ATLANTA \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood never lost hope, never made excuses, each time that elusive PGA Tour victory slipped away. His popularity soared, not just as a sympathetic figure but for his attitude and the sincere joy he showed the players that beat him in the toughest of losses.<\/p>\n
The cheers and the chants \u2014 \u201cTommy! Tommy! Tommy!\u201d \u2014 he heard Sunday as he approached the 18th green at the Tour Championship provided the sweetest sound.<\/p>\n
No stranger to the big stage around the world with eight titles and Ryder Cup heroics, Fleetwood finally cashed in on golf’s strongest circuit.<\/p>\n
He closed with a 2-under 68 for a three-shot victory in the Tour Championship for his first PGA Tour title, picking up $10 million as the FedEx Cup champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s easy to say you’re resilient but it’s hard when you have to be,\u201d Fleetwood said. \u201cI feel lucky I’ve had to show that side of myself. And I feel lucky that it’s paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staked to a lead when Patrick Cantlay started bogey-double bogey, Fleetwood didn’t flinch when Cantlay closed to within one shot, when Scottie Scheffler made three birdies to build momentum going to the back nine, or when he stared over 200 yards of water to a peninsula green on the 15th hole, his last big obstacle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you’ve lost it so many times, a three-shot lead down the last doesn’t feel like that many,\u201d Fleetwood said with a smile before going to collect a reward long overdue.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it was fitting that his first PGA Tour title in 164 tries came with two trophies \u2014 the FedEx Cup and the \u201cCalamity Jane\u201d replica putter for winning the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour journey is a reminder that hard work, resilience, and heart do pay off. No one deserves it more,\u201d Tiger Woods posted on social media.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy was never a factor but was hopeful before leaving East Lake when the conversation turned to Fleetwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it shows how great of an attitude he has towards the game, how resilient he is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was within one shot of the lead on the front nine but wound up with a 70 to tie for seventh. He said he was \u201cdead tired,\u201d and now has to decide whether to use one of his six captain\u2019s picks on himself. He announces his picks Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing I care about is on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I\u2019ll know I made the right decision,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil then, I won’t know. It’s going to be pretty wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this day, this moment, belonged to Fleetwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt completes the story of the near-misses,\u201d he said. \u201cWinning on the PGA Tour was a step I wanted to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has been reminded far too often about a career lacking a PGA Tour victory. This was the third time in the last two months he went into the final round with no one in front of him, only to see someone else with the trophy.<\/p>\n
He saw a one-shot lead turn into a one-shot loss at the Travelers when he took three putts from the front of the green and Bradley made birdie. Fleetwood let a two-shot lead with three holes left get away from him at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to start the post-season.<\/p>\n
For all the hurt, he never lost hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow might be my time, it might not,\u201d he said Saturday evening. \u201cBut I\u2019ll still have a great time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was his time, and he had a blast.<\/p>\n
Thousands of fans surrounded the 18th green at East Lake to watch the 34-year-old from England, all of them chanting his name. Justin Rose, who rallied past him to win two weeks ago, and Shane Lowry stuck around to share in his big moment.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood removed his cap when he tapped in for par, looked to the cloudy sky and let those long locks flow as he let out a yell.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t the most comfortable I\u2019ve been,\u201d Fleetwood said with that easy smile. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve had a great attitude throughout it all. \u2026 I\u2019m so happy I got it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cantlay, who closed with a 71 to share second place with Russell Henley (69), never went away even after his rough start.<\/p>\n
A two-shot swing on the 10th \u2014 Fleetwood made bogey from the left rough, Cantlay made a 5-foot birdie \u2014 narrowed the gap to one shot. The next three holes were pivotal. Cantlay made bogey on the par-3 11th. Fleetwood birdied the next two holes with wedges to the 6-foot range, and Cantlay could only match one of them.<\/p>\n
The last big hurdle was the 218-yard 15th to a peninsula green, where Fleetwood went in the water Saturday and made double bogey. This time he managed a bogey and didn\u2019t miss a step the rest of the way in finishing at 18-under 262.<\/p>\n
Henley went 13 straight holes without a birdie and couldn\u2019t put any serious pressure on him.<\/p>\n
Scheffler\u2019s start was even more shocking. His tee shot went left and disappeared under a fence, out-of-bounds. Then, he got up-and-down from 201 yards to salvage a bogey. He ran off three birdies in four holes to finish the turn, making a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth.<\/p>\n
But he missed a 5-foot birdie on the 10th, and his hopes ended with a 5-iron that went into the water on the 15th for double bogey. He closed with a 68.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubting the best this year. Scheffler won five times, including two majors. He finished the season with 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s, and he has gone five straight months finishing no worse than eighth. He was trying to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI battled all week to give myself a chance. I wasn\u2019t as sharp as I would have hoped to have,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cI had a good first round, but outside of that didn\u2019t really play my best the first few days. Still gave myself a shot. Just needed a few better swings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Young also lingered for much of the final round and shot 66 to tie for fourth with Scheffler and Corey Conners (62), strengthening his bid to make his first Ryder Cup team before home fans in New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Tommy Fleetwood never lost hope, never made excuses, each time that elusive PGA Tour victory slipped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-95955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}