Tommy Fleetwood won his first PGA Tour event at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia and has explained the part that Rory McIlroy played in his maiden victory
Tommy Fleetwood has revealed the inspiration he took from Rory McIlroy winning the Masters after clinching his first title on the PGA Tour. The English golfer ended his long wait for a PGA victory with an emotional triumph at the Tour Championship on Sunday.
Fleetwood finished on 18-under-par, holding a three-shot lead over nearest contenders Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley. The 34-year-old did not allow himself to become overwhelmed as he made his way through the final few holes, sinking three consecutive pars, much to the crowd’s joy at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia.
His calmness under pressure saw Fleetwood secure the FedEx Cup and earn the £7.4million winner’s purse, making up for his previous near-misses. Fleetwood explained that he had taken encouragement from McIlroy completing his Grand Slam at the Masters in April, though he showed his humble nature by insisting he was not comparing himself to the five-time major winner.
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“The support that I get is off the charts. It’s unbelievable and I absolutely love it, I love the buzz that’s out there when I’m in contention,” Fleetwood told Sky Sports. “I love that people have gathered into this momentum I’ve been building and the story that’s been happening and chasing that first win and being so close and it not happening.
“I love the support that I’ve got from that and they’ve played a huge part really, because you know what people are thinking as well. You know that there’s two sides of it, there’s the supportive side and there’s the sort of doubtful side. There’s the negative expectation side, there’s all of that that you have to deal with.
“And I think I’ve drawn on many different things, lots of different support. The people around me that I work with every day, friends, family, golfers. I think Rory’s story at the Masters, I’m nowhere near Rory’s career, but I think him winning the Masters this year was a great show of resilience and mental strength and I drew on that as well. So you try and draw on the things that are going to help.”
When describing how he felt during the final few holes, Fleetwood added: “You just get a sense of where the tournament’s going and even down those last three it just looked like it was finally opening up for me. It looked like this was the door you have to walk through but you still don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself.
“There’s still a lot of emotions going on. Closer it gets you start thinking about it. A three-shot lead down the last, great tee shot and I felt pretty good from there.”
Earlier this year, Fleetwood suffered heartbreak at the Travelers Championship, surrendering a lead before ending tied for second. He similarly looked to be in a commanding position at the recent St Jude Championship before finishing T3. Speaking shortly before his Ryder Cup team-mate sealed the win, McIlroy shared his hopes that Fleetwood would finally get over the line.
“I think it shows how great an attitude he has towards the game, how resilient he is,” McIlroy said during his press conference. “If he gets it done today, that would be amazing. I think we’d all love him to.”
Fortunately for Fleetwood, the wait proved to be over at the Tour Championship. However, he spoke about his nerves when approaching the final hole.
“When you’ve lost so many times, a three-shot lead down the last doesn’t feel like that many,” Fleetwood joked to reporters. [The fans] are amazing, it makes me a bit emotional. I’m so lucky with the support I get – it’s so special and I hope everyone knows how grateful I am for it.”