Tommy Fleetwood has heard all about the gamesmanship criticisms he received on Sunday. Although he’d also like to explain: the guy just really had to use the restroom.
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 playoff. Rai was searching for his first DP World Tour victory in five years; Fleetwood was looking for his second in as many starts.
But after cards were signed and the playoff was to begin on the par-5 18th hole, Rai got to the tee first and had to wait for Fleetwood to arrive.
Sky Sports commentator Andrew Coltart took issue with that.
“This is what I don’t like,” Coltart said on the Sky Sports broadcast. “To me, they’ve both got to arrive at the tee at the same time. I don’t like that. That gives the person who arrives on the tee last an advantage.”
Colleague Wayne Riley added it might have been “a little gamesmanship.”
Turns out it wasn’t quite that complicated.
Preparing for this week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, Fleetwood was asked if he had heard those comments. He had, he said, and called it “disappointing.” He then explained.
“I’m just saying from my point of view, I had just played with Aaron for 36 holes, we are unbelievably close and unbelievably supportive in each other in our careers,” Fleetwood said Tuesday. “I was desperate for the toilet, and then as soon as I was finished, I ran to the tee and that was how it happened. So yeah, you know, I would hope that everybody knows that I wouldn’t do anything like that, and I think the world of Aaron, as well. … But that’s what happened. We walked off the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet, I said to 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 made birdie on the first playoff hole to win. Fleetwood and Rai are 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’s about to cap one of the best seasons of his career.
Besides winning the Tour Championship in August to claim his first PGA Tour victory of his career, 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 feel motivated and really ready to give it my all in the last week of the season,” Fleetwood said. “So it’s been a great season but yeah, we’ve got one more week to go, and we’ll just keep taking it one day at a time.”
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