Tommy Fleetwood
Hear it here!
Just when you think the 2025 golf campaign had it all with the drama of the four major championships in the books, underscored by the clear dominance of Scottie Scheffler, the heart-warming human story of the year stormed to the forefront at the final tournament of the season.
In sports, it’s never over till….well, you know the rest.
Tommy Fleetwood, a full-haired, 34-year old Englishman had become a fan favorite not for his victories, but for his defeats, most of them after coming oh-so-close too many times and somehow finding a way to never sealing the deal.
He’d be up there on the leader board as consistently as any golfer and you figured he was ready to pounce on first prize. But it never happened. Time after time, Tommy Fleetwood would be right there. But never was he THERE at the finish.
Up to this past weekend, it was a story of 163 pro starts, and 163 times without a win. Forty-two times in the top 10 in a PGA tournament, and 42 times not walking away with the trophy. How frustrating can that get? Forget frustrating, how crushing could that be?
Had he known triumph at all in his career? Of course. He won seven times on the European Tour and won the silver medal for Great Britain at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But on the PGA Tour, which is what it’s all about in golf, zero.
That is, until last Sunday, when Thomas Paul Fleetwood finally wound up on top, capturing the 2025 Tour Championship on Atlanta’s East Lake Course, and taking away the 2025 FedEx Cup. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
For the world of golf, the PGA Tour Championship is the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup Finals, and the NBA Finals all rolled into one. It is the culmination of the season. Open only to the top 30 in the world based on an accumulation of points. It’s how you played all year, not just the winning of tournaments, but how well you did in each one of them.
How about $10 million in prize money to the winner?
What a payday for Tommy Fleetwood.
But before we salute Fleetwood for finally earning the big, big, big bucks and finally getting out of financial doldrums, consider that he has now won nearly $43-and-a-half-million in his decade-long PGA Championship career. So, while no one has suggested holding any benefits for him, it’s wonderful for him to finally, at last, grab the brass ring.
For those who are not dyed-in-the-wool followers of professional golf, the natural question would be, ‘why are we so delighted he has ended his long drought, and why were we always kind of rooting for him?’
The answer is simple. It’s because of him.
Tommy Fleetwood became a favorite of the golfing audience because of his temperament, attitude, and style, handling so many near misses. You would think after a while he would simply grimace, turn off the world, (meaning fans and the media), and prefer folks would just leave him alone while he privately dealt with the tortuous reality that he was one of the best golfers in the world who could not win a tournament. There was no gnashing of teeth, no running from everyone, no woe-is-me, no trace of frustration or even bitterness.
Instead, Fleetwood exhibited a smile to his adoring supporters, was cordial and then some to the media and was brutally honest.
He wanted to win badly but was not able to get the job done. He was going to keep trying and hopefully someday break into the win column.
So many in his spot would either be abrupt or ignore the constant questions from reporters as to what it was like to never wind up on top, not play well enough, fiercely challenging on the final day, only to fall short. Those questions never ceased, and Tommy Fleetwood never shied away from replying head on. You had to get behind him. You had to hope he would break through. You had to root for him.
And it finally paid off.
The heartbreak, which was so frequent, was still fresh in Atlanta. At the Travelers Championship a one-shot lead turned into a one-shot loss when he took three putts from the front of the green, while Keegan Bradley made birdie. Then, two weeks ago, at the start of the postseason, Fleetwood led by two shots with three to play only to lose again, this time to fellow-countryman Justin Rose at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
This time the picture was brighter, a three-shot lead with two to play against Patrick Cantlay. Would it be more of the same? But it wasn’t. Not playing defensively, Fleetwood appeared more assertive, taking the bull by the horns. A critical chip shot onto the 18th sealed a three-shot victory. Yes, victory. A term that hadn’t been associated with the British golfer.
When it was over, the relief of finally being called a tournament champion washed over his face. The crowd responded accordingly. Justin Rose was seen taking photos of the scene on the 18th green, delighted himself that the man he rallied to whip a couple of weeks ago, finally did it.
Said the champion, “I’ve been a PGA Tour winner for a long time, it’s just always been in my mind. A lot of close calls, but I’ve always enjoyed the challenge”.
For Tommy Fleetwood, his attitude got him through the difficult times. He showed grace under pressure, not always the norm in sports. Let’s toast to that.
