The debate over whether the Tour Championship does the best job of crowning the season’s best player will have to be put on ice for a little while after Tommy Fleetwood won at East Lake on Sunday.
Of course, even Tommy Fleetwood‘s biggest fan would struggle to argue that he had a better season than either Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy. However, there is no question that his victory at the Tour Championship was one of the most satisfying to watch all year.
Fleetwood’s maiden win on the PGA Tour has been a long time coming. Like Scheffler, the Englishman finished first, tied for third and tied for fourth during the FedEx Cup playoffs.
It said everything about how popular Fleetwood is that so many fans got as close as they could to the site of the biggest individual triumph yet of the 34-year-old’s career.
Keegan Bradley deserves credit for what he did as Tommy Fleetwood won the Tour Championship
It was also heartwarming to see the likes of Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Harry Hall waiting behind the 18th green to make sure that they were among the first to congratulate Fleetwood.
But there was another player who made sure to embrace Fleetwood before he went inside the clubhouse to deal with the formalities – Keegan Bradley.
Bradley and Fleetwood have history this year. It was Bradley who capitalised to win the Travelers Championship as Fleetwood made a bogey on the 72nd hole.
Fleetwood showed such class at TPC River Highlands. And it seems that Bradley returned the favour by making sure to congratulate Fleetwood after his round at East Lake.
To say Bradley has a lot on his plate at the moment would be an understatement. On Wednesday, he will announce his captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup – and he faces an incredibly difficult decision on whether to include himself on the team at Bethpage.
Admittedly, a number of American players – including Fleetwood’s playing partner, Patrick Cantlay – were in contention to win at East Lake. So Bradley may have been keen to make sure that he spoke with some of those players one final time before they left Atlanta.
But it was still a real moment of quality from Bradley to speak to Fleetwood considering that they will be on opposite teams in a month.
Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood have both had to deal with so much scrutiny this year
In some respects, Bradley and Fleetwood can probably relate to each other.
Fleetwood would have known what many would have been saying had he managed to not win the Tour Championship after a number of close calls.
And Bradley will be aware that whatever role he takes on at Bethpage, his decision will be scrutinised and heavily criticised if the USA fail to win the cup back.
Perhaps that is why the USA captain was able to appreciate just what it took for Fleetwood to ignore all of the noise and win one of the biggest events on the calendar.
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