Matt Adams recaps Tommy Fleetwood’s narrow win at the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour.
Now the golf that took place last week was quite distinctive Rory mooy who started out a tear at the Dubai Invitational ultimately lost to Tommy Fleetwood how did he do it well he did it with a three putt from two feet that caused quite a bit of attention on
Social media and more and Tommy Fleet would completely to his credit after Rory hit it into the uh penalty area off the 18t Tommy Fleetwood buried that hole to win by one so let’s start with Rory maroy with what I just told you in more do you measure the week by what you
Failed to do or by how close you came I think for first week back out it was a a really positive week um you know if I’m looking back on today uh you know I I hit a a t t- shot in the water with an iron on the front
Line had that three putt from three feet on the on the part three and then you know the water ball in the last so you know I think you know first week back out I think you’re going to expect some of those sloppy mistakes and um unfortunately for me those mistakes came
At the wrong time today but um you know I’ll I’ll uh you know I’ll reflect on it and and learn from from today and um there was still a lot of good stuff in there but just need to tidy up some of the uh some of the edges and if I do
That you know I I feel good going into next week just sort of more of the the shots I’m comfortable with um you know I tried to hit a t- shot on the last that um I probably wanted to to hit a shot because that was what was most
Comfortable but I I tried to go with the shot that I feel like I should hit um and then I wanted to try to turn one over because it was the only way I was going to be able to carry the bunker on the right too so um just a bad swing at
The end there uh and then just again just a little sloppy a lack of concentration with a t-shot on on six into the water uh and then the same thing with the putt on on 13 or on 14 as well so um just a couple little mental
Errors in there that you know hopefully I’ll clean up for for next next week yeah it was it was a great day um it wasit a bit back and forth I went three behind after 10an and then uh made three bres in a row and on 11 12 and 13 to to
Get back tied for the lead um and then yeah I mean look I’m really happy for Tommy it’s you know he’s played some incredible golf for the last year without actually getting a win uh you know so to for him to get the win here is uh is is great for him it’ll
It’ll do his confidence the world of good and you know hopefully he he kicks on from it but um yeah know it was it was a good battle out there and and hopefully I have many more with him this year and and and for the years ahead as
To Rory mroy and the talk about Rory three putting from inside of three feet I think the first thing we have to do is be fair to Rory maroy I know in some ways people looked at that and said is this the rearing up of Rory having
Trouble with the flat stick once again In fairness Roy take in this stat his that three putt again was from just outside of 2 feet but inside of the 3 feet range he was for 2023 632 for 634 attempts and that was from 3 feet or closer meaning that Rory mroy was
99.68% as his rate there you can see the leaderboard alongside me with Tommy Fleet with finishing one stroke in front of mooy and Lawrence both on 18 underpar Franchesco molari had a hole in one in a really good week finishing on 15 under par perhaps he is finding his form again
As we enter into 20124 he who definitely had his form was Tommy Fleetwood who had to enjoy the battle with Rory maroy here he is following yeah it’s great I think um yeah that winning feeling is um is is amazing and uh it’s been it’s been a
It’s been a really cool week um felt like I uh played better and better throughout the week um had a great day yesterday and then today um playing with Rory and coming down the stretch um In Contention and and trying to win a golf tournament was
Uh was really really cool and it’s been nice you know being back in Dubai for the start of the year uh it was it was it’s always very special when you play with um you know one of your friends uh one of the best players in the world challenging yourself against those guys
I think um like I said just before uh Rory’s been a very U very supportive influence on me um you know over theast you know since I’ve known him really but in particular you know since we’ve been close and um I’ve watched him do uh amazing things down the stretching golf
Tournaments and uh today today was my turn but yeah being out there with him somebody you’re comfortable with and somebody that you can really uh you know strive to achieve you know half of what he’s done in his career um was great and uh yeah that’s that’s what we want to do
As players you know play against the best players in the world and um and see how your game holds up well I was I was playing really really well I think um the front nine in particular there was times where it was frustrating I actually um I actually puted well on the
Front nine and um I lipped out a couple of times with good puts that you know very shallow puts that I slightly misread there was another couple of chances on top of that um but overall I was I was playing very very good and and
I sort of even after 10 felt like I was playing well enough to kick on um but didn’t so it was just a case of staying patient Rory played amazing on the bat nine he was so aggressive he made so many birdies um and yeah like especially
After 16 I think um still on that 17th T it was frustrating to then you know be all of a sudden be one behind um when you’ve LED all day but um happy with how I sort of trusted myself um happy with my attitude I think that’s something
That’s very important and and um and yeah just you know the last two holes it came down to those and then to finish those birdie birdie feels great but um you know know just happy with how I handled myself all day really yeah one of the hardest things to do I think the
Closer you get to the Finishing Line it’s easy to predict things easy to tell yourself what you might need to do what other people might do like I say I was I was I was playing very solid I even h a pretty good iron shot into 16 and it and
It seems like it took a firm bounce and went over the back and then my short game which had been so good all week just a bit of a clumsy chip Mr pot um but just keep playing just keep going and you never know I’ve had um I’ve had
Plenty of times where somebody has um you know finished well against me when I’ve not quite done enough and today it was just you know my turn to to walk through the door today um and uh it was you know just one of those things but
Like you learn every time you play um good bad whatever it is you always should learn every time you play and the more you put yourself in these positions you uh you keep figuring out who you want to be as a player when you’re out there what attitude you want to have how
You want to play and you just work towards that and today was a good day for me winning is very you know it’s important it’s a great feeling um gives you confidence to know you can do it the next time you’re in contention as well I
Think uh again I said it before if I win lose or draw today I’ve been doing the right things for a for a while now and I’ve been building on a lot of consistency and uh whatever happened today I was going to wake up tomorrow
And I was going to do the same things and keep building keep building keep building and and that’s uh that’s what’s important to me U but you know winning it’s um you know important wherever you are in the world that winning feeling um you get a sniff of that and you keep
Pushing towards that and it feels great to start the year with a win again I think the how that Tommy Fleetwood did it is so important in this because not only in the final round but even the day before that Tommy Fleetwood kept answering Rory marroy it became a
Point especially in the back nine that he was referencing where it was a punch counter punch aair it was a heavyweight bout because there were many many birdies thrown at him and Tommy hung in there and again Tommy to birie the last to take down Rory mroy by one even after
Rory had trouble remember Rory had a one-stroke lead into that hole so for RO for Tommy to do what he did it begs the question is this that level of confidence that he was referring to the building building building that he was just talking about that could lead him
To Victory as well on the PGA tour when he tees it up there as well
