Tommy Fleetwood is ready to adopt a more individualistic mindset as he goes for glory at this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship just days after leading Team Great Britain & Ireland at the Hero Cup.
The first DP World Tour event of 2023 saw players from across Europe battle it out in a new team match play contest at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with Continental Europe beating GB&I 14.5-10.5 over three days of competition.
But despite being on the losing side, Fleetwood enjoyed a productive week both as Captain and a player.
The Englishman put in some impressive performances, winning both of his foursomes matches and beating Thomas Pieters 3&2 in their singles encounter as GB&I ran their opponents close in every session.
And he is ready to build on his strong start to the year at the first Rolex Series event of the season at Yas Links Abu Dhabi this week.
He said: "I enjoyed it very, very much. I love team stuff. I might have been Captain but I'm just one of the team. And my team-mates, I absolutely tried my best for the lads last week, as we all did for each other.
"I enjoyed stretching myself with something that somebody of my age, I guess, would never get the opportunity to do normally.
"So that was a really good experience for me, and I was lucky to have some people that supported me on the side as well that made it even better.
"But yeah, that week's done. As in golf, every Monday a new week starts and you've got a field of players that are just as hungry as you are to perform this week, so you have to get back around to that mindset on Thursday morning.
"It was good to get into that competitive spirit and that competitive mindset and see what's good and see what things we might be able to improve on coming into this week."
Fleetwood is a two-time winner of this week's event, having tasted victory in successive years in 2017 and 2018.
And he sees the back-to-back Rolex Series events in Abu Dhabi this week and Dubai a week later as the perfect way to kick off 2023.
Fleetwood, who will get his campaign under way alongside defending champion Thomas Pieters and Shane Lowry at 07.30 on Thursday, added: "It's always in a lot of our plans to come out and start the year here.
"It's a perfect place really to be starting the season, from weather, facilities, the strength of the tournaments and the strengths of the fields - I think it's a great way to get going in the year."
