Some of us have always known that deep inside Tommy Fleetwood lurked a cold-blooded winner. Back in the late 90s I was working at the golf magazine Fore! when the deputy editor Simon Caney returned to the office after being thrashed 6&5 by a tiny eight-year-old who had shown him no mercy. His name? Tommy Fleetwood. Now the rest of the world knows that killer instinct exists, too.
But Fleetwood’s FedEx Cup victory, his first in 164 events on the PGA Tour, also reinforced something else. Everyone loves Tommy. Right. Left. Maga. Liberal. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. At East Lake they were chanting his name as he lifted the trophy – while on X, Tiger Woods, Adam Sandler and Caitlin Clark all tweeted their support. Even on social media, so often a cesspit of anger and bile, the equivalent of a Christmas Day armistice broke out.
Back in 2023 a survey in Sportico found that PGA supporters were among the most rightward fanbases in sport, with 56% self-identified as “more conservative” compared with 44% who were “more liberal”. Yet in our hyper-polarised world, where sides are taken and battle lines drawn, Fleetwood is one of the few male sports stars for whom we universally root.
How many others come to mind? Leo Messi, Carlos Alcaraz and Luke Littler, for sure. Scottie Scheffler and Justin Rose too. Until last week I would have said Eberechi Eze as well. But after that my list soon dries up.
Of course seeing the nearly man of golf finally break America was behind the vast outpouring of joy on Sunday. How could it not be? But Fleetwood’s reaction to his victory showed you why so many were willing him home in the first place.
As he hit the winning putt he leaned back and screamed towards the heavens in an act of joy and catharsis, before the camera panned to Justin Rose, who was punching the air, and Shane Lowry, who was grinning away. But before greeting his Ryder Cup teammates, Fleetwood went over to hug his stepson Oscar, who was sobbing away, and ask him: “Are you OK?”
Tommy Fleetwood embraces his stepson, Oscar, on the 18th green after claiming victory at East Lake. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty Images
You can’t fake genuine. And that one small act told you everything you need to know about Fleetwood. Even in the moment of his greatest triumph, he was being human and thinking of others.
Then again, Fleetwood, the son of a roadworker from Southport who started playing at his local municipal course, has long shown us the type of person he is. When President Trump criticised the NHS in 2018, for instance, Fleetwood retweeted a post telling him to mind his own business. And then he made his feelings ever clearer in an interview in the Times shortly afterwards. “I thought what he said was absolute rubbish,” he said.
“There are certain things you are proud of as a British citizen and the NHS is by far and away the No 1 thing. I’m a big believer.”
Of course things got a bit hairy on Sunday. There was a wobble on eight, nine and ten, and with Scheffler and Keegan Bradley mounting a charge, you feared that history might repeat itself. And if Fleetwood was nervous he certainly had plenty of time to think about it, given his playing partner, Patrick Cantlay, was dawdling even more than usual.
Imagine what was going through Fleetwood’s mind. In the past seven years he had finished in the top five 29 times on the PGA without winning. Even Vitas Gerulaitis only lost to Jimmy Connors 16 times in a row.
Shane Lowry was among those keen to applaud the success of his Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood. Photograph: Andrew J Clark/ISI Photos/Getty Images
No wonder that when he led by two shots with three holes to play, as he had at the Travelers and the St Jude Championship, he had the walk of a condemned man. Yet this time the nerve held.
“When you have lost it so many times, a three-shot down the last doesn’t feel that many,” he joked afterwards. It was classic Fleetwood, modest and self-effacing.
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Beforehand he had talked about taking the positives from every setback. That is what every sports star says, of course. But Fleetwood actually proved as good as his word.
How he didn’t plunge into a doom-spiral or weeks of self-pity should be a subject for a sports psychology textbook. And his victory also served as a pick-me-up to the rest of us. Perhaps if you take enough shots at something, even when you are getting kicked in the teeth, the hard work will pay off.
Either way, it always felt harsh for some to brand Fleetwood a choker, or – as in Paul Azinger’s case five years ago – demand that he win in the US to prove himself.
The 34-year-old is, after all, a multiple winner on the DP World Tour and an Olympic silver medallist. He also gained four points out of four on his Ryder Cup debut in 2018 and sunk the winning putt in Rome in 2023. You don’t do that if your knees are always knocking under pressure.
True, this wasn’t the biggest or most dramatic golfing victory of the year. Rory McIlroy at the Masters sewed up that award long ago. But it was, to these eyes, the most heartwarming: the equivalent of a John Lewis Christmas advert that makes you feel better every time you think about it.
Of course it will be very different when it comes to the Ryder Cup in four weeks’ time. President Trump will be there. The crowd will be pumped up and baying for blood. And there certainly won’t be any “Tommy! Tommy!” chants.
But for now we can all rejoice in having watched Fleetwood break the curse. And doesn’t the world feel a better place for it?
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