The world No.3 has been a target for the Saudi-backed league but he got no offer for this season
Tommy Fleetwood was not a target for LIV Golf this season
Tommy Fleetwood has welcomed Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour – and revealed LIV Golf “haven’t sniffed around me in this postseason”.
The American left the Saudi-backed tour last month and has immediately rejoined his home circuit. He will play his first event back at the Farmers Insurance Open next week in a big boost for the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf will now be under pressure to hold on to their other big stars with Patrick Reed admitting this week he could also go back.
Speaking before this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, world No.3 Fleetwood said: “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.
READ MORE: Luke Donald to hold crucial Ryder Cup captaincy talks in DubaiREAD MORE: Major LIV Golf star ready to follow Brooks Koepka and return to PGA Tour
“It’s a great thing for the PGA TOUR that Brooks has come back and he’s playing.
Where it stands after that, I really don’t know. I just know what my schedule is. I plan my schedule and I go and play, and I’m lucky I get to play the tournaments that I can play. What the future holds, we don’t know. But I think Brooks coming back is only a good thing for the (PGA) TOUR.”
Fleetwood, who banked $10m for winning his first PGA Tour event at the Tour Championships last August, is now targeting a first Major win. “I’m a big believer in goals and dreams,” said the Dubai-based star. “I have my lifetime dreams in the game from when I was a kid, and they are still going.
“I think, in general, people want to play where their goals or dreams are aligned. 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 where he’s made his decisions is there and he’s ended up coming back.”
LIV Golf, backed by Newcastle’s owners the Public Investment Fund, spent huge sums in the first two seasons with Koepka getting $150m over a five-year deal – he is giving up $15m by not seeing out the final year of his contract – and John Rahm up to $400m.
This year’s signings are less high profile with Victor Perez, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detrie, Elvis Smylie and Ben An joining while Anthony Kim qualified as one of five wildcards.
Ryder Cup star Fleetwood, who is no longer wearing Nike kit, was an early target but his value has skyrocketed in recent years and he admitted: “Yeah, they haven’t sniffed around me in this postseason.
“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. I don’t know what their strategy will be or who they will be looking at or how they want to go about it, but they don’t talk to me.”
His Ryder Cup team-mate Shane Lowry added: “I know Brooks really well. I met him last weekend. We’re members of the same golf courses in Florida. I know his caddie (Ulsterman Ricky Elliott) really well.
“I think it’s good for him that he wanted to get off LIV, and he got back really quickly. I think it’s good for the TOUR, the PGA TOUR, as Brooks is going to play a lot of the smaller events. So that’s going to add to those. I don’t say I don’t care because that’s a headline. But like I don’t really mind about any of them. It doesn’t bother me. I’m lucky that I’m able to play any tournament I want in the world. I’m going to do that and try and play as well as I can.”
The Irishman admitted he woke up on Sunday night thinking about his 72nd-hole double bogey at the Dubai Invitational which cost him a chance of winning the trophy. “Just trying to get it out of my system really,” he said.
