Fleetwood proud of consistency as he targets second Race to Dubai title

(Reuters) - England's Tommy Fleetwood is bidding to win a second Race to Dubai title after climbing to third in the rankings behind Americans Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa.

Fleetwood, crowned the European Tour's number one player in 2017, was beaten by compatriot Aaron Rai in a playoff at the Scottish Open on Sunday but said he had overcome the disappointment ahead of the BMW PGA Championship starting at Wentworth on Thursday.

"I've gone to Dubai the last three years and I've said it's a privilege to get to that event. I absolutely loved coming down the stretch last year with a chance," Fleetwood told reporters on Wednesday.

"Didn't quite happen, but I've been first, third and second over the last three years, and then this year I want to keep that spell going.

"It's something that I'm proud of - the consistency of being that high up and I've played well in the right tournaments for the last few years now. So yeah, I'd absolutely love that," the world number 14 added.

"There's some amazing names that have won it once and there's some amazing names that won it multiple times. So I'd love to be one of them... To be around and have another chance this year is great, but let's focus on this week for now."

Fleetwood, an Everton fan, said Premier League champions Liverpool's 7-2 mauling by Aston Villa on Sunday had helped him get over his loss to Rai.

"Aston Villa put an end to the sulking pretty much quite rapidly," Fleetwood added.

"I didn't really process it much, I didn't think about it much either. At the end of the day, there's certain things that happen, and while I did think about it for a couple of minutes, I thought I did everything right."

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)