Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Fleetwood Finds First Win

As Tommy Fleetwood made his way down the 18th fairway, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry walked out of the East Lake clubhouse to witness their dear friend's long-deserved moment to shine.

Then as Fleetwood made his way up the par-5 and became visible to the throngs ringing the 18th green, some 20 deep, the cheering began. He acknowledged with a simple half-wave of his wedge. He still had work to do.

Fleetwood, one of the world's best golfers but snakebit for so long on U.S. soil, was about to win for the first time on the PGA Tour. He had a three-stroke lead and no one, not even Fleetwood, not even after the two recent blood-draining collapses, could let this one slip away.

"The agonizing wait is over!" NBC's Dan Hicks exclaimed moments later.

Fleetwood made his long-overdue maiden PGA Tour victory a monumental one. Not only did he win the season-ending TOUR Championship, he captured the FedEx Cup itself as the best golfer in the playoffs and the $10 million that went along with it.

Even the curmudgeonly Patrick Cantlay, Fleetwood's playing partner, did not lose sight of the moment, offering a warm smile along with a hearty congratulatory handshake.

As the fans chanted "Tom-my, Tom-my," Fleetwood lifted his arms high, reared back his head with his long locks flowing and roared in exultation. Or relief.

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As Fleetwood noted earlier in the week, "I think it would be pretty funny if I won this week and then got the FedEx Cup as well."

Funny, yes. But it almost surely will lead to a change in the playoff format under new Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. But that's a discussion for another day.

For now, Fleetwood has delivered one of the feel-good moments to the season, bested only by Rory McIlroy's long journey to a Masters title.

Not only was it painful for so many to watch all the close calls -- he was overtaken by Keegan Bradley at the Travelers in June and then by that same dear friend Rose two weeks ago at the first playoff event in Memphis -- but it was extra hard because Fleetwood is genuinely bellowed by just about everyone.

And the Fleetwood love extends way beyond golf, with the likes of LeBron James, Caitlin Clark, Michael Phelps and Carlos Alcaraz also sending best wishes.

Where else does that happen? For what other golfer? Even Tiger Woods, for only the second time all season -- after McIlroy at Augusta -- offered public congratulations.

This was Fleetwood's 164th career start on the PGA Tour -- and his 30th top-5, seven of which have come in majors. Of course, he has won seven times on the DP World Tour, been a Ryder Cup hero -- who could forget  his 2018 "Moliwood" pairing with Francesco Molinari -- and been a regular in the top 10 of the world rankings for the most part since 2018. With this win, he's up to a career-best No. 6.

For the entire three-event playoffs, Scottie Scheffler wasn't the best golfer. It was Fleetwood. As the Tour noted, Fleetwood was remarkable:

• The first player to finish inside the top six of the leaderboard after every round of the FedExCup Playoffs.
• Posted all 12 rounds of the FedExCup Playoffs in the 60s, including four rounds of 64 or better.
• Led the East Lake field in Strokes Gained: Putting (8.148), more than doubling the next-highest total (Sam Burns - 3.901)

To play this well, after such recent and multiple heartaches, is remarkable.

"I think it's easy for anybody to say that they are resilient, that they bounce back, that they have fight," Fleetwood said. "It's different when you actually have to prove it. There's different types of mental strength. I've clearly got things wrong in the dire moments of tournaments, and I might have made the odd dodgy decision, might have put a bad swing on it.

"But I've had to have mental strength in a different way. I've had to be resilient in terms of putting myself back up there, getting myself back in that position, no matter how many times it doesn't go my way, no matter how many doubts might creep in. Think the right things."

Not that Fleetwood needed any extra motivation, but with the Ryder Cup just weeks away, it didn't hurt to be paired with Cantlay on Sunday and outduel him to come out on top.

There were some dips along the way on Sunday, but no soul-crushing shots like in previous meltdowns. Fleetwood never let his guard down, not even on that walk up the 18th fairway.

