Tommy Fleetwood sets sights on new goal after long-awaited PGA Tour breakthrough

The 34-year-old tees up in this week’s BMW PGA Championship on the back of landing a memorable PGA Tour breakthrough victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta last month.

The stunning success, which came in his 164th start on the US circuit, also saw him crowned as the FedEx Cup champion, adding to a Race to Dubai triumph on the DP World Tour in 2017.

Fleetwood landed his maiden win on the DP World Tour in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2013, having also triumphed as an amateur in the home of golf in the Scottish Stroke-Play Championship at Murcar Links in 2009.

He has also won as a professional on the DP World Tour in Abu Dhabi (twice), South Africa (twice), Dubai and France, meaning that, apart from a major, the glaring omission on his CV is a victory on English soil.

“I won the English Amateur,” he said, smiling, in reply to that being pointed out to him by The Scotsman in a press conference ahead of this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

‘The crowd is such a huge part of it and the emotional aspect of it’

“Being at home and playing in front of home crowds, and I guess as a goal and a dream, you always picture those moments. The crowd is such a huge part of it and the emotional aspect of it.”

As was shown when Rory McIlroy landed a second Amgen Irish Open at The K Club on Sunday after holing a 27-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole to force a play-off with Swede Joakim Lagergren.

“Yeah, winning on home soil is very special,” added Fleetwood. “Look at last week. I think that was one of the coolest things to watch, and what a special moment that was.

“I’ve pictured myself winning on the 18th green many, many times. Ultimate dream, I'm from Southport, I've got Open Championships that come close to home every few years, and that is like the most powerful image for me.

“Home crowds are a huge part of what we dream of and having opportunities, so, yeah, that can be another one to add to the list of things that I haven't done yet but I'll continue to try.”

Tiger Woods led a tsunami of praise for Fleetwood after he shook off a series of disappointments to land his first PGA Tour triumph while basketball legend LeBron James also offered his congratulations on social media.

“I think the whole thing touched me more than anything, more than any particular person,” insisted Fleetwood, who is teeing up at Wentworth along with ten of the players he’ll join forces with in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island in a fortnight’s time.

“When I finished, you're in such a bubble and I did the two or three hours of commitments afterwards. A lot of people mentioned Tiger Woods’ tweet and LeBron James, and so I think that story built up quite a lot.

“Throughout it all, I always just try to say the right things to myself and the right things outwardly and I try to have the best attitude possible and be the best example. I probably underestimated at the time how much people appreciated it. I just thought it was the right thing to do and that's how you should be.

But yeah, for it to happen the way it did and for that story to build and eventually getting over the line and winning that one at East Lake, which is such a huge one, and to see the story and how people reacted, it was the coolest thing, it really, really was. I was just really touched by a lot of popular sort of journey any man that had come.

‘The reaction from my family was the thing that touched me the most’

“You kind of get lost in your bubble a little bit. Every week you get close to the finish line and I was there and it didn't quite happen. For me, it was build on the positives and reset from the negatives that didn't happen, learn from it and go again. I was hearing about it and talking about it but I wasn't aware of how many people were affected.

“But I think the reaction from my family, my closest people and being an example that it can happen for you if you keep going was the thing that touched me the most.”