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Tommy Fleetwood Ties Course Record to Take Early Lead in Abu Dhabi

Tommy Fleetwood went low in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, shooting 62 and tying the course record.

Matt Vincenzi

Tommy Fleetwood is off to a quick start in the second-to-last event of the DP World Tour season.
Tommy Fleetwood is off to a quick start in the second-to-last event of the DP World Tour season. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Prior to this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Tommy Fleetwood put a new putter in the bag. The Englishman was spotted with a new TaylorMade Truss putter as shared by SMS on Tour on Instagram.

The putter served him well on Thursday, as the 33-year-old cruised to the first-round lead by tying the course record (62) to get in the clubhouse at 10 under.

The putter was solid for Fleetwood, but he was incredibly solid tee to green and didn't necessarily need to hole many putts of significant length in order to go low. Fleetwood made eight birdies and one eagle on his round and only needed to hole one putt longer than 9 feet to do so (11 feet 7 inches on the 14th hole.

Although Fleetwood has yet to earn a victory on the PGA Tour, that has not been an issue on the DP World Tour. He's won seven times on the circuit and will look to add another this week in Abu Dhabi in the Rolex Series event.

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Matt Vincenzi
MATT VINCENZI

Matt Vincenzi is an SI contributor covering golf. Before joining SI, he worked as a golf writer for GolfWRX and the Action Network. He is a graduate of Bridgewater State University and has been covering professional golf for five years.

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