"It's just a classic case, really, of trying to stay in the moment and each shot as it comes"
Friday 22 November 2019 15:55, UK
Tommy Fleetwood knows the importance of staying focused on his own game over the final 36 holes of the European Tour season as he enhanced his chances of a second Race to Dubai title.
Fleetwood went to the top of the projected standings at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship after he added a "patient" 68 to his opening 67 to earn a share of second with Jon Rahm, although both trail leader Mike Lorenzo-Vera by three shots.
Long-time Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger is six strokes adrift of Fleetwood heading into the weekend, but the Englishman is not getting ahead of himself and think ahead to the prospect of being crowned European No 1 for the second time in three seasons.
"It's just a classic case, really, of trying to stay in the moment and each shot as it comes," said Fleetwood, who mixed seven birdies with three bogeys on day two at the Jumeirah Golf Estates. "There's a lot going on over the weekend, there are a lot of different scenarios and players in the mix.
"There's a lot of things going on around you, so the more internally focused you can be and the more you can just stay in your bubble, it will just be a great challenge going into the weekend trying to do that."
Fleetwood was also happy with his response to his mistakes as a strengthening breeze and a firmer course made for tricky scoring conditions for the second round, adding: "It really does help when you bounce straight back, and to birdie the last obviously leaves the day with a lovely feel.
"But just have to keep going. I think I've done a very good job so far of just staying present and moving on to the next golf shot. You really don't know what's going to happen. There's plenty of birdies out there and plenty of bogeys as well, so you just have to take every shot as it comes and just do your best.
"I'm playing really, really well, and I stayed very patient. I felt like I did a really good job of just playing really good, solid golf. It wasn't easy today. The wind really picked up, and it was a pretty tough day. I think anything under par would have been a really solid day, so four under, I'm happy with."
Rahm, meanwhile, admitted he was "jealous" of Rory McIlroy's eagle at 18 on day one after matching the world No 2 with a stunning second to the closing hole late on Friday evening.
McIlroy insisted his three-wood to a few feet on his final hole on Thursday was one of his best shots of the year, and Rahm's almost-identical effort 24 hours later also set-up an eagle to the delight of the packed grandstands at the last.
"I was jealous of Rory yesterday so I tried to copy that," said Rahm. "I actually had some doubts. It was 236 metres to the pin, 245 to cover the water on the left side, so it had to be a perfect five-wood to get all the way there. If it missed, it could potentially go in the water, and for a three-wood - long right or long left is not a good spot to be on that hole.
"So I decided to be brave on that one and hit as hard a five-wood as I could hit and it came out, I could not have hit a better shot."