"When you've lost it so many times, a three-shot lead down the last doesn't seem like that many."

Fair point.

So now the narrative from fans and reporters alike is kaput. Fleetwood is no longer a guy who can't win on the PGA Tour.

"Well, it's a shame that the story is gone," he said, with laughter coming from the assembled reporters at East Lake.

"I enjoyed it while it lasted in a sick way. … 

"I'll look back at it and I'll be able to tell people that I am really, really pleased that I get to talk to kids or aspiring golfers or aspiring sports people, whatever they're trying to do, and I can genuinely talk about showing resilience or keep coming back after tough losses and keep working and all of those things and the skills that you have to use in order to put yourself there again and then finally get it done. I'm really, really pleased that I get to do that and that I'm proof that it can happen.

"I'll miss talking about it, but I'll be glad that I can talk to people about what can be done."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Patrick Cantlay
It took until the final tournament of the season for Cantlay to contend for a title. Of course, with the Ryder Cup captain's picks coming Wednesday, it was good timing. He's had periodic good finishes during 2025 -- enough to get him to East Lake -- but it was not a good season by Cantlay's standards. Still, it's hard to envision captain Bradley not picking him for the U.S. Team, especially after sharing runner-up in the TOUR Championship.

Russell Henley
On a course where getting the ball in the fairway matters more than most places, Henley showed how good he can be. He capped his best season on Tour -- one that saw him win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and move to No. 4 in the world rankings -- with a shared runner-up at East Lake. Henley is an automatic qualifier for the Ryder Cup. But without much international experience, it will be interesting to see how he handles the moment.

Scottie Scheffler
If you didn't see it with your own eyes -- Scheffler hitting his drive out of bounds on No. 1 and then in the water on No. 15 -- you might not have believed it. But it happened. Scheffler clearly did not have his best stuff and, as a result, plummeted down the leaderboard all the way to a tie for ... fourth. We can debate the playoff format and it will probably change, but no one is debating who the best golfer has been all season. In 19 starts, Scheffler won five times, finished top-10 16 times and top-25 all 19 times. Simply absurd. And for all that, he finishes T4 in the FedExCup Standings. Which is even more absurd. Changes surely are coming. 

Cameron Young
Young continued a fantastic end-of-season push that likely will land him at Bethpage Black next month. He finished his season this way: win at the Wyndham, fifth at the FedEx St. Jude, 11th at the BMW and T4 at the TOUR Championship.

Corey Conners
Conners didn't do a whole heck of a lot after withdrawing from the U.S. Open in June with a wrist injury, but he closed his season with a sterling Sunday 62, rocketing him up the leaderboard into a tie for fourth. Again, like Henley, Conners is a great fit at a course that puts a premium on accuracy.

Keegan Bradley
If things couldn't get any more interesting, Bradley tied for seventh to once again open the conversation: Should he pick himself for the Ryder Cup team? He hung on to finish in the top 12 in Ryder cup points (11th), but so did Maverick McNealy (10th) and Brian Harman (12th) and they likely won't get picked. We will find out on Wednesday, and there's a chance Bradley might still not know what he wants to do.

Sam Burns
Burns tied for seventh, piggybacking last week's T4 to make one of the strongest arguments for Ryder Cup inclusion. But he is 16th in points.

Justin Thomas
Thomas also tied for seventh. He's also seventh in the Ryder Cup standings, so he's almost assuredly heading to Bethpage Black.

DP WORLD TOUR

There was an interesting development at the British Masters, one with significant Ryder Cup implications. Alex Noren won the tournament -- a huge accomplishment after an injury-plagued season -- and Nicolai Hojgaard shared runner-up. But it was Rasmus Hojgaard, thanks to finishing in a six-way tie for 13th, who likely locked up an automatic spot on the European team at the last possible moment. That all but seals the fate of Harry Hall, who had an outside shot at the 12th and final berth. Hall tied for 17th at the TOUR Championship.

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