Tommy Fleetwood played incredibly well at the DP World India Championship this week, but something happened during his final round pairing with Keita Nakajima at Delhi Golf Club which simply didn’t sit right.
Fleetwood has enjoyed an incredible 2025, having recorded his first PGA Tour win, and now he has a DP World Tour victory to his name as well.
That said, Fleetwood admitted his major performances have been poor this season, but that’s something he can work on in 2026.
In the here and now, the Englishman’s exceptional ball striking proved to be perfectly suited to the golf course at the DP World India Championship, given the tight fairways and flags which can be incredibly difficult to access.
Fleetwood is a huge fan of the DP World India Championship golf course, and that shone through brightly this week.
Tommy Fleetwood’s playing partner in India leaves observers shocked
Fleetwood birdied his first hole on Sunday, but then bogeyed the par four second, after his approach shot came up short of the green, with his ball finding itself in a buried lie in the sand.
However, what happened immediately after stunned the Sky Sports commentary team.
Fleetwood’s playing partner, Keita Nakajima, did something very unusual while the FedEx Cup champion was still putting out on the second green.
Sky Sports commentator Richard Boxall was genuinely stunned by what the Japanese player did immediately after holing out for his par on the second hole at Delhi Golf Club.
He said: “I can’t believe that Nakajima has walked to the next tee before Fleetwood putted, can you?“
Boxall’s co-commentator David Howell replied: “No, that’s really not the done thing.“
Then Wayne Riley chimed in.
The Australian said: “I don’t think it was out of nastiness, I think it was just adrenaline, I thought it was just, ‘off I go’ and he didn’t realize he was in the through line, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but we will be watching.“
Riley made a great point there.
Nakajima only has one DP World Tour win to his name throughout his career, so he would undoubtedly have been feeling the pressure, when playing alongside Fleetwood at the DP World India Championship.
And in fairness to the Japanese golfer, he didn’t repeat his actions throughout the rest of his round.
Tommy Fleetwood should jump up to fourth in the world with win in India
Fleetwood is currently ranked as the fifth best golfer in the world.
A win in India on Sunday should now see him leapfrog Russell Henley and jump up to a career-high fourth in the standings.
It could actually be argued that Fleetwood is the third best golfer in the world right now, behind only Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
The Englishman has reached a whole new level entirely in 2025, and the next step for him will be to win a major championship.
However, Fleetwood should be focused only on enjoying his victory at the DP World India Championship now – wins simply don’t come around too often in professional golf.
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