Tommy Fleetwood’s new putter helps him tie course record, grab Abu Dhabi lead
With new putter in hand, Tommy Fleetwood sits atop the leaderboard at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Well, that certainly helps.
One day after Tommy Fleetwood made a putter change, the Englishman carded a 10-under 62 at the Yas Links in Abu Dhabi to match the course record and grab the solo lead after round one. He needed only 26 putts, which led the field, as he made eight birdies and an eagle on the par-5 2nd. He leads Thorbjørn Olesen and Johannes Veerman by a stroke at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first event of the DP World Tour playoffs.
“Putted amazing. I felt like I read the greens so well. Beautiful pace control and hit a lot of good putts and started holing them,” Fleetwood explained.
“I just hit perfect putts. When you shoot a 62, obviously everything is going to have gone very, very well. Just happy to have got off to a great start.”
Fleetwood’s 62 also marks the lowest score he shot this year. His previous low score came at the Dubai Invitational, where he shot an 8-under 63 during the third round in mid-January. He went on to win that tournament by a stroke over Rory McIlroy, his only win this season.
Up-and-down for birdie at the last for an opening round 62 @TommyFleetwood1 ties the course record at Yas Links. #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/Hhv4jRebzy
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 7, 2024
The Englishman then flew back to the United States for the bulk of the PGA Tour schedule but could not break through with a victory again. Instead, his putter let him down, especially throughout the back half of the season. His birdie conversion percentage plunged by more than four points compared to 2023—from 33.64% to 29.22%—dropping him from 20th down to 151st in that metric. He also saw remarkable drops in strokes gained putting, putts per round, and one-putt percentage.
“I’ve worked with Phil Kenyon for a long time. He’s an unbelievably good putting coach. You know, I always feel like I’m a good putter. It doesn’t always show,” Fleetwood added Thursday.
“But definitely sort of the second half of this year, like through the summer, I haven’t putted as well or converted as many putts as we’d have liked. [So, I have been] working on how I move my head in my stroke in a couple of practice drills and what happens there.”
His practice, coupled with his new putter, put those prior struggles behind him, and now he has a tremendous opportunity to grab his first win in 11 months. Nobody will catch him if he continues to putt like he did on Thursday. Then again, a hot putter rarely lasts for 72 holes. But at the very least, Fleetwood seems much more comfortable on the greens, and he’s seeing his lines much better than he did over the summer. That should give him confidence not only this week but going forward into 2025.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.