The long wait is over. Tommy Fleetwood is finally a PGA Tour champion. With his victory at the 2025 Tour Championship, Fleetwood ended a lengthy winless drought in style. But he also ended what had been an entertaining, years-long chase that captivated golf fans the world over.
It wouldn’t be surprising to find some fans with mixed feelings today, now that Fleetwood’s hunt has come to an end. However, it would be extremely surprising to hear that Fleetwood was feeling anything but relief after capping off his first Tour win.
But Fleetwood revealed exactly that Sunday night, speaking extensively, even wistfully, about his winless streak that has now been put to rest.
What Fleetwood will miss about winless streak
On Sunday night at East Lake, the newest PGA Tour winner and FedEx Cup champion was feeling a lot. But already a little nostalgia had begun to creep into his thoughts.
Fleetwood explained his contradictory feelings in detail in his post-victory press conference.
Tommy Fleetwood’s Tour Championship win told us something his losses couldn’t
“Well, it’s a shame that the story is gone,” Fleetwood said, drawing laughter from reporters. “I enjoyed it while it lasted in a sick way. But I hope that… we can talk about plenty more things in the future, really. I will look back at all of this, and again, I feel like I keep repeating myself. I’ll be proud of the strength that I had to show to keep coming back and showing that it can be done if you’re resilient enough and you keep putting yourself in those positions.”
Unlike Rory McIlroy, who, in his press conference after his long-awaited 2025 Masters win, joked about his many years of struggles at Augusta (“What are we all going to talk about next year?”), Fleetwood admitted he would miss speaking to reporters about his own winless streak.
“I’ll miss talking about it, but I’ll be glad that I can talk to people about what can be done.”
He continued: “I’ll look back at it and I’ll be able to tell people that I am really, really pleased that I get to talk to kids or aspiring golfers or aspiring sports people, whatever they’re trying to do, and I can genuinely talk about showing resilience or keep coming back after tough losses and keep working and all of those things and the skills that you have to use in order to put yourself there again and then finally get it done. I’m really, really pleased that I get to do that and that I’m proof that it can happen.”
Tommy Fleetwood interview after winning TOUR Championship
After shooting a final-round 68 to win the 2025 TOUR Championship, Tommy Fleetwood discusses the joy and rush of emotions after winning his first PGA TOUR title at the season’s final event.
Fleetwood reveals source of his popularity at Tour Championship
Fleetwood’s chase for win No. 1, which included six runner-up finishes over his career, became especially popular among fans this season. The energy reached a fever pitch at East Lake.
The support clearly touched the veteran pro, as he explained on Sunday.
“It’s been great, the buzz that has been around me when I’ve been in contention. I’ve played unbelievable golf the last few weeks, the last couple months, the last year, very consistent,” Fleetwood explained. “But to have that buzz and to have the support here, like just to have people chanting your name coming down the last few holes, for people to be carrying you on their shoulders is a very, very special feeling, and I would never take it for granted.”
This ‘nice rule change’ helped Tommy Fleetwood pocket $10 million
Fleetwood suggested that his popularity among fans could be derived from the positive attitude he’s maintained even in the face of crushing losses.
“I think definitely people have gathered on the train that has been me trying to chase a PGA Tour win… I’m not going to come off, when I’ve had those near misses, and berate myself and make it worse. I want to be a positive impact on myself,” he said. “I’m not going to be able to do that if I have a negative attitude, if I have a poor attitude.”
Similarly, it was his ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep fighting for the win that people gravitated toward.
“It was just a story of perseverance and continuing to try and put myself in those positions. I think the easiest thing to do when it doesn’t go your way is to sulk a little bit or to let it affect you for a little while, then get back to it. Use excuses if you like, but I said every single time that it didn’t happen for me or where I’d let one go or where someone beat me, I just want to get there again. I just want to give myself another chance,” he explained. “I felt like I did that, and I felt like people — at the time, like, you just do it, but I think people have appreciated that side of it. I think people have, I guess, found it very positive that I’ve constantly tried to just get back on the horse, just go again, just go again.”
Ultimately, he boiled down his popularity to an important lesson his father taught him: be a good person first, then a good golfer.
“Why do people like me so much? I’ve always been very lucky that I make a great connection with people. I try and be — if I could give my kids one piece of advice — there’s tons of advice, but I always tell them to be a good person first, and I’ve always tried to do that,” Fleetwood said. “My dad always told me that, even when I was a young, aspiring amateur golfer, professional golfer, he always wanted me to be — he always said person first, golfer second. You’re a good person first. Whatever happens after that, you try to be a good golfer second. I’ve always tried to be that.”
