Tommy Fleetwood is keen to get back into the habit of winning golf tournaments as he returns to the scene of his last triumph at the DP World India Championship.
It was 12 months ago that the Englishman was in probably the best form of his career on both sides of the Atlantic, having finished top five at the opening two Playoff events on the PGA Tour before winning the Tour Championship and with it the FedExCup.
His victory at Delhi Golf Club was then followed by top threes in both of the DP World Tour Play-Off events as he ended the calendar year at a career-high third on the Official World Golf Ranking.
He has not claimed a win in 2026 but has nine top tens and just two missed cuts in 24 events, with top fives at both The Open Championship and last time out at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
That consistency is something of which Fleetwood is rightly proud but he would love to turn a good year into a very good one with a successful defence of his title this week.
"I think for sure winning golf tournaments is kind of a habit really and it would be a great habit to be into," he said. "This year it's funny really. This year I think throughout the middle part of the season, I was probably in contention more than I was last season at that point.
"So things didn't materialise but this year I definitely haven't felt like I lost tournaments or given them away. I just haven't sort of played the golf over 72 holes that would put me at the top of the leaderboard.
"There is positives I felt like in how I played and the positions that I put myself in throughout Saturdays and maybe nine holes into Sunday tournaments without any fireworks. I think 2025 probably put myself in bad positions, gave a couple away leading up to having a great finish to the season where I had a couple of wins.
"There are probably two players in the world, Rory and Scottie, where winning once isn't classed as a really good season in a way.
"So I still have chances this season to feel like it's been really good year, which it has been a good year. You're always striving for more and looking for more wins.
"Even last year with the FedExCup and then winning this tournament, felt like I could have won the last two events of the year. I was disappointed in those events in the summer.
"So I think you're always left wanting something, but like the overall aspect of what you're trying to do week in and week out is just keep trying to get better.
You can be disappointed with end results, but you should never be disappointed with putting yourself in a position where everybody wants to be at the start of the week when you're playing on Sunday. So try and find the positives in that."
If Fleetwood is to compete and win on Sunday, he believes he will face a tougher task than in 2025 due to the thicker rough in play at Delhi Golf Club.
The narrow, 6,912-yard layout puts a premium on accuracy off the tee, with many players opting not to use a driver, and Fleetwood believes that will be even more important this year.
"The biggest difference is the rough, how thickly they've grown it and penal they've made it," he said.
"I think without question you have to be playing the golf course from the fairway. It was like that before but last year I felt like if you did miss fairways, as uncontrollable as the rough was and the way that Bermuda plays, like you could hit it towards the green and you could have the option of trying to figure out where do I want to miss it? I'm unlikely to hit the green, but I'll get it up there close and figure it out.
"Whereas so far I've played nine holes yesterday in the morning, very early morning when it was wet, and then today, I mean, you hit it in the rough and you're just hacking it out, you know, back into play.
"I think that's definitely an added layer to the golf course. The general gist of the course stays the same. You have to hit fairways to be able to control your golf ball and be able to shoot a good score but the rough has just made it made it that little bit more penal as well.
"As players, we are all happy when I think the set-up of the golf course rewards the person that's playing the best. I think that's the true sign of a great championship course and think this week does that.
"You're not going to get away with playing poorly and you're not going to get away with hitting it poorly all week. Everybody is going to go through a stretch of that and have to hold on but I think as players that's what we want to see.
"Be rewarded for your good shots and punished for your bad ones and then have to figure it out from there. I think this golf course, with the test that it provides, is a great example of that."
