Join us every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week we discuss another Tommy Fleetwood win, a unique tournament location, the LPGA’s newest champion and more.
Tommy Fleetwood won the DP World India Championship, notching his second victory in his last four starts (not to mention his Ryder Cup dominance). Now that he’s no longer worried about securing his first PGA Tour win (and aside from world No. 1), is there any player primed for a more dominant 2026 than Fleetwood?
Josh Berhow, Editor-in-Chief (@Josh_Berhow): The stars certainly seem to be aligning for a breakout in Fleetwood. He had a few close calls even before ultimately winning the Tour Championship, so it’s not like the last few months have been a fluke. The man can hit the best ball, which is a good way to always stay in the fight. But it’s also important to remember that guys became popular and seemed ready to tear up the golf world, only to disappear. (Viktor Hovland won back-to-back playoff events in August 2023 and didn’t win again for 19 months.) I’m not expecting a Scottie-esque 2026, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Fleetwood managed two or even three wins next year.
Alan Bastable, editor-in-chief (@alan_bastable): Amazing how wins so often lead to more wins. Fleetwood is the latest example of this, and not necessarily because his playing is better than a year ago, but mainly because he leads the Tour in SG: Confidence. We’ll see if that magic stays with him throughout the season. As he said himself on Sunday: “I know form doesn’t last forever, but I’m trying to make myself the most consistent player I can be.” But yeah, to answer the question, he’s incredibly well positioned for 2026. Another guy I’m excited to see in action next year: Cameron Young. Wondering if his impressive Ryder Cup will give him a shot of continued confidence.
Jessica Marksbury, editor-in-chief (@jess_marksbury): It’s always interesting as players heat up in the fall and winter to see if they can keep the momentum going into the next big summer season. Although, as Josh said, it’s not like Tommy came out of nowhere. Even before his breakthrough on the PGA Tour, he was already a favorite at the Majors. But Tommy seems to be especially strong in the Ryder Cup years. So let’s revisit this in 2027! As for next year, I look forward to keeping my eye on another solid European: Alex Noren, who won two DP World Tour titles this year and is expected to earn his PGA Tour card for next season.
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Fleetwood beat a handful of stars to win at a narrow Delhi Golf Club, where a reported 42 percent of the field played without a driver. Should the PGA Tour visit more courses that force players to play more strategically off the tee? And how often?
Berhow: Delhi Golf Club is a pretty extreme example – I don’t want Rory to hit zero drivers! – but it should certainly happen more, as playing sound, strategic golfing and hitting clubs as the course calls for is a skill, just as much as bombarding drivers around the grounds. It also gives more players a chance. Years ago I remember Kevin Kisner listing courses he didn’t think he could win on simply because of the distance required from the tee. How realistic it is, however, is another question. There are a lot of logistics involved in choosing a Tour location – a sponsor, TV production, etc. – and sometimes the type of golf course is not always the focus.
Bastardable: Power should be a competitive advantage in golf, so yes, it would be unfair to suddenly inject the Tour schedule with some tighter and tree-choked venues. Still, this week in New Delhi was a nice reminder that there’s more than one way to test elite players who can hit a driver 300 yards, and some players really seemed to enjoy the challenge. “I like these types of courses a lot more because you’re hitting different clubs more often,” Ben Griffin said at the start of the week, “whereas in America we’re so used to hitting a lot more drivers and wedges.”
Marksbury: Playing a round of golf without a driver is something I will never be able to agree with! Years ago, a USGA official told me that the purpose of the course layout for the US Open was not necessarily to provide the most tortuous test, but to allow players to use every club in the bag over the course of the tournament. I like that idea, and I’m definitely in favor of promoting more courses (or setups) where possible. Six or seven times a year would be nice.
Rory McIlroy was among the players who kept the driver out of the pocket and finished 26th in India. Is McIlroy the biggest disadvantage if the track layout limits the drivers?
Berhow: Although Scottie Scheffler leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, I think most would argue that McIlroy with a driver in hand is one of golf’s best shows, and it might be the single club that gives one player more of an advantage than any other (Scottie with an iron in second?). That said, Rory hasn’t won a career grand slam by simply hitting the driver, but he probably does most of it.
Bastardable: I think it was probably less a case of the setup not suiting McIlroy’s skills and more a case of the target style of golf really suiting other players, particularly Tommy Fleetwood, who said the course was “set up perfectly for me.” Interestingly, if you look at McIlory’s ten bogeys from the week, most were not caused by loose tee shots, but by missing greens or pins on the wrong side.
Marksbury: I agree with both my colleagues here. Taking out the driver is a disappointment for a player with so much ability off the tee. But you end up hitting way more approaches and putts than tee shots. So whatever advantage McIlroy lost was still somewhat minimal in my opinion.
Sei Young Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship, becoming the 27th different winner on the LPGA Tour this season, where there has only been one two-time winner this year (Jeeno Thitikul, who won her second event, the LPGA Shanghai, a week ago). How do you analyze the current player of the year race, with only five tournaments to go?
Berhow: Jeeno Thitikul is the clear frontrunner as the only player with multiple wins, and her season has been great after those weeks. She has only missed one cut all year and has recorded twelve top-10 finishes. Since this is decided on a points basis, the CME Group Tour Championship could ultimately decide the whole thing. We didn’t have that drama last year when Nelly Korda walked away with this.
Marksbury: Agreed, Jos. That statistic of the first 27 winners is incredible. It really speaks to how deep the talent is on the LPGA Tour, and like you said, Jeeno may only have two wins, but she has competed almost every time she has won, has four runners-up and would be very deserving of the crown even without a major title this year.
Bastardable: To put Jeeno’s consistency into perspective, she is 120 points ahead of the second player on the Rolex list, Nelly Korda – while Korda is only 20 points ahead of third place, held by Minjee Lee. In other words, Thitikul is miles ahead of her peers. The only blemish on her 2025 resume was the US Women’s Open, where she missed her only part of the year.
Viktor Hovland played for the first time since retiring from Sunday singles and invoking the now controversial ‘envelope rule’ at the Ryder Cup. Viktor Hovland called the situation “disturbing,” but added that he sees no easy solution to the rule. Okay fair. But which Ryder Cup rule would you change?
Berhow: Simple: Choose the matchups like the Presidents Cup, where the captains alternate their selections. That way, as long as the captains are playing with the ball, we can get a little more drama into the event. (And drama that doesn’t involve dumbass fans.)
Bastardable: In the event of a tie at the end of singles, set up a play-off with a three-hole total score, seeding one player from each team, selected by their respective captain. However, unlike the envelope rule, the playoff replays would be selected in advance. The captains would pick them at that time, so if they wanted to, they couldn’t necessarily nominate their best player, but they could nominate the most popular.
Marksbury: The Ryder Cup is almost perfect, but I don’t like the ‘retention’ rule if there is a tie. We need a result! The envelope is to be used to nominate one player from each team to compete against each other in a sudden death playoff for the whole thing.
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