Tommy Fleetwood: I’m still learning, even after winning the FedEx Cup
A year removed from his first PGA TOUR victory, Yahoo Sports senior writer Jay Busbee spoke to the 2025 season-long champion ahead of this week's TOUR Championship in Atlanta.
Video Transcript
Some players focus on, on the majors over the course of the year.
Some players try to keep themselves consistent over the course of an entire year.
When you're looking at your schedule and you're saying, "All right, this is my season," how do you keep yourself on target so that you're peaking at the right times over the course of a golf season?
Yeah, absolutely.
I th- I think there's so many big events now, and of course you have the four majors.
You have, you know, FedExCup playoffs.
You have your big events in, on the DP World Tour.
So, so there's a lot and, and you do.
You, you wanna be able to be playing well at the right time.
I think, I think with that it's, it's hard to peak and it's hard to judge your season off those events, but I, I think if you can try and maintain a really high, consistent level as much as possible, then that's gonna help you when it comes to those events as well.
Like, I think, Scottie Scheffler's the ab- absolute master of it.
You see his level of play week in, week out, and then when it comes to the majors he's clearly just trying to play at his level, which he knows is good enough to win and, and be right there.
So, I try to, I try to look at it that way, and then there's major season finishes, like The Open Championship finished three weeks ago.
And then you, you know that the season continues, and then you have the playoffs, and there's always something else that's coming up and you have to try and stay You have to try and stay motivated, for one, and finding those motivations while also trying to be, yeah, main- maintain those levels.
Reach the highest level you can and maintain them, and hopefully your golf just, just shows as much as possible through the year.
How do you stay motivated?
I mean, obviously, you know, money's obviously a motivator, glory is a motivator, legacy, but how do you particularly stay motivated?
Well, you, you have to I, I, I actually, yeah, I take the time to try and let Everybody needs, like, their own personal story, I guess, and what means the most to you.
I think, it's easy to be, it's easy to be motivated by, you know, trying to win a major.
Of course it is.
But, I see- to be honest, it's easy to be motivated by trying to win a FedExCup or, or whatever it is.
But, you know, trying to have those messages or those stories that maybe pull you through a, a year-long period or two-year period, or it might just be, like, a two-month period, but having something that's there, for you to sort of focus on every day and that's what you're working for and that's why you're doing it.
And of course, like, throughout a career there's gonna be highs and lows, there's gonna be lulls, there's gonna be energy drops and things like that.
But, if you have the right things that mean something to you that are, that are pushing you all the time, it's good to wake up to those and then you know that that's what you're working for and, and hopefully that does the trick.
Now, you had the high of all highs last year at East Lake winning the, the Tour Championship.
How did your life change as a result of that?
I, it, it didn't change, at all.
I think, I mean, my status changed.
I was a winner on the PGA Tour- finally.
I was a FedExCup champion, and one of the coolest things has been being announced on the tee all year as the FedExCup champion.
I think that's amazing, and it's something that I'll always have.
But you know, that, that's the thing.
I, I mean, my, my, my life genuinely, you know, from a family standpoint, from a work ethic standpoint, from everybody around me, like, that, that stuff doesn't change.
Like, that stuff's just, that's the rock and that's what's set, you know, all the way through, and that's makes it easier for you to pursue your career if you like.
But yeah, it was great to have that win.
I learnt so much from it.
And, you know, throughout all the losses as well, like, I, I learnt a lot.
And yeah, it's just, it's just been nice being a, a Tour champion and a FedExCup champion.
It's not a bad accolade to have.
No.
What, what are you still learning at this stage of your career?
You mentioned learning, but you know, what, what are you still learning at this point?
Oh, I gotta actually learn every day.
Whether it be, whether it be a new golf shot, whether it be something that you didn't do right mentally, whether it be watching other players and just picking snippets up.
I think that's the amazing thing about golf.
You're always, you're always learning.
You never know everything.
And, I, I, I enjoy that side of it.
I really, really do.
'Cause I feel like there's constant growth in you and it's like, might be a situation in a tournament that you got wrong and you know if that ever happens again I'll do that differently.
Or you might watch someone else, how they close out a tournament or a shot that they hit around the green and you wanna go try it.
It's just a constant, it's literally a constant journey.
That's what golf is, and that's why you keep coming back.
