– Tommy Fleetwood (-18) has won the TOUR Championship and is therefore officially the winner of the 19th edition of the FedEx Cup. The Englishman delivered a solid card of 68 strokes in the final round at East Lake to win without suspense, with authority, finishing three strokes ahead of his closest pursuers, Patrick Cantlay (-15) and Russell Henley (-15).
– There are surely few events in current golf that bring the majority into agreement like this triumph of the Englishman: it was only fair that he finally won on the PGA Tour. For several reasons. Because he is a great player, first and foremost. Because he is also a role model in many ways: attitude, work ethic, sportsmanship, humility… And naturalness. Because he has just completed his eighth season with full playing rights on the best circuit in the world and the sum of his records in 164 tournaments, powerful, of enormous weight, was crying out for the icing on the cake of victory.
– Tommy had been runner-up six times, and another six times he had finished third. He had signed a top 5 on thirty occasions before finally claiming victory at the home of Bobby Jones. And Fleetwood always remained firm in his discourse in the face of the frustration of defeat: despite everything, it was much better to be up there, fighting, than to watch from the sidelines; therefore, it was just a matter of learning, getting up without any drama, and trying again. All that, in one way or another, he said. And this time fate wanted to reward such a long and uncertain wait with such a special victory, the ten million dollar one, the one that leaves the most mark on the record: Fleetwood is the fifth European winner of the FedEx Cup.
– It was bound to happen. Well done, Tommy. But justice is never complete, neither in golf, nor in sport, nor in life. Because if there was something we all agreed on, from where the sun rises to where it sets, it was fair that Scottie Scheffler (-14) should have been distinguished in every way as what he is, the best player in the world and, of course, of the 2025 season. The format is what it is and, by the way, it weighed on Scottie. Somehow it affected him. He, for a long time, always competes under a persistent hum, that of the highest expectations, but it seems that this week there was something more, an even greater pressure, probably the one he imposed on himself. It was as if he really had to win. Not only was it expected that he would win, as in the PGA at Quail Hollow, as in the Open at Royal Portrush, as every time he plays. No: this time he HAD to win.
Be that as it may, after a start in overwhelming roller mode (round of 63 on Thursday) he was going to suffer very unusual adjustments in his formidable standards: that grey Friday with irons and putter in hand; the poor start to Saturday’s round; the ball out of bounds on hole 1 on Sunday; or the ball in the water on 15 in this last round, where he definitively buried all his options. Because the fact is that up to that point he had still arrived alive, peeking over the horizon of Fleetwood and whoever else, still threatening. But not even the Texan is immune to collapse at the most inopportune moment, when the margin for reaction is almost non-existent. His sixth victory of the year has not arrived and it has not done so at a really important, culminating moment. But at the end of the road, no matter how sore he goes home, this great champion, the fact will remain an unpleasant anecdote in the face of the magnitude of his competitive work, which he has been building since 2022. And what remains for him.
– To finally win you have to be very good, on the PGA Tour and almost on any circuit. And Fleetwood is, of course. But some other conditions also have to be met, some planets have to align. And it has also happened: the main attacks came from the depths of the table (Hovland and Harman, both with scores of 63) and none of the Englishman’s main rivals had their day. Cantlay started with a bogey and a double bogey; Bradley hinted at a great charge that would finally confirm him in the Ryder as a player, as well as a great captain, but in the end his push faded; Scheffler came and went, too uncomfortable in his infinite excellence; and Henley also couldn’t find the definitive gear change, as has happened to him many times throughout his career (that’s why he’s ‘only’ a star, and not a mega star of the sport of the fourteen clubs).
– Fleetwood is 34 years old, a splendid age that still places him at the beginning of a long and fruitful sporting maturity. Now he only has the challenge of the Majors left. At least one to savour. And the atomic ant, talented and hardworking, will eventually drag such a delicacy to the anthill. He will find, as always, the way and the opportunity.
