Tommy Fleetwood has expressed relief after his family were able to return to England from Dubai despite the conflict in the Middle East. Fleetwood, the world No 3, has been competing in Florida as his wife, son and two stepsons sought to leave their home of four years. They landed back in the UK on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood spoke about the situation after a fine 69 to open the Players Championship. While typically understanding of a bigger picture, it would only be natural for Fleetwood to have been distracted during recent tournaments. \u201cOf course,\u201d said Fleetwood when asked if he now felt reassured. \u201cIt is difficult not being able to travel. That has obviously been difficult. But when you know they\u2019re fine, that\u2019s kind of a relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [Fleetwood\u2019s wife] Clare is very relieved now. She feels good and everything.It\u2019s just not a great time for so many people in the country. It\u2019s just unsettling for everyone, really. It\u2019s easy for me to say it\u2019s been on my mind but at the same time I\u2019m not the one who was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fleetwoods were among a reported tens of thousands of Britons attempting to leave the United Arab Emirates, with passenger flights grounded for days on end. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d Fleetwood added. \u201cThey had one flight that was cancelled or suspended. And then they got lucky getting out because they got out on the flight and then I think something happened at the airport while they were in the air or something. So they got lucky timing wise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can say is that my family felt very safe and think the nation and the leaders have done an amazing job of making everybody feel safe and well and protected. I know my family have been safe and that\u2019s the important thing. But you would wish for different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleetwood\u2019s family are expected to join him before an upcoming PGA Tour stop in Texas.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy struck his opening drive 330 yards down the fairway after being an injury doubt. Photograph: Gerald Herbert\/AP<\/p>\n
Fleetwood enjoyed a golden run over a notoriously difficult stretch at Sawgrass. He made an eagle at the 16th before delivering birdies on the next two holes in reaching his turn in 32. Three bogeys were included in the front nine, his back, but the 35-year-old was still rightly content with his day at the office. \u201cI played solidly and hit a lot of good shots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy took to the 1st tee and promptly battered a drive 330 yards down the fairway despite pre-tournament concerns about the back injury that caused him to withdraw from last week\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational before round three.<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler\u2019s low-key start to the season continued with a level-par 72 for the world No 1. \u201cI am hoping to clean it up a little bit over the next few days,\u201d the American said.<\/p>\n
His compatriot Justin Thomas\u2019s 68 meant a welcome return to prominence as he continues his recovery from having back surgery in late 2025. \u201cI feel confident with things,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cBut until it happens in competition, it\u2019s kind of hard to fully buy into \u2018you\u2019re ready\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy Fleetwood has expressed relief after his family were able to return to England from Dubai despite the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-532785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}