Tommy Fleetwood will go from being the hunted to the hunter when he tees it up at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai this week.
The World Number Ten trails Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari by more than a million points and needs to win the season-ending tournament to have a chance of being crowned European number one for the second successive year.
And even that would not be enough if the other half of ‘Moliwood’, who became the first European duo to win all four matches together at the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National, finishes inside the top five at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
But Fleetwood is relishing the opportunity to reel in one of his closest friends on the European Tour and retain his Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex crown.
"The biggest difference is it's not in my hands," the Englishman said.
"It's just great to have that excitement surrounding the event again, it really is. You've come this far and to have a chance, but you know it's there and you're teeing off on Thursday with a chance at winning the biggest prize of the year.
"It’s nice to have a chance, as little as it is, but it’s a massively tall order.
"It's a very good thing that we'll be teeing off on Thursday together and sort of see that we have a chance. Great for us as friends. You know you're going out there with sort of the person that you're closest with on Tour, trying to win the biggest prize that we play for.
"If it doesn’t work out for me, I couldn’t be happier for him for what he’s achieved this year."
Despite a stunning rise into the world's Top Ten this season, Fleetwood is determined to improve on his four European Tour victories.
If it doesn’t work out for me, I couldn’t be happier for him for what he’s achieved this year - Tommy Fleetwood
"There's been a lot of times this year where I've been one round of golf away from winning, and just too many times, I have a round that should be level par; I've shot four or five over and that's cost me," he added.
"So on the whole, I've played much better golf this year, and I've been way, way more consistent, but I've always just fallen short for one round or a stretch of holes.
"So going forward, next year - which we've already started looking at - that is definitely a part of my game I need to improve if I want to win more.
"I was within the last two or three groups within the Majors. So I've been in contention a lot more and I've learnt a lot more about myself.
"I’ve kind of kicked on like I’ve wanted to, but there’s still a lot more that I can do better. It’s very satisfying that it’s worked out, but we’re still nowhere near satisfied."
