Does anyone have it better than Tommy Fleetwood right now? One of the world’s most likable golfers has suddenly turned into a world-beater, winning tournaments and piling up Ryder Cup victories.
On Sunday, he added another trophy to his case, winning the DP World India Championship at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi, India. It is Fleetwood’s eighth career DP World Tour title and adds to the success of his last few months.
In August, he won the Tour Championship title and the FedEx Cup – including the $10 million bonus – to ease the pain of a series of close calls and ultimately take the title as the best player never to win on the PGA Tour. A month later, he earned four points for the team at the Ryder Cup, helping Europe win a rare road match.
“I think everyone needs something to encourage them or motivate them,” Fleetwood said Sunday. “I dedicate myself to achieving the best possible at all times, and there are plenty of times when things don’t go my way, but the last two tournaments I’ve been in I’ve won, so maybe things are starting to even out a bit.”
This week he was among a group of stars – including Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Viktor Hovland – at the DP World Tour stop in India. Fleetwood had the 36-hole lead, but was two behind Keita Nakajima going into the final round.
Playing in the final pairing on Sunday, however, Fleetwood had extra motivation to get a win: his son Frankie wanted to celebrate with him on the 18th green.
“We were playing golf last week. To be honest, he never shuts up, so there’s always something coming out of his mouth, and he just randomly said, ‘You know what you’ve never done?’ He said, ‘You’ve never won a tournament before and I was able to run through to the 18th green,'” Fleetwood said. “He just said it casually. I didn’t really say anything. I don’t think I said anything to him, but I wrote it down when I got back, and I had it in my mind. I know events will happen while we’re playing at home, and obviously I’m fortunate that my family gets to travel with me a lot. But it was something I had written down. It was kind of this quote, it was: You’ve never won and I ran onto the green. That was the quote that was there, and that was something that would drive me.
On Sunday, Fleetwood made four straight birdies from Nos. 7-10 to take a two-stroke lead over Nakajima, who managed just one birdie on the front nine. When Fleetwood stepped to the par-5 18th tee, his lead was still two. He parried by shooting seven-under 65, finishing 22 under and winning by two.
Earlier this week, the broadcast showed Frankie following his father and mimicking his shots. On Sunday, Frankie was waiting at the 18th green.
“There will be many more moments where I hopefully get the opportunity to do that,” Fleetwood said. “But that was all day today. I was thinking about if I could put myself in a position where I can actually make that moment happen. It’s just one of those little things that means a lot to me. It means so much to me. That was really cool. That’s what I wanted to do all day.”
Fleetwood’s eighth DP World Tour win also extends his season. He was not yet eligible for the two DP World Tour play-off events in November, but Sunday’s victory saw him rise from 94th to 25th in the Race to Dubai, making him eligible for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
“I’ve had such a great year, but there were a few things that disappointed me, and being on the DP World Tour was one of them,” Fleetwood said. “Just not being where I want to be in terms of the Order of Merit and everything and how I’ve been playing when I’ve played this tour, that was something that bothered me. This means a lot, this win.”
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