Tommy Fleetwood on Rory McIlroy's remark: “Hopefully he still thinks I’m a nice guy”

Tommy Fleetwood has admitted — very much tongue in cheek — that he hopes Rory McIlroy still considers him “a nice guy” after finally proving he can win on the biggest stage.

Fleetwood was speaking ahead of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first Signature Event of the 2026 PGA Tour season. With a staggering $20 million prize purse and $3.6 million heading to the winner, it marks a high-profile return to PGA Tour action — and Fleetwood arrives with a very different status than in years past.

The 35-year-old Englishman begins the campaign as the reigning FedEx Cup champion after finally breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour victory at last August’s Tour Championship. That breakthrough win not only secured his first PGA Tour title, but also delivered the FedEx Cup crown in dramatic fashion.

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He followed that success by lifting the DP World India Championship trophy two months later — his eighth career victory on the DP World Tour — underlining that his long-awaited American breakthrough was no one-off. Another month later, he then top scored at the Ryder Cup as he helped Europe defeat United States 15-13 at Bethpage. 

Fleetwood started the season ranked a career-best third in the world, although he has since slipped to fourth ahead of his first PGA Tour start of 2026 at Pebble Beach. That's after his compatriot Justin Rose won a second career Farmers Insurance Open to move into third spot. 

Fleetwood's latest comments came in response to a reporter referencing remarks McIlroy made some time ago suggesting Fleetwood might be “too nice” to win golf tournaments — a narrative that has followed him for much of his career.

A reporter at Pebble Beach said: "Tommy, I think Rory said at one point that he worried that you were too nice to win golf tournaments. Did you have to change something about yourself? Have you kind of proven that maybe nice guys can win out here?"

Fleetwood replied: "I hope so. Hopefully the same amount of people that liked me before still like me now. I think, yeah, I don't know what that stigma is about like too nice to win or nice guys -- you know, nice guys can win, of course. I think I've always prided myself on being a good person, a nice guy, but I also love playing golf and competing.

"I just, for whatever I hadn't done before or hadn't won tournaments or hadn't gone my way, I felt like I just continued to learn and grow as a competitor as well.

"But no, I definitely looked at things and tried to analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. Hopefully Rory still thinks I'm a nice guy."

Fleetwod added: "I think it's important to be yourself. I think anytime you're trying to be something that you're not, things get just like difficult. So again, I just try and be myself. If that's what I am, if I'm like a really nice person, then that's great, like I'm happy with that."

Watch Fleetwood's comments in here: 

Fleetwood’s response, delivered with a smile, perfectly reflects the balance he has struck throughout his career: fiercely competitive inside the ropes, but widely regarded as one of the most likeable figures in the game.

For years, the “too nice” label lingered as he contended regularly without quite getting over the line in America. Now, with a FedEx Cup title and a PGA Tour win to his name, that narrative feels outdated.

Fleetwood hasn’t changed who he is — but he has added silverware to match his popularity. And as he tees it up at Pebble Beach this week with renewed confidence and proven pedigree, it’s clear that nice guys can, indeed, win.