Tommy Fleetwood seals Tour Championship title in fitting style

Tommy Fleetwood, of England, holds the championship trophy. Pic: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

Long after their own scorecards were signed and their FedEx Cup seasons were finished on Sunday, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Harry Hall were all standing behind the 18th green at East Lake Golf Club to welcome a good friend to the fraternity of PGA Tour winners.

It speaks to the popularity of Tommy Fleetwood among the fans who chanted “Tommy! Tommy!” and his peers, as well as the weight the 34-year-old Englishman was finally through carrying.

Fleetwood arrived at the Tour Championship carrying the weight of a PGA Tour record nobody wants – the most career top-five finishes (30) without ever winning in 163 career starts. Only Bobby Wadkins had more top-10 finishes (50) than Fleetwood’s 44 without a win.

“I think it would be pretty funny if I won this week and then got the FedEx Cup as well,” Fleetwood said on Tuesday.

Well, the joke’s on everyone else, as Fleetwood held off his own demons and a chasing cast of likely U.S. Ryder Cup rivals including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and captain Keegan Bradley to become the first player in the 19-year FedEx Cup era to make the Tour Championship his first career victory. 

Fleetwood posted four consecutive sub-par rounds to finish 18-under par and win the FedEx Cup and it’s official $10 million prize by three shots over Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley.

The last player to make the Tour Championship his first career PGA Tour win was Chad Campbell in 2003, four years before the FedEx Cup began.

“I think I’m proud of what I’ve done before; whether I’ve won or not, I’ve still been proud of my career so far, knowing that I still have a long way to go and lots of learning,” said Fleetwood. “This doesn’t change that really. This is hopefully just one win, the first of many to come. You cannot win plenty if you don’t win the first one.

Tommy Fleetwood, of England, celebrates victory during the final round of the Tour Championship. Pic: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

“I’m just happy that I got it done and happy with my work ethic, and I’ll continue to try and get better and try to be the best I can be.” 

Fleetwood came to the season finale at East Lake very much hoping to put an end to his ignominious PGA Tour standard that loomed larger with a pair of painful near misses this summer in the Travelers Championship to Bradley and the FedEx St. Jude Championship playoff opener to Justin Rose. 

Those heartbreaks raised the seven-time DP World Tour winner’s PGA numbers to 12 top-threes and six runner-ups without a trophy.

In both of those defeats, Fleetwood held late two-shot leads that evaporated down the final holes. He handled both setbacks with his trademark grace and optimism.

“I’m not going to be picky about which one I choose to have as the first one – this one would be a good one,” he said before putting together rounds of 64 and 63 to claim a share of the lead he refused to relinquish this time.

Naturally, Fleetwood stepped to the 16th tee at East Lake with a two-shot lead on playing partner Cantlay with three to play after making bogey on the par-3 15th. 

But it was Cantlay who made the mistake with a bogey to put Fleetwood three up with two to play. A couple of undramatic pars was all it took to finally finish it off and lift, not just one, but two trophies on the 18th green at the historic home club of Bobby Jones.

The relief was evident on his face after he holed the final putt for par to close it out.

“I feel like I’ve had a great attitude throughout it all,” Fleetwood said. “I was a bit erratic today at times, and I was really proud of how I found my swing again on like the 11th hole, 12th hole. Changed my routine a little bit, and yeah – still, when you’ve lost it so many times, three-shot lead down the last doesn’t feel like that many.” 

While Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup is likely to have the same DNA as the one that won in 2023 in Rome – with the only difference a swap in the Højgaard twin brothers from Nicolai in Rome to Rasmus at New York – U.S. Ryder Cup Keegan Bradley will have to make some hard choices to finalize his roster with six captain’s picks on Wednesday.

Six candidates – including himself – finished among the top 10 including: runner-up Cantlay (15-under); Cameron Young (T4, 14-under); Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and Bradley (T7, 13-under); and Ben Griffin and Chris Gotterup (T10, 12-under).

“That’s going to be tougher,” Bradley said of the choices he has including whether to become the first Ryder Cup playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 at East Lake when it was called Atlanta Athletic Club. 

“I’ve gone through a lot of stuff this year, I didn’t know how I was going to handle it. Proud of the way I did. This is a whole other animal. I have no clue. This is going to be really difficult.

“When I get done here, we’re going to talk to my vice captains. We sort of put everything on hold the last couple days. I think they were trying to leave me alone. But we’ll get in touch with them and get our final decisions together. Saw a lot of Americans play great today, which makes me happy.” 

Scheffler’s bid to become the first player to win consecutive FedEx Cup fell short as he tied for fourth with Young and Canadian Corey Conners. 

Scheffler never had his best stuff all week but still loomed on the leaderboard Sunday despite hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds and making three bogeys on the day.

“I battled all week to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said. “I wasn’t as sharp as I would have hoped to have been. I had a good first round, but outside of that didn’t really play my best the first few days. Still gave myself a shot. Just needed a few better swings.”