Don’t doubt that Tommy Fleetwood is one of the favourites for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this week.

The Englishman may have a mediocre record in Ireland over his career so far, but it pales in comparison of his previous record at the HNA Open de France at Le Golf National.

He had missed the previous four cuts at the course before this year, but this is a different Tommy Fleetwood, and the 26-year-old has proven that with another scintillating performance in Paris, winning the Rolex Series event by one shot over Peter Uihlein.

Fleetwood is a ball-striking extraordinaire, and has a ridiculously good GIR (Greens in Regulation) percentage of 84.4%. At Le Golf National, he hit 80.6% of greens on a very tough layout en route to victory.

That will certainly help him at Portstewart, where he will head in as No 1 in the Race to Dubai standings.

Joining him at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open will be a confident Paul Dunne, who finished with a round of 65 in France, and rose to tied 13^th, good enough for €95,964 in the Race to Dubai rankings.