The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
This is just the beginning
Golf: FleetwoodreadytofollowRoseblueprintandclaimhismaidenmajor
Tommy Fleetwood has vowed to learn from his mistakes as he seeks to match the achievements of the man he narrowly beat to the title of European number one.
Fleetwood won the season-long Race to Dubai by just 58,821 points from Justin Rose after the latter’s shock late collapse in the DP World Tour championship in Dubai left him just one shot shy of the result he required.
The good friends shared a warm embrace in the scoring tent on Sunday evening and, after matching 2007 winner Rose in topping the money list, Fleetwood would love to emulate his success in majors and the Olympics.
“I hope so. That would be a nice career,” said Fleetwood, who will compete alongside
“Oneofthebest careersand animpressive mantelpiece”
former US Open champion Rose as the 2018 season gets under way in this week’s Hong Kong Open.
“I have nothing but respect for him and what he’s done in his career. He’s got one of the best careers going and he’s got an impressive mantelpiece, I’m sure.
“I’ll always have the 2017 Race to Dubai number one. It’s a big thing to achieve. After this year I’ll sit down with everyone and we’ll talk about what we do going forward.
“The big events will always be on our minds and I’d love to have a couple of majors by the time I’m done. My ultimate goal in life is to be the best player in the world. Whether I achieve it or not is another thing, but I’ll always strive for that.”
Fleetwood topped the Challenge Tour rankings in 2011 and won his first European Tour title two years later, but switched coaches in search of improvement and ended up going backwards.
The 26-year-old from Southport was ranked a lowly 188th in the world last September but has reaped the rewards of reuniting with former coach Alan Thompson and employing his friend Ian Finnis as his caddie.
“I’ve got a lot of experience in me after the last two, three years,” added Fleetwood, who won twice on the European Tour this season and was also fourth in the US Open. “I know that you can go down the wrong path very easily and I think I’ve got people around me, myself included, who know how to stay on the right path, hopefully.
“I’ll always have high expectations but we’ll see where we can go. The ultimate goal – and I think everybody in the profession should have that goal – is to try to be number one in the world.”