closing with a costly double bogey — and the nerves will only increase if he starts poorly today.
Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Fleetwood all know they can catch him with a top two finish in the final event, the DP World Tour Championship, while matt
Fitzpatrick needs to win — and they’re all fully capable of doing that. Fitzpatrick and Rahm showed their liking for the course when they won the event in 2016 and 2017 respectively, with Lowry finishing second two years ago.
As for Fleetwood, he can go out and play relaxed golf after getting a monkey off his back with his first win in almost two years.
‘It’s funny how wins change the complexion of your season,’ he said. ‘It’s like when I finished second at the open, it was my best ever finish at a major, it was obviously progress, but you’re never really satisfied because it’s not a win.
‘The season was a bit like that, a lot to be pleased about but no wins. Now I’ve got one and it does change my outlook.’
Fleetwood certainly didn’t have much time to celebrate winning the $2.5million first prize, the largest awarded on the European Tour.
‘I had 15 minutes to pack, a long flight to get here, and I slept for most of it,’ he said. ‘It’s strange, you wait so long for that winning feeling, and then there’s so much to do after it.
‘But when I get home next week, I will be celebrating then, don’t worry about that.’
This time last year, Wiesberger was just getting over a wrist injury that kept him out of the game for seven months.
Now, he’s fully aware what it would mean if he could complete his remarkable change in fortune by claiming the overall prize.
‘We’re a nation of just 100,000 registered golfers, so I know what a huge thing it would be for an Austrian to win the order of merit,’ said the 34-year-old from Vienna. ‘Right now, I’m just preparing myself for the opening tee shot, and then we’ll see what happens. I think the worst thing I could do would be to think about all the possible scenarios.’
The same applies to the two men chasing the rookie of the year title in what promises to be an intriguing sub-plot.
Scot Bob macIntyre holds a narrow 91-point lead over his playing partner today — American Kurt Kitayama.
meanwhile, the Hong Kong open next week — what would have been the first event towards the 2020 Race to Dubai — has been postponed owing to the current unrest. The hope is to play it in January.