CLARE BODEL: Tommy, welcome back. It's only a couple days since we last saw you after an exciting day on Sunday over in Abu Dhabi.
You came chose to adding yet another title after a fantastic last few months. If you can just sum up the emotions of Abu Dhabi and then coming straight into Dubai.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think the first thing you think straightaway, it's always this point, when you come so close to winning, doesn't quite happen but it was an amazing week. I think there was a bunch of players who could have won on Sunday.
The two guys I played with -- I played the last two rounds with Aaron he was phenomenal; and Nicolai, I was just talking to him there. He played amazing. Had his chances and it just wasn't his day, either.
But it was a great tournament, it really, really was. I think there were so many positives for me. Again, I feel like I played so well and played so consistently throughout the week. Gave myself chances coming down the stretch. I hit great putts coming down the stretch. Had a go. Yeah, another really, really good week.
Like I say, it's easy to just feel that disappointment when you come so close. But Aaron was amazing. He totally deserves it.
And for me, another week, all the positives and now one more week to go in the season now.
CLARE BODEL: As you mentioned, last week of the season and back in Dubai, a home event for you. How special is it to have these big events in Dubai?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think living here, I do so much travelling throughout the year, and I definitely get my home back for a few months in the Middle East. This has been a very cool event for me and a few of the guys that moved here that live here now that we play in these tournaments the familiarity. It's great. I enjoy spending all my days here and practising and things like that.
And then when the tournament comes, I enjoy playing, as well. Just looking forward to another challenge. I think so many players here know the course so well. I think it's turning into -- it already is quite an iconic course for us now on the Tour. Nice for me in my own bed again.
Q. You won the first DP World Tour India Championship. What kind of memories linger on?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think it was a really beautiful tournament. I think from -- if you just talk about the golf itself, the golf course was so unique, and I think if we continue that tournament at that venue, it will have such a special place on the calendar. So unique, very cool to play. The crowds, with the course being so tight, it made the crowds as loud as they were, a very intimate setting. I thought it was a really cool atmosphere.
For me, the memories I created on the last hole, Frankie running on to the green, it will always have a special place in my heart.
I think it was amazing we got the chance to go over there and play, and I think the country has humongous potential in the growth of the game ahead of it. And for us as players to get a chance to go over there to play to be a part of that, for me, I was the one who got to win that week. Yeah, it was a very special week, and when you look back on 2025 and when I look back on the year, it will be one of my favourite parts.
Q. And DP World as the sponsor --
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: From a sponsor and partnership point of view, DP World Tour, all of us that play this game professionally on the Tour, for many years now DP World have been so important to us and I think all of us are so grateful for their support in what we do. And for them to bring an event like that that was so well-run, it went so well, and for me, again, like I said, to be a part of that winning and having them as a partner.
Q. Aaron's wife is also a professional. Did you get to speak to her? Did you discuss India at all?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, he did caddie over there and then he said, you know, he just wasn't ready to play, I think.
But Aaron's one of my closest people out here on tour. So he with talk a lot. We support each other a lot. And yeah, you know, Aaron is a fantastic player. I'm sure he will go and play that tournament at some point. I feel like that golf course is absolutely perfect for him. I said that; it suits his game so well, the play he plays. So I'm sure he'll be making an appearance there at some point.
Q. You may be aware of the Rory McIlroy Award, a new DP World Tour award for the player who performs best in the majors starting next year, in recognition of the career Grand Slam. Your reaction to that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, the Rory McIlroy Award that Rory can't win -- I like the sound of that. That sounds good (laughing).
Rory has earnt his place in the game. He's done so much. For sure, I think sometimes as competitors, you -- I don't know, like we play against Rory week-in and week-out. Look, he's my partner in the Ryder Cup, and I think when you're playing against him all the time, you think about things that he's achieved. But you're also well aware of the history he's created and where he will sit in the game when it's all said and done when he's finished playing. An unbelievably special talent.
I think he's still got so much more to give. But definitely, I think having an award that is named after Rory something that I think he should be very proud about. And yeah, he deserves everything that he sort of gets in the game. I look forward to challenging for that hopefully next season.
Q. Back to Sunday. Were you surprised to be accused of gamesmanship?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I did see the comments, actually, just before. It's one of those things, I don't know -- look, you don't know in what context it was said. I didn't hear it. I read it.
