Fleetwood wins Tour Championship for first PGA Tour title

Tommy Fleetwood held his nerve to win the Tour Championship and finally claim a first PGA Tour title at the 164th time of asking. Emotion poured out of the 34-year-old Englishman after he holed the winning putt on the 18th green, saluting a crowd who chanted “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy” by raising both arms before letting […]

Tommy Fleetwood held his nerve to win the Tour Championship and finally claim a first PGA Tour title at the 164th time of asking.

Emotion poured out of the 34-year-old Englishman after he holed the winning putt on the 18th green, saluting a crowd who chanted “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy” by raising both arms before letting out a huge roar.

His European Ryder Cup team-mate and friend Justin Rose was greenside to film the final putt and celebrations on his phone as Fleetwood wrapped up a three-shot victory on 18 under par to secure the FedEx Cup and a $10m (£7.4m) first prize.

It is an eighth career title for Fleetwood, whose previous seven came on the European-based DP World Tour, and means he has shaken off the unwanted tag of being the nearly man of the American circuit.

Twice previously this season he had either led, or jointly led after three rounds without completing the victory. He has had 30 top-five finishes over his career – six this year – which was the most of anyone without a win.

He becomes the first player in the FedEx Cup era – which goes back to 2007 – to claim his breakthrough PGA Tour title at the Tour Championship and he is the second Englishman to win it, after Rose in 2018.

Fleetwood is also the first player to finish inside the top six of the leaderboard after every round of the FedEx Cup play-offs and he ended the three-tournament end-of-season series with an aggregate score of 43 under par over the 12 rounds.

And he secured this victory with an assuredness that will give European golf fans a huge boost with next month’s Ryder Cup in New York looming large on the horizon.