Saturday 18 November 2017 14:27, UK
Tommy Fleetwood described competing for the Race to Dubai title as a "pleasure and a privilege" ahead of his final-day showdown with Justin Rose at the DP World Tour Championship.
Rose leads the tournament and the projected Race to Dubai standings with just one round of the season remaining, but Fleetwood is just two strokes off the pace after recovering from a slow start to card a second, successive 65.
Fleetwood was the overwhelming favourite to be crowned European No 1 a month ago as he enjoyed a lead of over a million points, but Rose stormed from 10th in the rankings to second with back-to-back wins in China and Turkey.
Victory for Rose on Sunday would guarantee his second Harry Vardon Trophy, and his first for 10 years, and Fleetwood admitted he would be "gutted" if he was unable to win the Race to Dubai having led the standings for the bulk of the year following wins in Abu Dhabi and France.
Fleetwood hopes having his young family with him in Dubai will help deal with the pressure, and he said: "I've got my seven-week-old baby here so that will be keeping me busy. That will do a good job of taking my mind off it.
"It's a massive thing, and it's the biggest thing I've ever tried to achieve. I was in contention in the US Open and in Mexico but they were, like, one or two rounds. This has been all year and you come down to the final event.
"A year-and-a-half ago, I was absolutely nowhere in the game and I was a bit lost. Fast-forward to where for me, it's been amazing to play and to enjoy my golf this year; and then to get to this stage. It's been an absolute pleasure and privilege trying to compete for a Race to Dubai.
"Tomorrow is not close to the biggest day of my life but in my career, it is. Enjoy these moments. This is what you practice for and this is what you play for. It's brilliant, it makes me smile."
Fleetwood was one over for his third round after seven holes, but he suddenly caught fire with his putter and made three straight birdies around the turn before making four in a row from the 12th and, although he just missed out on an eagle at the last, the tap-in birdie ensured he would start the final day just two adrift of his English rival.
"I made a mess of the two par-fives on the front-nine again, and I hit a wayward tee shot and made a good bogey at the end on five," he added. "When you know the scoring is quite low, it's not nice to have nothing going at all.
"Then it just kick-started at eight, I hit a great shot in and started holing a few putts. I just played really well, and it just shows that's what can happen on the golf course. I don't know how many examples you need to tell yourself to keep going.
"I just got on a really good streak, and when I holed the putts on nine and 10, I felt the momentum swinging a little bit and I hit it really good down the stretch. But it doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing at the moment. When you look at the leaderboard, we know who's there.
"You've got to stay patient when it's not coming and then ride the rollercoaster when it's going your way I suppose. From where we were Thursday night, to stand here and be actually in the tournament, it's been great."
