Try and try until you succeed, as the adage goes. For Tommy Fleetwood, that couldn’t be any truer. On Sunday, he finally broke his curse on the PGA Tour after topping the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Fleetwood claimed his first-ever win on the PGA Tour after finishing 18-under par with a final-round 68. He shed the loser tag that hounded him over the years and took home $10 million.
Many would have simply quit or gotten embittered by the long string of defeats, including seven runner-up finishes. But the 34-year-old Fleetwood kept going. He kept, in every sense of the word, swinging.
It took him 164 starts to finally claim his maiden title on the PGA Tour. It wasn’t ideal, but the seemingly perpetual wait only made everything sweeter on Sunday.
“You just keep learning. There was Travelers, there was Memphis, and there were plenty before. But I think I’ve had a great attitude through it all. I was a bit erratic today at times, and I was really proud of how I found my swing again,” said Fleetwood during the trophy presentation, as reported by Yahoo! Sports’ James Corrigan.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done before. Whether I won or not, I’ve been proud of my career. This doesn’t change that, really. One win, hopefully the first of many to come. You can’t win plenty if you don’t win the first one. I’m just so happy I got it done.”
According to the PGA Tour, Fleetwood entered the week at No. 5 in the tournament standings, the highest-ranked player without a win this season. He became only the second golfer from England to rule the FedEx Cup after Justin Rose in 2018.
After his watershed moment in the United States, the champion from Liverpool will now look ahead to helping Europe win the Ryder Cup next month, along with early qualifiers Rose, Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, and Tyrrell Hatton.
If they fall short, Fleetwood would be the first to say that they can still stand tall and try again.
After all, as another adage says: Everything worthwhile takes time.
