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Journalism of Courage
Tommy Fleetwood put plenty of demons to rest by winning the PGA Tour Championships, and ending his 163-event-long drought on golf’s premier tour. A leading role in Europe’s memorable away victory in the Ryder Cup a few months later only reinforced that, after punching considerably below his weight for long, the World No.5 had finally got confidence to showcase his best on the big stage.
The problem with a breakthrough, though, is doing it all over again once the euphoria settles. Winning is one thing and to keep winning is entirely another. Yet another triumphant week, at the DP World India Championship that finished here on Sunday, proved that the 34-year-old from the small British town of Southport can hold his own and achieve the latter too.
Four rounds of disciplined-yet-thrilling golf allowed Fleetwood to take his eighth title on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), his first since January 2024. It sweetened an already phenomenal year for the Briton, establishing him as one of the leading golfers in the world.
And while rankings and prize money may be instructive about a golfer’s ability, it doesn’t reflect the affection they draw from the public. Fleetwood is known as the ‘people’s champion’ by golf enthusiasts; perhaps a result of his humble upbringing as the son of a lorry driver and his general easy-going charm that has seen him labelled as a relatable, nice guy.
The scenes on the 18th green as Fleetwood put the finishing touches to his final round of seven-under 65, ending with a cumulative score of 22-under, two strokes ahead of Japan’s Keita Nakajima in second place, would explain his appeal to larger audiences.
As huge galleries, arriving to catch a glimpse of the country’s biggest-ever golf tournament on Diwali weekend, engulfed the green, Fleetwood would wrap up his round with a regulation putt for par and embrace his eight-years-old son Frankie to chants of ‘Tommy! Tommy!’ The boy had seen his father win a title in the flesh for the first time.
“We were playing golf last week, and he (son Frank) just happened to say randomly, ‘you know what you’ve never done… you’ve never won a tournament and I’ve been able to run on to the 18th green.’ I didn’t really say anything. I don’t think I said anything back to him, but I thought I’m going to keep that. I wrote it down when I got back, and I had it in my mind,” Fleetwood said after the victory. “That was something that would drive me.”
One can fake being nice, but to fake being this nice would be massively creditable, and nearly impossible.
The build-up to the final day seemed to be about a contest between Fleetwood and Nakajima, the clubhouse leader at the start of the day, with Irishman Shane Lowry lurking in third place. A final round sprint was on the cards.
That was until New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier threatened to flip the script. A sensational, tournament-best performance on the front nine, which saw him seven-under after the first 10 holes, put him at the top of the leaderboard at one stage. Hillier would eventually fade away, the pressure with the trophy suddenly in sight seemingly weighing heavily as he dropped four shots to end tied ninth. But Hillier’s early offensive prompted those at the top to come in clutch, merely holding on was not enough.
And Fleetwood would be the one to take the initiative; his four successive birdies from the seventh to the 10th holes putting him in an unassailable lead.
Scoring opportunities and mistakes went hand in hand at the old-fashioned Lodhi course of the DGC. Rory McIlroy, the big crowd-puller and major star of this tournament, was made to pay for his errors; his 10 bogeys across 72 holes sending him down to tied-26th position. That is where Fleetwood held the edge, in his discipline and ability to get himself out of trouble. He made only two bogies through 54 holes of golf.
“I probably hit poor shots at the right time, into the right places, if you like. I haven’t seen what anybody else has done, but obviously when I looked at the leaderboard on 14, I saw that Dan (Hillier) had fallen back, and I think my couple of bad shots, my bad stretch, I just managed it well,” the Briton told reporters with the trophy resting beside him.
A week of excellent hospitality and a course that suited him well may give him reasons to return to India. But there will be an even greater motivation now.
“I didn’t need a reason to come back anyway, but to have a trophy to defend is a very good one,” Fleetwood said.
