Tommy Fleetwood has heard all about the gamesmanship criticism he received on Sunday. Although he would also like to explain it: just the man Real had to use the toilet.
Fleetwood shot a six-under 66 in the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday, which was good enough to catch 54-hole leader Aaron Rai and force a play-off. Rai was looking for his first DP World Tour win in five years; Fleetwood was looking for his second in as many starts.
But after the cards were signed and the play-off was set to begin on the par-5 18th hole, Rai reached the tee first and had to wait for Fleetwood to arrive.
Sky Sports commentator Andrew Coltart objected.
“This is what I don’t like,” Coltart said on Sky Sports broadcast. “For me, they both have to arrive on the tee at the same time. I don’t like that. It gives the person who arrives on the tee last an advantage.”
Colleague Wayne Riley added that it may have been “a bit of gamesmanship.”
It turned out not to be that complicated.
In preparation for this week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, Fleetwood was asked if he had heard those comments. He had done just that, he said, calling it “disappointing.” Then he explained.
“I’m just saying that from my standpoint, I just played 36 holes with Aaron, we are incredibly close and incredibly supportive of each other in our careers,” Fleetwood said Tuesday. “I was desperate for the toilet, and as soon as I was done, I ran to the tee and that’s how it happened. So yeah, you know, I hope everyone knows I wouldn’t do something like that, and I’m thinking about Aaron’s world too. … But that’s what happened. We walked down the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet, I told Miguel [Viador, the tournament director]’Can I please go to the toilet?’ He said yes. I ran to the toilet; ran to the tee.”
Rai birdied the first playoff hole to win. Fleetwood and Rai will be paired together again on Thursday for the opening round of the DP World Tour’s season-ending tournament. And regardless of Fleetwood’s finish, he is set to complete one of the best seasons of his career.
In addition to winning the Tour Championship in August, earning his first career PGA Tour victory, he also won the DP World India Championship last month and even led the European Ryder Cup team to a road victory in New York in September.
“I still feel fresh, still motivated and really ready to give everything in the last week of the season,” said Fleetwood. “So it’s been a great season, but yeah, we still have a week to go, and we’ll just keep taking it one day at a time.”
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