The Break: Tommy Lad did it

Finally Fleetwood

Tommy Fleetwood is a PGA Tour winner, and he’s the season-long champion of the FedEx Cup. How about that?

Fleetwood played well enough on Sunday at East Lake to hoist his first Tour title in 164 tries, beating his playing partner and co-54-hole leader Patrick Cantlay, as well as Russell Henley, by three shots to take home the Tour Championship and the $10 million first-place prize.

It wasn’t quite Tiger Woods in 2018, but the crowd reveled in the Englishman finally breaking through. Fleetwood let out a cathartic scream to the sky as he finally got it right.

Tommy Lad was quick to point out multiple times how appreciative he was of the growing fan support he enjoyed, particularly through the three-event playoffs as he tracked down a big win. He talked afterward about how his father always told him to be a good person first and then a golfer (or anything else) second. That shined through in the post-event celebration and remarks, where he embraced his stepson Oscar and had a genuine welcoming party on the way to the scoring trailer. Justin Rose, who stepped through the doorway Fleetwood vacated in Memphis, was on hand with his iPhone, videoing the whole thing like someone lining the gallery ropes on Sunday and not a world-class player himself.

What I thought was most telling was what Fleetwood said he learned about himself in this long journey, particularly from the Travelers letdown to Keegan Bradley up until now.

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“I think it's easy for anybody to say that they are resilient, that they bounce back, that they have fight,” he said. “It's different when you actually have to prove it. There's different types of mental strength. I've clearly got things wrong in the dire moments of tournaments, and I might have made the odd dodgy decision, might have put a bad swing on it.

“But I've had to have mental strength in a different way. I've had to be resilient in terms of putting myself back up there, getting myself back in that position, no matter how many times it doesn't go my way, no matter how many doubts might creep in. Think the right things, say the right things to yourself, say the right things outwardly, and I am really pleased that I can be proof that if you do all the right things and you just keep going that it can happen.”

Don’t get bitter; get better. Believe. Embrace the love people give you and do something with it. That’s something I’ll get behind every time.

Now, of course, there’s a rich irony to be pointed out here that both the season-long champion of the PGA Tour and of LIV Golf didn’t win a single event during their respective seasons. I have no idea what that says about golf and points races, but there you go.

The Links

On the latest episode of The Road to French Lick, we look back at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour regular season and make a stop in Indiana at French Lick Resort for media day.

Brooke Henderson won her national championship for the second time, winning the CPKC Women’s Open by a shot over Minjee Lee. It was a great tournament, and the win came at the right time for the Canadian, who’s been having a rough year.

LIV Golf’s team championship went to Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team after he and Tyrrell Hatton beat the Crushers duo of captain Bryson DeChambeau and Paul Casey in a playoff for the title.

Becky Morgan won the US Senior Women’s Open out in San Diego, and she took the title in a runaway over Juli Inkster.

Pick yourself, Keegan

Keegan Bradley should pick himself to play on the US Ryder Cup team. Full stop.

He was brilliant last week in Atlanta, particularly in the two middle rounds, amid everything he has going on at the moment. He is one of the 12 best American players, and he should play.

Of course, Bradley’s entire captaincy will then be wrongly evaluated on that singular decision — as opposed to, frankly, more important ones like the other five players who will make the team, who gets paired in foursomes matches and the Sunday singles lineup.

In one sense, self-selection is a great decision as it will draw all the attention to himself and each of the matches he plays, while he frees up the other 11 players on the US squad to fly comparatively somewhat under the radar.

In another, it’s a great choice because he has the opportunity to righteously do something that hasn’t been done since Arnold Palmer in 1963. He deserves to be on the team, and no one is doubting that. He got left off in 2023 when he had a legit stake to being on the team. He has a better claim now than he did then to one of those 12 spots. Just do it.

Yes, Bradley cannot go out there and play all five matches. Then again, few players do anyhow. Bradley can set the lineups in the morning for foursomes, and then he can play himself in the afternoon four-ball matches where there are fewer concerns about pairings. He can send himself out first on Sunday morning for singles. He can play three matches, and that’s good enough.

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are probably the only American players who are going all five sessions, if anyone. There will be plenty of playing time to spread out amongst this dozen guys, whoever they are. And Bradley will have plenty of help to manage all of those logistics, both leading into the competition and during. Between the players themselves, assistant captains and the analytics folks, Bradley will have plenty of data to make informed choices.

While the modern Ryder Cup is basically rigged to help the home team win in a rout, it may all still go wrong, and the US might lose. After all, Europe seems to be about to run it back with practically the same team from Marco Simone. So what?

As Kyle Porter put it on Twitter the other day, even if this decision somehow goes awry and Bradley loses every match, that doesn’t make the decision wrong. You can make the right choice and still get the wrong result.

Be bold, Keegan. That’s why you got this job in the first place.