Tommy Fleetwood did not crack a smile. He did not allow himself to bounce on the balls of his feet, his stride careful and the mood pensive as he worked his way through the final few holes and sought to finally get across a PGA Tour finish line in first place.
He did, in a way that’ll prove to be remembered. Fleetwood won the Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake County Club in Atlanta, beating a field of the other 29 best players on the PGA Tour in a winner-takes-all shootout for a $10 million check.
When it was over, shooting 18 under par over four days and a 68 on Sunday to beat Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley by three shots, Fleetwood did crack a smile. A rather large one, as his stepson hugged him and a lot of the rest of the field cheered him on from the clubhouse steps. Fleetwood had 30 top-five finishes in 164 PGA Tour starts, but now he has the win.
“This is hopefully one win and the first of many to come. You can’t win plenty if you don’t win the first one and I’m happy that I got it done,” Fleetwood told NBC.
It would be overstating things to suggest that the entirety of the golf tournament hung in the balance of this one shot, but after eight winless years on the PGA Tour and a summer featuring two dramatic close calls and late collapses, Fleetwood needed to hit a good one on No. 15 at East Lake, a long par 3 played into a green surrounded by water.
Fleetwood labored over the club decision with caddie Ian Finnis, a day after he swung a 6-iron at the hole and came up short and right, in the water. Ultimately, Fleetwood elected to go with the 5 iron, and a crisp swing made sure the water that had claimed two of his competitors’ balls in the last hour was not in play. In fact, he was long of the green. That was its own problem — Fleetwood putted from there, hammered it and gave himself 15 1/2 feet for par that he missed. But a bogey was better than the alternative, and kept him two shots ahead of Cantlay.
That lead became three after Cantlay bogeyed the difficult 16th.
Fleetwood’s struggles to win on the PGA Tour — the Englishman has won multiple times worldwide — caught the attention of the sports world at large in the last few months. His losses at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and Travelers Championship were the second- and fourth-most-watched PGA Tour events of the year, respectively. Caitlin Clark posted on X before his round that, “This has to be Fleetwood’s day,” and LeBron James chimed in as Fleetwood got up by two strokes early.
This has to be Fleetwood’s day
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) August 24, 2025
In both previous instances, Fleetwood struggled on Sunday, playing around par and trying to steer his way through trouble. It allowed Justin Rose and J.J. Spaun, playing aggressively from behind, to catch him in Memphis earlier this month, and for Keegan Bradley to do the same back in June. This time was different — Fleetwood had three birdies in the first seven holes, then two more on holes Nos. 12-13. The five birdies were nearly as many as the six he had between the St. Jude and Travelers final rounds, combined.
Scottie Scheffler began the day four shots back of the leaders but was unable to gain ground with two uncharacteristic mistakes. His opening tee shot sprayed left and rolled underneath a fence, leading to bogey. And after he birdied No. 14 to get to 15 under and two back of Fleetwood, Scheffler’s ball on the par-3 15th found water and led to double bogey.
There’s no doubting that Scheffler will be again the PGA Tour Player of the Year after winning five of his last 10 starts leading up to East Lake, including the PGA and Open Championships. But he finished tied for fourth this week.
Keegan Bradley, days away from announcing whether or not he’s picked himself for the Ryder Cup team, ended his shot at contention by finding the water on No. 15’s island-ish green as well. He double-bogeyed the hole and finished at 13 under, tied for seventh with Justin Thomas and Sam Burns. Both will be looking for captain Bradley to pick them for the U.S. team.
What Tommy Fleetwood’s win means
Fleetwood made it happen with controlled tee shots, precise approaches and a newfound understanding of how to play under the gun — he’s learned from his experiences these past two months. First it was Hartford, then it was Memphis, two gutting losses that saw Fleetwood let 54-hole leads slip out of his grasp. Fleetwood would tell us he was growing from each new experience with a tournament on the line, but was he? The golf world needed proof, and Fleetwood provided it on Sunday.
His final round on Sunday did not begin with an all too familiar first-tee blip, but a rock-solid par, followed by a birdie and an eventual front nine 33, while his competitors begin to fade. Patrick Cantlay, who was tied for the lead at the beginning of the day, handed Fleetwood a handful of gifts, including a bogey on the par-4 16th and a missed birdie opportunity on the 17th. Instead of being in a duel, Fleetwood stepped onto the 18th hole with a three-shot lead and went on to cement his first PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship. Yes, it’s a 30-man field. Yes, this event has no cut. But Fleetwood still had to go out and complete a task, one he historically has not been able to pull off. With $10 million on the line, and more importantly, a growing narrative surrounding his mental game. Sunday, Fleetwood put all of that to rest. — Gabby Herzig
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
