Examine in each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the most popular matters within the sport, and be part of the dialog by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we talk about one other Tommy Fleetwood victory, a singular event venue, the LPGA’s newest champion and extra.
Tommy Fleetwood gained the DP World India Championship to earn his second victory in his final 4 begins (to not point out his Ryder Cup dominance). Now not nervous about securing his first PGA Tour win (and save for the World No. 1), is there a participant primed for a extra dominant 2026 than Fleetwood?
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): The celebrities actually appear to be aligning for a Fleetwood breakout. He had just a few shut calls even earlier than he lastly gained the Tour Championship, so it’s not like the previous couple of months have been a fluke. The man can ball-strike with the perfect of them, which is an effective method to all the time keep in rivalry. However it’s additionally necessary to recollect guys have gotten scorching and regarded able to tear up the golf world earlier than, solely to vanish. (Viktor Hovland gained back-to-back playoff occasions in August 2023 and didn’t win once more for 19 months.) I don’t count on a Scottie-like 2026, however I wouldn’t be shocked if Fleetwood picked off two and even three wins subsequent yr.
Alan Bastable, government editor (@alan_bastable): Superb how wins so typically beget extra wins. Fleetwood is the most recent working example, and never essentially as a result of his sport is any higher than it was a yr in the past — however extra so as a result of he’s main the Tour in SG: Confidence. We’ll see if that magic stays with him by the offseason. As he stated himself on Sunday, “I do know kind doesn’t final ceaselessly, however I’m making an attempt to make myself essentially the most constant participant I might be.” However, sure, to reply the query, he’s extremely nicely positioned for 2026. One other man I’m excited to see in motion subsequent yr: Cameron Younger. Curious if his spectacular Ryder Cup will give him a shot of sustained confidence.
Jessica Marksbury, senior editor (@jess_marksbury): It’s all the time fascinating when gamers get scorching within the fall and winter to see if they’ll maintain the momentum into the following summer time main season. Though, as Josh talked about, it’s not as if Tommy is popping out of nowhere. He’s been a favourite choose on the majors even earlier than his PGA Tour breakthrough. However Tommy does appear to return on particularly robust in Ryder Cup years. So let’s revisit this in 2027! As for subsequent yr, I’m trying ahead to protecting my eye on one other stable European: Alex Noren, who gained two DP World Tour titles this yr and is projected to earn his PGA Tour card for subsequent season.
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Fleetwood beat out a handful of stars to win on a slender Delhi Golf Membership, the place it was reported that 42 p.c of the sphere performed with no driver. Ought to the PGA Tour go to extra programs the place gamers are pressured to be extra strategic off the tee? And the way typically?
Berhow: Delhi Golf Membership is a fairly excessive instance — I don’t need Rory hitting zero drivers! — but it surely ought to positively occur extra, as enjoying sound, strategic golf and hitting golf equipment the course would possibly name for is a talent, simply as a lot as it’s to bomb driver throughout the property. It provides extra gamers an opportunity too. Years in the past I keep in mind Kevin Kisner rattling off an inventory of programs he felt he couldn’t win on merely because of the distance required off the tee. How real looking it’s although is one other query. A number of logistics go into choosing a Tour venue — a sponsor, the TV manufacturing, and many others. — and generally the kind of golf course isn’t all the time the primary focus.
Bastable: Energy ought to be a aggressive benefit in golf so, yeah, it will be unfair to all of the sudden inject the Tour schedule with a bunch extra tight and tree-choked websites. Nonetheless, this week in New Delhi was a enjoyable reminder that there’s multiple method to check elite gamers who can hit a driver 330 yards, and among the gamers appeared to actually dig the problem. “I like programs like this much more since you simply hit a wide range of totally different golf equipment extra typically,” Ben Griffin stated early within the week, “whereas in America we’re so used to hitting perhaps drivers and wedges much more.”
