It was hard to figure out.  Tommy Fleetwood is one of the best players on the PGA Tour with a terrific career and many top ten finishes in PGA events and major championships all over the world.  However, prior to this past Sunday, Fleetwood was the best player to have never won an event on the PGA Tour.  It just seemed that the gods of golf were dead set against the idea as something rather strange always seemed to happen to Fleetwood as he was about to nail his first victory.

One of his nemesis was one Scottie Scheffler who always seemed to be lurking and would eventually pass Fleetwood on the leaderboard to victory.  Fleetwood had the Traveler’s Championship in Connecticut by the throat when he underclubbed  his perfect tee shot on the 18th hole to a position where he lost his one shot lead to Keegan Bradley.  It was either a poor club selection or a miscalibration of the distance required to close the deal.  He belittled his approach shot from being slightly off the green on 18 to a spot just behind the ball of Keegan Bradley giving Bradley the line on his birdie putt.    Of course, Tommy missed the putt and Bradley holed his putt on the same line and Tommy lost.  The loss was rather devastating and could have carved a mental scar on future events, but Tommy reacted positively absorbing the experience as another specimen of PGA Tour scar tissue.

This week at the Tour Championship at East Lake, Fleetwood was poised, confident and playing well.  He just had to play and good things were going to happen against the best 29 players on the PGA Tour.  Tommy just kept knocking the ball in the fairway  and stayed out of trouble grabbing the lead and keeping it over the first three days.  The question would be would his psyche betray him on Sunday and get passed again by Scheffler or a bunch of others.  Fleetwood has been remarkably confident throughout the 2025 ordeal and his fellow European mates– Rose, Lowry and McIlroy have been consistently encouraging.  On Sunday, it happened for him–he experienced some loose play on the front nine but did not succumb to bad thoughts that could have undid him.  He was just playing too well and for too long a time to allow bad things to happen after all of this effort.  The tournament was in his hands as the competitors could not erase his 3 shot lead coming down the stretch.  On the tough 16th hole, a tough par 3 over the lake, his tee shot missed the green and a difficult pitch shot yielded a bogey to reduce the lead to 2 but a 300 yard tee shot on 18 put things into the can and Fleetwood would claim his first victory.  Winning the Tour Championship at East Lake is a great omen for one’s first victory.  Throughout his ordeal of constant negative media attention at his lack of winning, Fleetwood has remained steadfast in his determination and confidence in his skills to overcome the challenge of winning.  Fleetwood’s attitude demonstrates the significant importance of mental acuity to the game of golf especially at its highest level.

The European tour players are excited as Fleetwood will be an important cog in the upcoming Ryder Cup matches and having won here will be yet an important advantage moving into those matches.  Fleetwood’s victory was a “feel good” event for the Tour Championship as the fans displayed their exhuberance.

The gods of golf are quite satisfied–Tommy Fleetwood has entered the Promised Land.