Either way, if there's a certain side of journalism where, you know, it's conveyed -- I feel like it's disappointing, and you know, not even to, Andrew, I think very highly of him. I think he's an amazing -- I've read one little piece and I'm not saying -- whether the article was written that way. I'm not going to accuse anybody of meaning anything by it.
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. 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 think everybody knows that I -- or I would hope that everybody knows that I wouldn't do anything like that, and I think the world of Aaron, as well.
So no, I don't know how it was written. It's hard to comment on something or defend yourself on something that you to the extent know in what form it was said or written.
But like I said, that's what happened. We walked off the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet, I said to Miguel, "Can I please go to the toilet?" He said yes. I ran to the toilet; ran to the tee.
Q. As a wee boy from Southport, do you still pinch yourself thinking that you've got golf academies, one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, you know, that little boy from Southport, I suppose, that still looks at thinks he dreamt of but the older Tommy hasn't achieved but I'll continue to strive for that. But yeah, continue to be the best version I can of myself.
The Academies are something I'm very proud of. I have so much belief in the good that the game can do, and I love seeing people have a passion for the game. I love being able to help people that they are striving to make it as a golfer, and I also enjoy seeing people hit their first shot and stuff like that. I'm very lucky that I get to continue to grow the game, and the academy is something that I feel very strongly about, and I would like to grow more. So that's a vision that we'll have going forward.
You kind of forget about it a lot of times when you're going through it on a weekly basis and you get -- there are certain things that you don't, but you've got to try and keep perspective, as well. When I was a kid, I was dreaming of those things. We'll try and keep growing.
Q. You've probably been asked this question already, but I would like to know based on your professional opinion, so this year there was a change where the R&A and Masters are giving spots for the winners of some National Opens to be playing. In your professional opinion as a professional golfer, how can those tournaments improve strength of the field based on this reward?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That's a great question. I don't know, I think -- yeah, I think any time that there is an avenue into the biggest events in the world, that can only help the tournaments.
You know, I like the fact that there are those opportunities. And yeah, we'll see how it grows in the future and how it helps those events. I think, for sure, you know, globally you look at tournaments like the Masters, I feel like the Masters, obviously the R&A are doing an amazing job to see who can qualify. It's special.
I think those events, they are so unique and so special. It's what you dream about, having those opportunities are very cool for everyone. I think it just adds some -- yeah, something a bit special to those tournaments that they chose to have that.
Q. Having played this golf course so many times now in the last three years that you've been here, is there any hole on this golf course or holes on this golf course that you would be disappointed if you don't make a birdie the next four days?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't want to put pressure on myself while I'm on the tee. Yeah, the golf course, every time you play a golf course, I think you still have to step up -- there is an element of it when you're comfortable somewhere and when you've played it a lot, you have to manage your own expectations, as well. You expect to play so well when you play so often.
But I think the par 5s are the big scoring holes on here, that's for sure. But I think that's the same for the majority of golf courses.
So I try not to look at holes too individually like that because I just feel like I just want to hit the next golf shot, in a way, wherever I hit it, I need to go to the next one and I need to figure that out and I need to hit the next golf shot.
So I try not to look at holes too much and feel like I have to make a birdie or whatever that may be. But the par 5s around here are important. I think there are enough strong holes around here, and I think the course has been playing really, really well.
We'll see. Try not to look at it too much like that. Pars never do any harm to anybody for the most part. You never really look back and think, I would have won that tournament if I parred that hole. It's always something else. We'll see.
Q. How special would it be winning this tournament on this golf course, given the kind of family and friends that you have got over here now?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Absolutely. I think this place, especially, is an easy -- it's an easy image for any of us, really, because we know the course so well. We've been playing it for so long now. But it's an easy image to create in your mind on the 18th hole. It's an easy powerful image to have that you know that you can strive for throughout the week.
Yeah, this is the last event I'm going to play this year. It has been a great year. So yeah, this will be an amazing way to finish. For sure, my whole family are here. Lots of familiar faces, a course that I know well, and I live very, very close.
Again, it would be very special to be on the 18th green having won. I've probably had a couple of chances in this tournament over years. I'd like to do a bit better than that. I'd like to present myself with a few more chances. I can clearly say that image in my head. I know it so well. We'll strive for that and see what we can do.
CLARE BODEL: Thank you, Tommy. Good luck this week.
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