Tommy Fleetwood has revealed that his cathartic first victory on the PGA Tour came against the backdrop of his stepson recovering from spinal surgery in hospital.
After a long series of near-misses in the United States, including 30 top-five finishes in 163 starts, Fleetwood finally broke his duck at the season-ending Tour Championship last month.
The world No6’s victory arrived only a fortnight after a particularly painful collapse at the FedEx St Jude Championship, where he had held a two-shot lead on the 16th tee of the final round only to narrowly miss out on a play-off, in which Justin Rose defeated JJ Spaun.
Fleetwood won the season-ending Tour Championship
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Fleetwood with his wife Clare in 2020
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Fleetwood did not disclose it at the time but he was also contending with significant stress at home because his 17-year-old stepson, Murray Craig, had gone under the knife that week and remained in hospital when he won in Atlanta, which is why his wife, Clare, was not there to celebrate with him.
“Our middle boy, Mo, had a spinal operation just over a month ago now so my family were unable to travel. They actually just got home before we got home. He had 3½ weeks in the hospital,” Fleetwood said.
The 34-year-old added that Murray has made a good recovery and is in attendance at the BMW PGA Championship this week. Amid all the focus on Fleetwood’s pursuit of a maiden victory on US soil, he is yet to win a professional tournament in England and is now hoping to maintain his momentum at Wentworth, even if the players already have one eye on the Ryder Cup.
“Of all the emotions that come with that win, definitely relief was part of it. I was just glad that I got one over the line,” Fleetwood said.
Fleetwood admitted that relief was one of the main emotions he felt after winning his first PGA title
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“I think it was an amazing thing to achieve and an amazing tournament to win. There was a narrative building that I had been up there a lot and hadn’t got it done, but I always try to think in the right way and speak the right way, and I still think all of those things are relative.
“It took such a long time and I’m glad that’s done; it might take that long to win another. But it’s just nice that I’m off that list, if you like, of people that hadn’t won.
“Winning on home soil is very special. Look at [Rory McIlroy winning the Amgen Irish Open] last week. That was one of the coolest things to watch.
“I’ve pictured myself winning on the 18th green many, many times. Home crowds are a huge part of what we dream of, so yeah, that can be another one to add to the list of things that I haven’t done yet, but I’ll continue to try.”
McIlroy capped an already remarkable year with a dramatic victory at the K Club, where he eagled the final hole before defeating Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren in a play-off. This time last year, the Northern Irishman was also confronting an enduring narrative of near-misses after losing in a play-off against Billy Horschel at Wentworth a few months after his capitulation at the US Open.
However, after finally completing the career grand slam at the Masters in April, the 36-year-old, who caused a mild stir by skipping the first event of the FedEx Cup play-offs, was in a somewhat reflective mood and returned to a conversation he once had with Roger Federer when pondering his plans to play in India and Australia after the Ryder Cup.”Going back to the . . . I don’t want to name a tournament, but you’re going back to the same place, the same thing 15, 20 years in a row, it can get a little bit monotonous and a little bit tedious,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, who delivered a dramatic play-off victory at the Irish Open on Sunday, says he is looking forward to playing in new locations
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“I had a chat with Roger Federer a few years ago at the end of his career and he was saying he wanted to go and play a lot of the places he could never play in his career. So some of the smaller [ATP] 250 events just because not a lot of people had never seen him play tennis before. I think as time goes on and I get to this stage of my career, I get excited about doing that sort of thing.
“I want to play in the locations that I love to go to, and I want to play the majors and the Ryder Cup. That’s it. I’ll obviously do my bit to make sure I keep my membership and all that on certain tours, but I’m going to play where I want to play.”