Tommy Fleetwood has set his sights on becoming the best golfer in the world as he starts 2026 at the Dubai Invitational riding high on the Official World Golf Ranking.
The second half of 2025 saw the 2017 Race to Dubai winner take his reputation to new heights, with a maiden win on the PGA TOUR, an eighth DP World Tour win and a starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory sending his stock soaring.
The Englishman has been comfortably sat inside the world’s top 50 for almost nine years, with the bulk of that time in the top 20 as he established himself as one of the game’s most consistent performers worldwide.
His form across the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup play-offs last summer– culminating in that first win on that circuit at the TOUR Championship – elevated him to career-high sixth and since then, he has improved that lifetime best to third with a triumph at the DP World India Championship and two top threes across the DP World Tour Play-Offs.
That leaves him behind just runaway leader Scottie Scheffler and career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy and while Fleetwood knows there is much work to do to to get past them, he is aiming for the very top.
“I would love to,” he said of challenging for top spot. “There is a clear gap, those two guys are definitely the best golfers in the world. I'm just one of the players in the pack behind that has some catching up to do there.
“Look at every aspect of my game, where I can improve, where I can pick the smallest amount of shots up to those guys.
“But it's an amazing challenge, if you think of it like that. Starting the year in a different position than I've ever been, World Number Three, and I think that's very cool and very exciting to sort of have to think about trying to maintain the level that I've reached there, and I think that's very, very exciting. And I think that's the first thing to do.
“Challenging the top two players in the world, I'm not going to say that that's something that I'm not focused on and not interested in. Of course you are and you want to see where you can get to but that's a long road ahead. That's not going to happen next week or in a couple of months' time.
“So I have to really just stick in, work on my game. I think it's an amazing opportunity. I really think Scottie and Rory, they already are but definitely when we look back at this time, those two are going to be very high up there in the greatest players of all time. To be the next guy at this current time, that could change next week or in a month, whatever that may be.
“I just think it's very, very cool and very special and I just love the fact that I am sort of in the mix and you've even asked me a question of: ‘those two guys are the best two in the world, what do you have to do to try and catch them?’. I think it's a massive compliment to me and I think it's something that's really, really exciting.”
While spectacular wins may have fuelled Fleetwood’s recent rise up the rankings, it has been built on a bedrock of consistency that is the envy of most in the world.
Fleetwood has missed just 11 cuts worldwide in five years while also racking up four victories, 13 other top threes and 28 other top tens across the same period.
But he does not believe there is any secret formula to turning that into more victories.
“I've always prided myself on trying to have my game as consistent as possible.” he said. “I think that's one of the things that's shown over the years.
Tommy Fleetwood's year-end OWGR finish 2016-2025
| Year | Position |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2023 | 14 |
| 2022 | 23 |
| 2021 | 40 |
| 2020 | 17 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2017 | 17 |
| 2016 | 99 |
“I've had a lot of great results, and I think the big story was that I had not won on the PGA TOUR. I managed to get that one done but I still felt like I wasn't doing anything.
“The question is, what was different? Like it was an amazing run of form and played great but I never felt like I was doing anything that different. I was just playing. That's the thing when you're playing really well, you're playing how you know you can play and that's the key. Like being able to do that on a consistent basis and do that more and more.
“Just the accumulation of a lot of work and I started to get the results. The results started to show and I found myself at the right end of the leaderboard more often than not, which is the goal. I've worked so hard in the game. I have a lot of amazing people around me. I have great information and I work hard at that. Every now and again, it shows.”
Fleetwood’s last victory before his stellar 2025 came at this event two years ago, when a two-shot swing on the last saw him pip McIlroy and Thriston Lawrence to a narrow win.
McIlroy is once again among the field this week at Dubai Creek Resort and Fleetwood is relishing the challenge as he seeks to successfully defend a title for the third time on the DP World Tour.
“I played really well here two years ago,” said the Dubai resident. “I enjoyed playing with Rory in that last round.
“Any time you get to test yourself against one of the greatest of all time is always a lot of fun. It's a great finish. I think it was a good reminder that anything can happen, that you just have to stick in. I felt like I had control of the tournament on the back nine and Rory came through. Thriston had an amazing round. And things went my way. It was just a reminder of you have to keep going and play until the very end.
“And winning is always cool. I had the family there. It was amazing.
“The golf course, I played it the last couple of days, nine holes, and in the morning, really. Mornings are always nice conditions. It's always calm and soft. I think it's so important to have the ball in the fairway. I think it's a great set-up in terms of if you play well, you're going to have a chance to shoot a really nice score. But if you're slightly off and start hitting it in the rough around here, I find this rough very unpredictable and makes it hard as the course then firms up to hit the greens or put it in position.
“Just a very fair golf course in that respect. You play well, you're going to have all the chance in the world to shoot a good score, but if you don't it's going to be a battle.”
