Tommy Fleetwood just won Act 3 of this pro golf season | Monday Finish

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re taking driver out of the bag — but hitting tee shots into the jungle anyway. To the golf news!

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Tommy Fleetwood wins Act III.

When Tommy Fleetwood won the DP World India Championship on Sunday, he made his son Frankie’s dreams come true.

Recently Frankie mentioned he’s never been able to run onto the green to celebrate one of his father’s wins. Tommy literally wrote his son’s quote down — “You have never won and I’ve run onto the green” — and then, within the week, made that happen. Tommy Fleetwood is a terrific golfer. He’s also apparently an even better dad. What did you do for your kid this weekend?

But the win wasn’t just cool for Frankie. This was another special moment in what has become two months of special moments as Tommy has put together the best stretch of his golfing life.

This is a story of resilience. Think about the moment in late June, when Fleetwood limped in with bogey at the Travelers Championship and Keegan Bradley made birdie to win. At that point Fleetwood was famous for the fact that on the PGA Tour, he just couldn’t quite get it done. And if he’d allowed it to, that could have been a dark enough moment that it consumed him. Instead? He used it to kickstart a special stretch. Think of what happened in the weeks and months that followed:

-He finished top four in all three FedEx Cup playoff events…
-…including a win at the Tour Championship, his first on the PGA Tour
-He was the only player on either team to win four points at the Ryder Cup, where he led Europe to victory
-He won the DP World India Championship
-He’s now cracked the top five in the OWGR, while advanced analytics suggest he’s even better than that; DataGolf has him up to No. 2 in the world

Along the way he (and his family!) have completed impressive side quests. Frankie delivered the quote of the year at the Masters (his declaration that he was “trying my hardest” was inspiration for everyone, everywhere). Tommy has delivered enough philosophical gems of his own that he could start a cult, or at least a self-help podcast (he described this Sunday as “another opportunity to show a good attitude”). He even stunned in traditional Indian attire at a tournament party this weekend, where he looked like royalty (and further reinforced the idea that Tommy Fleetwood would do well wherever you put him).

Fleetwood’s latest accomplishment also completes a fascinating third act of this year in men’s professional golf. Rory McIlroy was the clear star of the first act; he won at Pebble Beach, won the Players and won the Masters to complete the career grand slam. Scottie Scheffler was the clear star of Act II, winning two majors and a half-dozen times in all as he put even more space between himself and the rest of the world. I posed this question during the FedEx Cup playoffs — behind McIlroy and Scheffler, who’s the PGA Tour’s third-biggest star? It wasn’t long before we got our answer. Fleetwood has established himself as the champion of Act III. Soon we’ll put the pressure back on him to win a major, but in the meantime he’s the clear winner of this post-majors season.

And perhaps the best father, too.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Tommy Fleetwood won the DP World India Championship; he also moved up to No. 25 on the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit. (Oddly enough he’d been lights out on the PGA Tour but struggled in his European starts this season.)

Sei Young Kim won the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea; it was her 13th LPGA Tour victory but her first in five years — since she won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2020.

Justin Leonard won the PGA Tour Champions’ Dominion Energy Charity Classic with an eagle on the 18th hole at the Country Club of Virginia.

SHORT HITTERS

10 golf things on my mind.

1. Let’s start here: I’m worried about the start of next year’s PGA Tour season. We’d been trying to read the tea leaves about a replacement venue for The Sentry, but it now seems at serious risk of … not happening at all? Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated compiled some evidence including some telling commentary from Mark Rolfing on the Fried Egg podcast. More to come here — this feels like a story that’s partly about The Sentry and partly about the future of the PGA Tour at large.

2. Viktor Hovland addressed the Ryder Cup’s “Envelope Rule” and handled the situation well. I had no issue with the deployment of the rule this Ryder Cup (I was fascinated by the rule in advance of the competition!) but I do think both that rule and the rule that you can tie and “retain” the cup are outdated. Instead I think the Ryder Cup should steal a suggestion from our Jessica Marksbury: The only name in an envelope should be the player (maybe players?) who will go represent your team in a sudden-death shootout in the event of a tie.

3. Speaking of Hovland — plenty of these guys travel the world and see very little besides the airport, the golf course and the four walls of their hotel room. But not Hovland, who explored Delhi via tuk tuk and also leaned into the tournament’s Diwali celebration.

“The food is very different, just — everything is very different. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but I’ve definitely embraced it this week because I just really love going to see new places, and India is definitely one of my favorite places I’ve been to,” he said after a T6 finish. “I love it.”

4. Keita Nakajima, the former longtime World No. 1 amateur, was the 54-hole leader in India and went on to finish second. It’s been a feast-or-famine season for Nakajima on the DP World Tour; he has three runner-up finishes, three more top-11 finishes and just two other finishes better than T40 in 22 starts. But he’s now just inside the bubble to earn one of the DP World Tour’s 10 PGA Tour cards for 2026. At World No. 101 he’s also the second highest ranked Japanese player in the world behind Hideki Matsuyama.

5. A whopping 42 percent of the field used no driver at the short, tight, jungle-lined Delhi Golf Club, including Fleetwood, Hovland and Rory McIlroy. It’s certainly not an all-out fix for golf’s distance problem — but as someone who often plays Seattle’s bowling alley-style golf courses, it was refreshing to see that there are some holes too scary for these guys to hit driver.

6. The LPGA’s Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown kicks off this week and could make for some late-night West-Coast viewing (Saturday’s semifinals air on Golf Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET, while Sunday’s final airs at midnight). I’m struck by the evenness of the four-player teams; womens’ golf is remarkably deep in the U.S. but also Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and Sweden — and there’s a “World Team” that’s as talented as anybody. (The event will also certainly suffer from the absence of World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who remains the sport’s biggest draw.)

7. Neither played this week but it’s fascinating to see two Swedes at very different points in their career — Ludvig Aberg at 25 and Alex Noren at 43 — adjacent each other at Nos. 16 and 17 in the OWGR.

8. This week’s Bank of Utah Championship may be my favorite fall venue; it’s red-rock, high-desert golf at its most stunning and should make for some compelling evening viewing. It’s a distinctly “fall” field, with Maverick McNealy, Michael Thorbjornsen and Noren as tournament favorites, but there are plenty of names you’ll know teeing it up: Jason Day, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Sahith Theegala, Joel Dahmen.

9. Good Good Golf announced they’re sponsoring a PGA Tour event in Austin next fall. This is fascinating for one obvious reason — wait, the YouTubers are now in the business of sponsoring the Tour?! — but also because it’s interesting to see the Tour continue to double down on its fall season and also return to Austin.

10. Our Nick Piastowski and producer Darren Riehl visited Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Washington for an inspiring story called Golf Behind Bars; it’s worth your time.

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NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

The Mariners are in Game 7 of the ALCS. The Seahawks are playing in Monday Night Football. The weather is getting worse but oh boy are the sports getting better. (Even the Kraken are playing tonight!)

This feels like an exceedingly rare combination, especially because this is such a lovable Mariners team and the Seahawks are an unexpected delight. I’ve maintained my New England fandom so I feel sort of one step removed from complete emotional investment, but still — this is awesome. Go Ms.

We’ll see you next week!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

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