‘Bicker with each other’ – Ryder Cup star opens up on unlikely friendship with Pep Guardiola

Golf superstar Tommy Fleetwood has revealed all on his surprising close relationship with iconic football manager Pep Guardiola.

The Manchester City boss is ‘obsessed’ with golf, according to Fleetwood, and the pair have grown close on and off the course.

Getty

It’s an unlikely friendship but one that Fleetwood enjoys – even if he doesn’t get any extra insight on Premier League business.

He told Men in Blazers: “I ask him questions all the time [to find out football secrets] and he never answers them because he’s too bothered about his golf swing and golf.

“He’s the greatest manager of all time. I’m trying to learn things from and I’m getting nothing from him.

“And then he goes: ‘Well, you’ve not given me any advice on my golf game’.

“And we will just bicker with each other because neither of us is gaining in this relationship!

“He is obsessed with golf. Whenever I’m trying to pick stuff up, he is talking about his golf swing!”

Guardiola played alongside Fleetwood at the BMW PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am in 2018 and they have stayed close.

He also followed his mate’s group at Wentworth in September this year, ahead of the BMW PGA Championship again.

And the Spaniard has never played down how much he loves golf, piling praise on Team Europe for their Ryder Cup win in October.

Fleetwood played a huge part in that success and Guardiola shouted him out when he commented on the achievement too.

Getty

Getty

‘He’s obsessed with golf’

Fleetwood spoke further on just how much Guardiola loves golf, discussing how he has learnt from the football manager.

“I have picked stuff up from him all the time,” he said. “From some of his beliefs as a coach or as a manager.

“And how he goes about things in his training, like stuff that you can translate to golf like the quality of his routines and of his practice, the systems that they have, how professional they are in every aspect of diet, sleep, training, physical stuff, like you try and pick as much up of it as you can.

“He’s the ultimate perfectionist. He is obsessed with golf.

“Like I say, whenever I’m trying to pick stuff up, he is talking about his golf swing. His golf swing is good.

“His weakness? Probably he’s always looking for more. He’s always looking for more and never just accepts where he is and tries to play his game.”

Getty

Together for a special day

As mentioned, Guardiola and Fleetwood played together at the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am in 2018.

And it was on that day that Man City won the Premier League title, which was the Spanish boss’s first.

Speaking about that experience three years ago, Guardiola said: “One day we were playing golf and for our first Premier League, we were together. We celebrated together because it was the moment West Brom won at Old Trafford and we were champions. 

“Driving back home, it was a good memory… we played golf, after we were in the bar at the golf club, taking some beer and chips, and we started to see the game on TV, okay, 0-0, 0-0…

“I went home with my son and we realised in the car West Brom won and we were champions and we spoke all together there.

“The day we were champions for the first time we were together with Tommy.”