Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re growing our hair out and hoping the wins follow. To the news!
GOLF STUFF I LIKE
Tommy’s moment.
I’m excited and I’m relieved that Tommy Fleetwood got over the line at the Tour Championship. I’m excited that we can bury this particular storyline and can instead begin to reckon with just how good Fleetwood really is. At present, DataGolf ranks him No. 2 in the world, behind only Scottie Scheffler. (He’s definitely somewhere in the top five, at least.) And I’m excited because the world gets more of Fleetwood’s attitude — and his son Frankie’s, too.
It was Frankie, after all, who showed us the secret to his father’s success when he went viral for an interview he gave during the Masters Par-3 contest.
“I’ve been practicing as hard as I can. Just not reaching it this year. But I’m just trying my hardest,” Frankie told Sky Sports. The moment resonated at the time because Frankie was so earnest, so cute, and because he was standing on the green at the Masters’ Par-3 contest. But it resonated even more as the summer wore on, as Fleetwood came close and fell short, again and again, and kept at it. That’s kind of Fleetwood’s whole deal, right there. Trying hard. Really, truly, earnestly giving his best through it all.
“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,” he said on Sunday. “I’ve had the opportunity to prove that, that if you just keep going, it can happen. I guess that’s my story.”
We were also reminded how you’d do pretty well to have Tommy for a father:
“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,” he said. “My dad always told me that … he always said person first, golfer second.”
If you’ve watched his interviews and admired his resilience all summer long — and you’ve watched him play these last few weeks — you know that Fleetwood really does think that way. Luckily for him, though? He can do both. Person and golfer. And on Sunday he made it look easy, even when we’ve seen enough to know it wasn’t.
One thing we know for sure: Fleetwood’s going to keep trying his hardest. That’s what’ll ensure that his first PGA Tour win won’t be his last.
“It completes the story of the near misses and it has a crescendo to what has been building towards the back end of the season,” he concluded. “But when I go home, I’m just going to start practicing again. I’m going to start working again, and I’m going to look towards the next tournament.”
WINNERS
Who won the week?
Tommy Fleetwood on winning for the first time on the PGA Tour:
“I think it’s easy for anybody to say that they are resilient, that they bounce back, that they have fight. 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.
Brooke Henderson after breaking a winless drought of two-plus years at her home Canadian Open:
“I’ve been waiting for that 14th win feels like forever. To win it here makes just it so special.”
Alex Noren after winning for the first time since 2018 at the Betfred British Masters:
“Extremely happy. It was unbelievable week for me. I haven’t played like this for a long time.”
U.S. Senior Women’s Open champ Becky Morgan on the difference between winning and coming close:
“A lot. It’s just getting it over the line, I think. I think just getting it over the line is unbelievable because I haven’t done it very much. I probably should have but didn’t … I had a decent career. But obviously probably didn’t win as many as I should. This is icing on the cake.”
Jon Rahm on his LIV team Legion XIII’s playoff victory:
“If there was ever a question mark or an asterisk for having won the whole season without winning, in my mind, with this it goes away. It’s a lot of validation for all of us, in my mind, for the team, just how well we did all year, and to get it done, stressful, but we got it done, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
NOT-WINNERS
A few notes on players who came close:
Patrick Cantlay’s T2 was his best result of the season, Scottie Scheffler finished four shots back on a day he hit two balls out of play, and Corey Conners’ Sunday 62 got him into T4 and made him a lot of money in the process.
Nicolai Hojgaard finished second in England, Keita Nakajima (fourth) continued his solid season, Matt Fitzpatrick (T6) likely did enough to solidify his Ryder Cup form and Marco Penge (T6) kept his strong form going, too.
Minjee Lee’s runner-up finish was the latest in a strong season for the World No. 4.
And we even got a dose of Brooks-Bryson madness, turning back the clock…
SHORT HITTERS
Five season-ending thoughts.
Keegan Bradley: “Yeah, I would say for me, this is the proudest season I’ve ever had. My rookie season I won twice with a major. That’s up there. But this was my favorite of all of them.”
Scottie Scheffler: “I think it was pretty good. Yeah, I did some good stuff. It was nice to get some results. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
Cameron Young: “Obviously I really, really want to make that team. If that call goes the wrong way, in my opinion, it’s going to be a bit of a hard one to take. I feel like I’ve done everything you could ask of me to make that team over the last four weeks, and then if you look back further, really half a season.”
