For the second time in four days, Tommy Fleetwood wrapped Aaron Rai in a bearhug at the end of a round of golf, and both players broke into broad smiles.
As they embraced on the 18th at Earth Course at the culmination of the first day of the DP World Tour Championship, Rai was moved to laughter – even though his day had been a tough one.
Rai carded a 1-over-par 73, leaving him languishing in 43rd out of 52 in the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Fleetwood, for his part, was eight shots better off, on 7-under, one shy of the Day 1 leader, Michael Kim.
It is unlikely Rai will lose too much sleep over it, given he is still basking in the glow of winning a cool $1.5 million as well as the Falcon Trophy in Abu Dhabi at the weekend.
But the giggles were telling. Maybe Fleetwood had told him he was nipping off to the loo.
It was a coincidence the two players had been paired together. Ahead of the start of championship, Fleetwood had had to defend himself against accusations of gamesmanship against Rai.
He had attracted criticism for delaying the start of the play-off that decided the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday.
When quizzed about it on Tuesday, he pointed out that he had urgently needed a toilet break – hence heading into the clubhouse – and that Rai beat him anyway.
For a player commonly referred to as one of the most amiable on tour – not least with Rai, who could scarcely be more fulsome in his praise of Fleetwood – it was a shock.
The controversy, such as it was, was hardly a distraction for the Englishman. Fleetwood fired seven birdies – including five in the space of six holes at the start of the back nine, to position himself perfectly at the start of the championship.
It was the latest show of class from a player who is in the form of his life. Having won in the United States and India recently, he moved up to No 4 in the world after finishing second in Abu Dhabi.
“I'm on a really great run at the moment,” Fleetwood said. “My results have been really good. But I really think it's consistency of hard work in all areas. I'm very lucky with having great information from great people that are around me.
“We’ve been chipping away for a long time. We've played very consistently for a long time and now we're just having a great run.
“Hopefully it's not just a great run and this is how I play golf, but we've got to see what happens in the future.
“I am always trying to consistently improve day in, day out, no matter how little that step may be. Every now and again, you get lucky and it shows.”
It helps when it is your home track. Fleetwood has called Dubai home for some while now, and he has academies both there and in Abu Dhabi.
“It's been a dream of mine to have academies to bring the game of golf to as many people as possible,” Fleetwood said.
“I've lived at the elite end of the game for a long time, from a young age. I want to help people strive for their dreams in the game, and I want to help people get into the game and see the beauty of it.
“I'm very lucky that my name is on it, but I'm also very blessed with the people and the partners that are involved in that and we'll continue to try to grow.”
While Fleetwood is one shot in arrears of Kim, both will be wary of the fact Rory McIlroy is just one stroke further back on 6-under.
The Northern Irishman now appears certain to claim a seventh Race to Dubai title after his playing partner, Marco Pange, suffered a rare off day.
Penge needs to win the tournament to leapfrog McIlroy and win the order of merit, but was eight shots worse off than his playing partner of Day 1.
While it was an impressive round on the Earth Course for McIlroy, he felt it could have been even better.
“I don't want to sound like I'm that disappointed but I feel like I left a few out there; I missed a couple of short ones,” McIlroy said.
“Overall, it was a really solid start on a golf course that I'm very comfortable on and historically I've played very well on.”