Marksbury: Taking part in a spherical of golf with no driver is one thing I’ll by no means be capable of relate to! Years in the past, a USGA official instructed me that the target for the course setup for the U.S. Open was not essentially to supply essentially the most tortuous check, however for gamers to make the most of each membership within the bag over the course of the event. I like that concept, and I’m positively in favor of selling extra programs (or setups) the place that’s attainable. Six or seven occasions a yr could be good.
Rory McIlroy was among the many gamers who stored the driving force out of the bag and tied for twenty sixth in India. When course setup limits drivers, is McIlroy on the largest drawback?
Berhow: Though Scottie Scheffler leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, I believe most would argue McIlroy with a driver in hand is without doubt one of the finest exhibits in golf, and it could be the one membership that provides one participant a bonus greater than some other (Scottie with an iron an in depth second?). That stated, Rory didn’t win a profession grand slam by merely hitting driver, however he does in all probability do essentially the most with it.
Bastable: I believe it was in all probability much less a case of the setup not suiting McIlroy’s talent units and extra a case of the target-style of golf actually suiting different gamers, notably Tommy Fleetwood, who stated the course “arrange completely for me.” Apparently, in the event you take a look at McIlory’s 10 bogeys from the week, most had been triggered not by free tee pictures however by lacking greens or pins on the improper aspect.
Marksbury: I agree with each of my colleagues right here. Eliminating driver is a bummer for a participant with a lot prowess off the tee. However on the finish of the day, you’re hitting far more approaches and putts than you’re tee pictures. So no matter benefit McIlroy was shedding was nonetheless considerably minimal, in my thoughts.
Sei Younger Kim gained the BMW Girls Championship to turn into the twenty seventh totally different winner on the LPGA Tour this season, the place there’s been only one two-time winner on the yr (Jeeno Thitikul, who gained her second occasion, the LPGA Shanghai, per week in the past). With solely 5 tournaments remaining, how do you analyze the present player-of-the-year race?
Berhow: Jeeno Thitikul is the plain front-runner as the one participant with a number of wins, and her season’s been nice past these weeks. She’s missed only one minimize all yr and has 12 top-10 finishes. Since that is determined primarily based on factors, the CME Group Tour Championship would possibly find yourself deciding the entire thing. We didn’t have that drama final yr with Nelly Korda working away with this.
Marksbury: Agree, Josh. That 27 first-time winner stat is unbelievable. It actually speaks to how deep the expertise runs on the LPGA Tour, and as you talked about, Jeeno might have solely two wins, however she’s contended practically each time she’s teed it up, notched 4 runner-ups and could be very deserving of the crown, even with no main title this yr.
Bastable: To place Jeeno’s consistency in perspective, she is 120 factors forward of the second-ranked participant on the Rolex record, Nelly Korda — whereas Korda has solely a 20-point lead on the third spot, held by Minjee Lee. In different phrases, Thitikul is miles forward of her peer. Solely blemish on her 2025 resume got here on the U.S. Ladies’s Open, the place she missed her solely minimize of the yr.
Taking part in for the primary time since he withdrew from Sunday singles and evoked the now-controversial “envelope rule” on the Ryder Cup, Viktor Hovland known as the state of affairs “upsetting” however added he doesn’t see a straightforward repair for the rule. OK truthful. However what Ryder Cup rule would you alter?
Berhow: Straightforward — choose the matchups like they do on the Presidents Cup, the place the captains alternate their alternatives. That manner, so long as the captains play ball, we are able to get just a little extra drama infused into the occasion. (And drama that doesn’t embody boneheaded followers.)
Bastable: Within the case of a tie on the finish of singles, institute a three-hole aggregate-score playoff, pitting one participant from every group chosen by their respective captain. In contrast to the envelope rule, although, the playoff reps could be chosen prematurely. The captains would choose them within the second so, ought to they need, they’ll nominate not essentially their finest participant however the hottest one.
Marksbury: The Ryder Cup is almost good, however I don’t just like the “retention” rule if there’s a tie. We’d like a outcome! The envelope ought to be used to appoint one participant from every group to face off in a sudden-death playoff for the entire thing.
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