Tommy Fleetwood set to defend FedExCup title at TOUR Chammpionship without burden of victory drought

Entering the 2025 TOUR Championship, Tommy Fleetwood could be called a Ryder Cup hero and European stalwart, Olympic silver medalist and Race to Dubai champion.

The 34-year-old had accomplished much in the professional game except for getting the England-sized monkey off his back: a PGA TOUR win. The stars finally aligned for Fleetwood in Atlanta last year, where his breakthrough victory worked twofold, anointing him FedExCup champion as well with the new winner-take-all format in the season finale.

But, as simple as it is to spell out as fact on paper, the road getting there could be appropriately described as long, winding and seemingly never-ending.

At the time, the eight-time DP World Tour winner had accumulated 30 top-five finishes on TOUR before cutting the thick-set tape between him and the winner’s circle.

Six of those finishes occurred during the 2025 season, with one coming at the first FedExCup Playoffs event, a T3 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Podium payouts can be cashed a few different ways, and it happened that Fleetwood faltered after possessing the 36- and 54-hole lead. Fellow countryman Justin Rose capitalized where he could not.

The latest in a saga of heartbreak surely could have put a wrench in his psyche. It did not. And his global fanbase was one thing he chose to lean on in the aftermath.

“You know, we move on,” Fleetwood said following his final round at TPC Southwind.

“As long as (the fans) stay with me and stay on my side, then we can all look for the positives. … I haven’t been in contention much this year, and then (Travelers Championship) obviously leading, and I felt like it was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed playing in that atmosphere, and then today again I get the crowd on my side and I love their support. I’m so appreciative of it.

“Kind of on this journey together.”

Sticking with positive trends, his putting, which historically had not been his strong suit, was peaking. Not just in Memphis – where his Strokes Gained: Putting was +5.147 – but across the entire season, Fleetwood’s average SG: Putting total was 15th-best on TOUR at +0.40 per round.

The letdown in Memphis was followed up with a backdoor T4 at the BMW Championship, where his flatstick was once again an asset (+3.598 SG: Putting, T9) in four under-par rounds.

Fleetwood then saved his best for last at East Lake Golf Club, picking up an average of 2.04 shots per round for a grand total of 8.15 shots on the field that week.

The next closest player in SG: Putting was Sam Burns at +3.901. For perspective, that more than four-stroke difference was the largest gap (by more than a full stroke) between first- and second-most strokes gained in a tournament during the 2025 season.

In his final-round 68 at the BMW Championship, the Southport, England, native admittedly “lost my swing” and had to lean on his mind more than anything.

“I was just really focused on sort of where my swing was at and trying to feel like I was doing the right things, as well as managing everything else, whether it be your expectations, whether it be the doubt that's creeping in after the last few times that it's not gone my way, and also dealing with the sort of reality of it felt like it was,” Fleetwood said. “The door was getting further and further open for me as the round went on, and sort of trying to stay level-headed about it.”

Fleetwood began Sunday at the TOUR Championship in a tie at 16 under with Patrick Cantlay, and he never did feel heat from the 2021 FedExCup champ, who came out of the gates bogey-double bogey-birdie. In fact, Fleetwood’s lead only dipped below two strokes once (after the par-4 10th) following that opening stretch.

Other nearby pursuers Russell Henley (14 under), Keegan Bradley (13 under) and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (12 under) managed rounds of 69, 70 and 68, respectively.

But even so, Fleetwood still had to run his race to completion.

He did not play his cleanest golf, carding three bogeys, and yet he did do what is a signature part of Scheffler’s prolonged dominance: bounce back. After a poor drive led to a dropped shot on the par-4 fifth, Fleetwood birdied the sixth and seventh holes with a deft pitch and a 175-yard bunker shot placed pin high, respectively. Then, a bogey on No. 10 was followed by consecutive birdies on holes 12 and 13.

Scheffler flirted with making a last-gasp run at Fleetwood, but his efforts were doused when his tee shot found a watery grave on the par-3 15th, getting as close as three strokes back on Sunday.

When the final putt found the hole on No. 18, Fleetwood got to let loose jubilation on American soil that was first bottled up when he debuted in front of a U.S. crowd at the 2014 PGA Championship.

“Like I say, again, it's almost easy to say now, 'I'm really pleased that it's happened now,' but if it didn't happen today, I would have said the same things (about perseverance),” Fleetwood said. “I would have said, ‘I just want another chance. I'm just going to go back and work and I'm just going to go again.’ I've had the opportunity to prove that, that if you just keep going, it can happen.

“I guess that's my story.”

His magical four days with the putter were not only personally remarkable – Fleetwood only averaged more made feet of putts per round at the 2018 U.S. Open (109 feet, 11 inches) – but he matched Canada’s Taylor Pendrith's TOUR Championship record the year prior for the most holes (20) gaining at least half a stroke. Zooming out of tournament record books, only five TOUR winners since 2004 accomplished this feat for more holes during their respective events.

Before teeing it up for the final round in Atlanta, Fleetwood also eclipsed 5,000 feet of made putts for the season, reaching the milestone for the first time in his TOUR career. He was the only player to do so while making fewer than 20 starts (19).

For all the breakthroughs on the short grass, Fleetwood didn’t and hasn’t lost sight of the people who have made it all possible.

“I've always been very lucky that I make a great connection with people. I try and be – if I could give my kids one piece of advice – there's tons of advice, but I always tell them to be a good person first, and I've always tried to do that.

“My dad always told me that, even when I was a young, aspiring amateur golfer, professional golfer, he always wanted me to be – he always said person first, golfer second. You're a good person first. Whatever happens after that, you try to be a good golfer second. I've always tried to be that.”

This season, Fleetwood remains in good form. He had outside chances to win at the Memorial Tournament and The Open Championship (an emotional homecoming regardless of result at Royal Birkdale), but for as much as he’s been consistent, the threat of winning hasn’t been there.

Nonetheless, he's back at East Lake, where four rounds of golf could once again change his fortunes. And he has a deep well of pleasant memories to draw from in his quest to do something no one has done in FedExCup Playoffs history: repeat.