Tommy Fleetwood said something after winning the Tour Championship on Sunday that caught Smylie Kaufman by surprise.
The biggest storyline at the tournament was whether Fleetwood would finally achieve his first PGA Tour victory.
And with a solid final round performance at East Lake, the Englishman broke his duck by beating Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley by two strokes.
It was not all plain sailing, with several nervy moments throughout the day, but Fleetwood found a way to cross the finishing line.
The 34-year-old spoke at length about his trials and tribulations in his press conference afterwards, and former PGA Tour player Kaufman was taken aback by one particular comment.
- READ MORE: Justin Rose reacts on social media as Tommy Fleetwood finally wins on the PGA Tour at East Lake
Smylie Kaufman was surprised by something Tommy Fleetwood said at the Tour Championship
Fleetwood hit two wayward tee shots midway through his final round at the Tour Championship which prompted him to do something differently.
He admitted after the tournament that he “changed his routine,” a comment Kaufman has not heard from other PGA Tour players before.
Kaufman explained on his podcast: “In his interview, talking about how three shots on 18 didn’t feel like a lot, tells me this has been weighing on him, where he’s just like, ‘I’ve got to get this thing to the house.’
“But you would never be able to tell that by the golf shots he was hitting. I thought his adjustment in the middle of the round, where he started getting his ball-striking back, because there were some big misses on the eighth and 10th holes…
“He said he changed his routine, which I found to be different. You never really hear players say, ‘I changed my routine’ versus changing something in their golf swing.
“I’m interested to hear exactly what that routine change was. He was able to put shots together and keep his lead to where it felt like nobody else really had a chance.”
Smylie Kaufman reflects on Tommy Fleetwood’s PGA Tour problems
Kaufman reflected on Fleetwood’s previous failures to win on the PGA Tour, most notably at the St Jude Championship and the Travelers Championship earlier this summer.
On several occasions, it has been hard to argue that he did not “choke” under the pressure, but at least he had not completely forgotten how to “win.”
“You don’t ever really forget how to win,” Kaufman added. “For a player of Tommy Fleetwood’s caliber, he’s won since he was a junior golfer. He’s won at every single level. He’s won on the DP World Tour seven times.
“It’s so fleeting, winning golf tournaments sometimes, because you can play well and lose and play badly and win. Sometimes it’s all about being in the right situation.
“I think you can point to a couple of scenarios where you were like, ‘Did he choke? Did he give this away? Did he play his worst golf when he needed to play his best or even average?’
“Tommy probably should have found a way to get into that playoff in Memphis or into that playoff at the Travelers, or even won it outright.”
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