Fleetwood lets McIlroy off the hook for recent outburst
Tommy Fleetwood has responded to Rory McIlroy’s criticism of the PGA Tour’s stay-away stars. But if you’re looking for confrontation then this isn’t for you
When you saw Tommy Fleetwood had responded to Rory McIlroy’s recent criticism, there was a little part of you that hoped he’d just let his hair down just this once. Admit it.
But this is Tommy Fleetwood. And Tommy Fleetwood, frustratingly sometimes, is too much of a nice person.
World No 1 McIlroy, if you need reminding, accused the stay-away stars – including Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood – of not caring about their careers by deciding not fly to the US to take part in the PGA Tour’s resumption, a decision that would have involved a two-week quarantine period.
And when Fleetwood was asked about McIlroy’s comments by Sky Sports he shrugged it off in his typically laid-back style.
“Someone like Rory gets asked a lot of questions all the time and he clearly just gave his opinion,” Fleetwood said. “There’s no hard feelings about that, as that’s just what makes the world go around.
“I can answer in terms of myself. I obviously take my career seriously, but it’s just one of those things. He said what he felt and that’s absolutely fine and we will be just the same when we see each other.
“I think he does an amazing job at always giving answers and showing his side of things, and that was just his version of it.”
Incidentally, Fleetwood has now decided to fly to US to self-isolate ahead of a three-week run at the 3M Open, WGC-FedEx St Jude Classic, and PGA Championship. It means he will miss the European Tour’s UK Swing, which starts at Close House later this month.
His Ryder Cup partner Molinari, meanwhile, is taking more drastic action and has decided to relocate his family from London to California.
Do you think McIlroy’s comments were fair? Let us know in the comments below or you can tweet us.
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
