DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 2022

Tommy Fleetwood

Jumeirah Golf Estates

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 2022 DP World Tour Championship Dubai. Delighted to be joined here in the Media Centre by Tommy Fleetwood. Tommy, arriving in Dubai after returning to the winner's circle at Nedbank, now you've had a few days for it to sink in, just how does it feel being back in the winner's circle?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it feels -- it feels great. It feels like -- I think overall the overall feeling of last week was how much I enjoyed being back in contention coming down the stretch with Shubhankar and Ryan.

I've said for a while that I feel like my game's been on the right track and I've been doing a lot of the right things. I've been driving it so much better. And if there's ever an example of where you have to drive it well, it's last week.

Yeah, Nedbank already has such a special place in my heart, so it's just added to that now. And it was -- just overall it was great. Winning is amazing, and I don't do anywhere near as much as I would like to. So, yeah, I feel it when it does come around.

THE MODERATOR: Speaking of winning, you had some great success in the UAE over the years. What do you enjoy about this part of the world?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: We're lucky that we get to -- with the DP World Tour, we obviously get to come here quite a lot. And I think with that you do grow a comfort with being somewhat familiar.

I've enjoyed the tournaments in the UAE all the way through my year. And I feel like the course is settled for -- always felt is course is settled for good ball striking. Look at the players that seem to do really well around these courses, a lot of the top, top players seem to do well or win, win these tournaments.

So if you're going to compete, if you're going to do well in these events, you have to play well, you have to be on your game.

So I've always enjoyed that. Yeah, it's nice coming back to a place where -- I've actually been accepting this, I've actually never done that great in terms of I've not had like a -- consistently been in contention, but I still think there's a lot of me around this golf course, and looking forward to getting out there this week.

THE MODERATOR: Busy day yesterday, quite a special day as well here in Jumeirah Golf Estates. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, so that was the -- it was the opening of my -- the second Tommy Fleetwood Academy, with DP World joined up and DP World Performance Centre, and Tommy Fleetwood Academy is down there.

So that, for me, alongside my career, a big thing for me is I always want to grow the game, and I want to bring what's great about the game of golf to as many people as possible.

Had the opportunity to do that in Southport for the last few years with Norman Marshall running it, and then the team here at Jumeirah Golf Estates now can take that and run with it here.

And very, very lucky that we get the chance to see that. And I was massively excited that that was the opening day yesterday, and it was really cool just coming off what was a great day on Sunday. Again, Monday for me. Things like that, they're part of my dreams as well.

So being in front of the people that showed up to come to the opening, and, you know, we'll spend the rest of the time now trying to get as many people into golf as possible and actually driving as many people to serve the dreams, whatever they may be, through to the academy.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Tommy. Questions?

Q. Tommy, are we late in hearing that you've taken up a residence now in Dubai? And I also wanted to ask you about the academy as well, before you were asked that, but how much is your personal involvement going to be with the academy, and what are your visions for it?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we -- yeah, I am a resident in the UAE. My family lives here now, kids go to school here. So that's -- Dubai is where normal life is for us at this time. So that's been great, and we've settled in really well. Everybody's been great.

And the academy, you know, I've just -- I've lived my life playing the game. I've spent a long, long time near the end of the game, but also I have friends that play it for fun, and I have kids that play, I have my dad that plays.

So I feel like I'm constantly learning as much as I possibly can about the game. And when I go back to what I think is great about the game of golf, I do want to bring that to as many people as possible.

And I want to use what is required in golf from a skill level, a physical level, a mental level to help people in any walk of life achieve what they can, really. I believe from that, from what I have learned, that I'm able to pass on.

I'm not a coach. I'm a teammate. We have an amazing team of coaches that will be very involved in the day-to-day life of the academy, and they run it from that end.

But as much involvement as I can have and be around, and that is great. And to bring what I continually learn from being out here, from getting to play golf with my kids and friends and my dad and things like that, and anything I think I can bring to help people push themselves better in life through the academy is what I want to do.

Q. And, Tommy, this is now your home course. You've played here, played a few games. Is it anything different that you want to do from the past years and why you should be more confident apart from last -- what happened in the way you drove the ball?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of good rounds around this golf course. There's only really one year where I put it all together for four rounds, but I had an amazing week that week.

Yeah, I think a lot of people here -- I know I probably have played here more than anybody else over the last couple of months. But a lot of people here have so much experience on this golf course. We've been coming here for a long time, and it's got such a stable place in the Tour.

So I think a lot of people have experience on the golf course. So that doesn't really count. But I think having played here a lot, I think I can go out there, and the biggest challenge is just to play, play freely, go out and try and enjoy it.

And you're either going to play well or you're not going to play that great. But I just have to keep making sure that I keep my mind focused on what I have been doing and try and let those results come to me, and I believe in that.

But I'm looking forward to going out and playing. I think from what I was playing here the week before last week, they had the rough a lot thicker than what I think they've had it before in the past. Which, if you're playing well, it's not going to make that much difference because you're going to be in the fairways. But I think the variety from a bad driving day or not quite being on your game will be a bit lighter this year.

That's what I think this course will bring this year. So looking forward to seeing how it plays, and looking forward to seeing how I do.

Q. I enjoyed your comments, talking about your son and his, shall we say, constructive criticisms about your golf. Has he cut you any slack?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Not particularly. He's just accepted that I might actually have a trophy now. The first time when I saw him after the round, he was like: You actually won.

But, yeah, he's been -- it's fun. He's my harshest critic, obviously, but he's also my biggest support as well. He's been asking where the trophy is, and I say, well, we don't quite get the trophy yet. They send us that later down the line.

So maybe when he actually sees it, he'll believe that I've done it.

Q. Just a more general one as well. A lot has happened in the golfing world this year. How do you reflect on it looking back and obviously as we move into next season?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, for me, this year has always been about getting myself consistently playing how I want to play. Personally, my own game, I've been saying I've been doing a lot of good stuff for a while.

You know, that's driving the ball, driving the ball is something I massively had to improve this year, and I've been doing that. Over a decent period of time, results have started to get there. I've had a few more top fives. And then eventually with the win last week.

So it's been a year for me of, like, consistent progression, really. There's obviously been a lot going on in the game, but I've had a very strong self-focus of knowing what I've been doing all year and what my plans have been, and they've never changed.

And I've enjoyed it. I've done well in two or three of the majors. I've had some really good results. Had some good results in some big events. Again, I won again for the first time in a while.

Someone brought up I've enjoyed the year a lot, and I've enjoyed feeling like I've been progressing each and every day. And that's been great. So I don't feel like I'm going to stop now. I feel like I'm doing a lot of the things I want to keep doing.

Q. Could you please speak a little bit about your academy here, if you're aiming to have local people to play, and how are you going to do that?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, the goal is to get as many people playing the game of golf as possible. Again, I go back to there's a lot of amazing things that the game of golf does. There's a lot of amazing things it's done for me. And I want to bring that to as many people as possible.

I know DP World would love more local people, as many local people as possible to play. The ultimate goal is to have somebody from the academy winning on the DP World Tour. That would be absolutely amazing if we could do that, and that's what we'll continue to strive to do.

But from whether the dream is to win majors or whether the dream is to, you know, be a dentist, I don't really care. I do think that the academy and the game of golf can help you in so many ways achieve other things in life.

THE MODERATOR: Tommy, thank you for your time.