But absolutely, like, I love, I love getting up every day and I love knowing, you know, if I'm aware enough, there's definitely things that I can learn and be better for.
Who's a case of, of somebody that, that you observed over the course of this year and said, "You know what?
I wanna add that to my arsenal.
I wanna add that shot, that technique, that, that mindset"?
Well, it could be, you know, I, I think you play with people that are better at things than you.
So I think you would look at some, like, people that drive the ball great.
Like, it might be a Rory, it might be a Ludvig berg.
Might be somebody Think I, you know, I could rattle off players.
You know, watching Harry Hall go around using his aim point and working on that.
Watching, like I always remember I felt like a, a great You can learn so much.
It's easy to say Scottie Scheffler is the best player in the world.
It's easy to say Rory.
But, you know, watching, I remember when Scottie came out after his, you know, most amazing season and he was putting with the claw grip, and I felt like that was a huge learning experience, just watching the best player in the world still know that he can get better and improve.
So there's, you know, there, there's, there's tons of that.
Watching, watching how guys, you know, Justin Rose and how good he is at his recovery stuff when he's still playing at, you know, at, at a high level at 46.
So tons of stuff, and if you're just observing, you're around the best players in the world every day.
You know, if you're not gonna learn stuff, then there's something, something weird going on.
One of the things that we like to do at Yahoo is make fans smarter about the game.
So what's a way that, that, that pros look at the game, that pros observe the game?
When you're watching, say, a tournament yourself, how are you watching it differently than the, than the average fan might?
What are you looking for?
If I was wa- if I was watching a tournament, I would, you know, I'd be interested in, like, I, I think people make I think people hit it in the same spot a lot.
So if there's certain misses on a hole that, that, you know, players knowing that they could miss it one side or the other, would hit it there.
I think just watching how, how differently players would approach depending on their strengths.
You know, there's great drivers of the golf ball that will have to use that strength.
If you're not a great driver, you have to use other attributes.
At the end of the day, the single most important thing in golf is that number that goes in the box at the end of every hole, and everybody will do it in a different way, but everybody needs to know their strengths and their weaknesses, and how best they will get it around a course.
And I, I would, I would enjoy watching that side of it.
I always enjoy watching people close out a tournament, what it takes, how they do that, how they finish.
So I, yeah, I, I en- I enjoy watching it.
I know it's still, what, nine months away, but the Masters is coming up.
What do you remember about your first trip to Augusta, whether it was, was as a, as a patron or as a player?
What, what sticks with you about that first time- I, I- that you stepped on the- Yeah.
I went to the Masters as a patron in, 2014, I think.
So I would've been Or 2013 it might have been.
I was a 22 or 23-year-old player.
I was playing in Europe and seen gents playing in the Masters, and I Like, I, I, I thought, I wanna go and experience it partly as a motivation factor.
Like, if I've been there, I feel like it'll motivate me more and more just having felt it, and I'll wanna get there as a player one time.
And also just to see it, and, and get a feel for when I did make it or if I did ever make it.
So I, I went to watch, one year.
I went for, like, the first two or three days, and then I think I had to travel to, like, Malaysia to play my next tournament or something.
So yeah, that was, that was my first time.
That's great.
Anything specific you remember about that time?
The, the pimento cheese or the Coca-Cola?
Yeah, I remember, I remember watching, So I watched a bunch of golfers.
I remember watching Zach Johnson, who, who had won the Masters already, but watching how he plotted his way around the par fives, 'cause I remember, you know, he laid up to every par five when he won the Masters.
And I was watching his wedge game, which was a lot better than mine.
So I had that to improve on.
But also, when you get to the back of the 12th tee and the players tee off and then they walk to the 12th green over the Hogan Bridge, and then you see the 13th tee, this is the only part of the golf course that you can't get to as a, as a patron.
And I remember saying, you know, like, "Just wanna m- I wanna go over there.
I wanna get to the 12th green- and I wanna be on the tee."
So, when I did play the tournament eventually and I teed off on 12, I was like, "Yeah, I'm one of the guys that can play here now.
I'm get, I'm, I can get over to the 12th green and 13th tee."
I love it.
I love it.
Hey, Tommy, all the best, luck this week and, and heading on through the, the playoffs, and, I really appreciate the time.
Thank you so much, mate.
It's great talking to you.
Thank you.
All right.
