Tommy Fleetwood On Pep Guardiola, His Nike Irons And The Ryder Cup

(Image credit: Ross Kinnaird)

By Elliott Heath published 22 May 18

The Englishman was speaking ahead of the BMW PGA Championship this week at Wentworth

Tommy Fleetwood On Pep Guardiola, His Nike Irons And The Ryder Cup

Tommy Fleetwood heads into the European Tour's flagship event this week at Wentworth as one of the favourites.

The Englishman is the Race to Dubai champion, has won four European Tour titles and has been inside the world's top 20 for the last year.

Fleetwood plays with Pep Guardiola in the Wednesday Pro-Am and also played with him whilst Man City won the Premier League title as their rivals Manchester United lost to West Brom.

"He's a good character to be around," he said in today's press conference.

"He's quite an inspiring person to be honest. He's a successful person in his own right, and you know, I get on great with him. We stay in touch now, and he's very competitive, so he'll be right up for it tomorrow.

"But yeah, being around people like that can only help you and make you better, whether it's golf or a different sport. If you're hanging around with people that are successful in their sport, it's only going to help you."

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The 27-year-old also spoke about his Nike irons, which he has kept in the bag ever since the company announced their departure from the hardware market almost two years ago.

Fleetwood said that he has no intention of replacing them out any time soon.

"I've got a new set of Nike irons, so they are going to be in the bag for about another two years," he laughed.

"It's very difficult to change when you're so set in your ways. I should branch out eventually probably."

The Englishman also looks set to make his Ryder Cup debut this September in Paris through the World Points list.

He revealed that he is "desperate" to represent Thomas Bjorn's European Team at Le Golf National, although he's not letting that get in the way of his golf.

"The Ryder Cup, for any of us, is a dream.

"I'm desperate to play in The Ryder Cup, but the more you think about it and the more you put too much pressure on yourself to make it; if I was to go out and start on Thursday with a couple of bogeys and you're thinking about the Ryder Cup in September, it's only going to add pressure."

Tommy Fleetwood currently ranks 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Elliott Heath

Elliott Heath is our Senior Staff Writer and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016. He graduated in Sports Journalism in 2016 and currently manages the Golf Monthly news, courses and travel sections as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Elliott has interviewed some huge names in the golf world including Sergio Garcia, Thomas Bjorn, Bernd Wiesberger and Scotty Cameron as well as a number of professionals on the DP World and PGA Tours. He has also covered three Open Championships on-site including at Carnoustie in 2018 when he was inside the ropes with Tiger Woods. He has played 31 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Old Head and Alwoodley. He currently plays at West Byfleet Golf Club in Surrey, where his handicap index floats between 3-5. His golfing highlight is making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, and he has made one hole-in-one.

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Honma TR20

3 wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max

Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM Max

Irons: Mizuno MP5

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x