Ben Griffin: “I know I’ve been able to handle some big moments this season. I know I’ll be comfortable on that stage at Bethpage, and hopefully I can start practicing 48 hours from now and start getting ready for that Ryder Cup. That would be really cool, especially to represent the United States.”
Collin Morikawa: “Same as the year. There was some good, some bad, some surviving. That’s kind of how the year has been. Just have to make some changes. As much as I don’t want to change, I have to change.”
RYDER CUP WATCH
We’re almost there…
If you read last week’s Monday Finish you were well-prepared for this weekend’s intriguing Team Europe drama: Rasmus Hojgaard missed the FedEx Cup playoffs which may have actually helped his chances at making the Ryder Cup team. He returned to Europe, where there were points still available; he then nearly won his home Danish Championship. That set up this week: If Rasmus finished top 30 he’d be in automatically. If he finished outside the top 30? He may not have shown the recent form to make the team. In that situation he might even be replaced by his twin brother Nicolai. How insane is that?
Rasmus finished T13, earning his spot. Nicolai finished second — but probably won’t make this team. They shared a brief, meaningful embrace. I’m guessing Team Europe is all but set now: they’ve traded one twin for another and kept the other 11 players (plus the captain) in place. But is it possible they’d go off-script, swapping out Sepp Straka for Nicolai?!
As for the U.S. side? They had a funny week. It felt like there were seven or so guys vying for the final four spots and most of ’em played well and finished within a few shots of each other; Patrick Cantlay (15 under, T2) led the charge followed by Cam Young (14 under, T4), Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley (13 under, T7) and Ben Griffin and Chris Gotterup (12 under, T10). I think Cantlay, Young and Griffin are in — which leaves Burns vs. Bradley for the final spot. For the second Ryder Cup in a row.
You can see the final points lists below. Team USA announces its picks this Wednesday; the European side gets one more week before finalizing theirs.
TEAM USA RYDER CUP RANKINGS
1. Scheffler 2. Spaun 3. Schauffele 4. Henley 5. English 6. DeChambeau 7. Thomas 8. Morikawa 9. Griffin 10. McNealy 11. Bradley 12. Harman 13. Novak 14. Young 15. Cantlay
TEAM EUROPE RYDER CUP RANKINGS
1. McIlroy 2. MacIntyre 3. Fleetwood 4. Rose 5. R. Hojgaard 6. Hatton 7. Lowry 8. Straka 9. Aberg 10. Hovland 11. Wallace 12. Fitzpatrick 13. Detry 14. Penge 15. Rai
Complete standings here.
ONE SWING THOUGHT
One more from Tommy Fleetwood:
“It wasn’t easy today; it wasn’t plain sailing. I lost my swing in the middle of the round. I was really erratic, and I had to find my swing.”
“I don’t think trying to win a tournament is as much pressure as trying to keep your playing rights, things like that. It’s a different type of pressure. I’m not going to say it’s bigger or less, it’s just a different type of pressure. It’s a joy to be in contention and try and win golf tournaments.
“But at the same time, you have to deal with those little demons that are in the back of your mind, and doubt creeps in. You remember what you got wrong, don’t want to get it wrong again, and you have to force yourself to think of the positives.
“I think I really did a good job of really focusing on trying to put a good swing and trying to hit a good shot on especially 15, 16, 17. The rhythm that I put on those swings, I was really, really pleased with. I leaned back on that really.
“I think just as experience builds, at some point you’re going to get it right, and I did today.”
ONE BIG QUESTION
Where did the process go wrong?
I’ll happily go on record saying Keegan Bradley should be at Bethpage as a player and a captain and if he does, it’ll be awesome. But I’m worried about the position he’s been put in and I’m worried he won’t go through it. After a decade-plus of dreaming about making a Ryder Cup as a player, they named him captain, which means the only person standing between Bradley and that dream is himself. Cruel game. The question, then: did they mess up making him captain to begin with?
ONE THING TO WATCH
Get to know the Hojgaards.
You’ll see at least one at the Ryder Cup…
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish HQ.
I somehow made it this far in the column without mentioning this week’s most consequential moment: Brian Rolapp taking visible and vocal ownership of the PGA Tour’s future. I wrote about that here. But in meeting Rolapp after his press conference I made it my top priority to introduce myself and inform him that the Pacific Northwest needs a golf tournament. He was receptive. I hope he meant it. I sure did.
We’ll see you next week!
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
