LIV Golf not sniffing around me, reveals world No 3 Tommy Fleetwood

Speaking in a press conference for this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club, Fleetwood described Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour after ending his LIV Golf stint as a “good thing” for the US circuit.

As fellow major winners since 2022, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith have been offered the same pathway back to the PGA Tour, but all three talked last week about how they planned to remain with the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit for the time being.

LIV Golf’s close-season signings have included rising Australian star Elvis Smylie and Belgian Thomas Detry, but, unlike when they snapped up the likes of DeChambeau and Rahm for huge sums of money, there has been no headline capture for a couple of years.

“Who knows?” replied Fleetwood to being asked if big-name players quitting LIV or big-name players joining LIV seemed more likely at the moment. “I think that's very hard to answer. I think you would have to ask individual players.

“In general, I think people want to play where their goals or dreams are aligned. You know, they want to play in the place where they feel they can chase them. Personally, I'm playing where I feel like I can still chase my dreams, and I'm in the best place to be the best golfer I can be. Other people may feel differently.

“I think that's what Brooks is doing. He wants to play where he feels like he can get the most out of himself and play his best golf, and that's obviously why he's ended up coming back.

“I saw the interview with the guys, Jon and Bryson and Cameron, and they are obviously well set on playing LIV Golf and that's where they want to play. But who knows? I think nobody has actually really known what's going to happen next.”

Does it feel like the momentum is now back on the PGA Tour’s side following Koepka’s move? “I try not to pay too much attention to that,” insisted Fleetwood, who is aiming to shake off a disappointing Desert Classic record to get himself in the mix in the 37th edition.

“You know, the PGA Tour is in a great place. We play some unbelievable events for a ridiculous amount of money on the PGA Tour, and I think it's been in a great place and I'm very grateful to get to play where I do.

“Yeah, it's a great thing for the PGA Tour that Brooks has come back and he's playing. You know, where it stands after that, I really don't know. It sounds daft and it sounds like I'm sitting on the fence, but I really don't pay attention to that stuff that much.”

On the back of landing his breakthrough on the PGA Tour in style as he won the season-ending Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup last season, Fleetwood would surely have been one of the players on the list if LIV Golf aimed to keep splashing the cash on big-name signings.

“Yeah, they haven't sniffed around me in this post-season,” he declared in reply to being asked to provide an insight into the current landscape. “We don't really talk about it that much. I haven't heard of that. I think you definitely see changes, and I think some very good golfers have gone over to LIV and have chosen to go to LIV. It's probably going to cost a lot of money, right, to get some big-name players.

“You know, I don't know what their strategy will be or who they will be looking at to go or how they want to go about it, but they don't talk to me.”

Former world No 1 Dustin Johnson is among a LIV Golf contingent teeing up in this week’s $9 million Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour, where, unlike the PGA Tour, players from the rebel circuit can still compete.

“I think there's players that play on the LIV Tour that add to tournaments, for sure,” observed Fleetwood, a Dubai resident these days. “Personally, it's great to see some of the guys. I'm close with Dustin and a few of the guys. It's always nice to see them at the tournaments.”

Has the bad blood in the game from a few years ago gone away? “I was never one of those that had any bad blood in particular,” said Fleetwood. “I think another option to play golf came up, and some guys felt like they wanted to play over there. They wanted to do something different. I think that's absolutely fine.

“I think the ecosystem of golf and the world of golf, there's traditions in the game that are always going to be there I think and that's really important, but I also think the game is constantly sort of changing as well, and new things come up and new opportunities come up.

“It's always interesting to see where it goes. I'm very happy just that I am a player and that I can play the events that I want to play, and I'm still chasing my dreams where I want to chase them. I think, as a player, I'm one of the lucky ones, I can play where I want to play, and I'm glad that I'm not part of any of the decision-making process. Where does it go from here? I don't know. But I think it's constantly changing and new things always come up.”

Fleetwood was asked what position he saw the DP World Tour having in the game’s eco-system? “That's a great question,” he admitted. “At the moment, it's a tour that plays all around the world.

“I think you have chances from other tours to qualify for the DP World Tour or co-sanction events and play this tour and the top ten on the DP World Tour at the end of the year can go and play the PGA Tour.

“There's no question, at the moment, the PGA Tour is where, generally, the best players play all year round. The PGA Tour is where a lot of the players playing, there's big events and there's a lot of money over there. So people kind of want to have the opportunity to play over there.

“And I think this tour is amazing. I wouldn't say it's middle ground. I have kids that are striving to make it in the game. I dreamt all my life as a junior to make it on the DP World Tour and be a winner here. I think it's where so many of us have dreamt of playing all our lives.

“I think it gives opportunities from people all over the world to qualify for this tour, and I also think this tour is a big part in people chasing their dreams elsewhere, as well.

“It's an amazing tour with amazing people that play and work on the Tour. It's been around for a long, long time with amazing players and amazing tournaments, and it continues to do that.”