Tommy Fleetwood, the Southport-born golfer, has continued his remarkable year by securing his eighth DP World Tour title with a victory in India. Fresh from his Ryder Cup heroics for Team Europe, the 34-year-old’s two-shot triumph earned him the top prize of $680,000 (£506,882).
Fleetwood’s impressive final day performance propelled him to the top of the leaderboard, surpassing Keita Nakajima. Consequently, he is now on the brink of reaching a seasonal total of $20million, with his current earnings standing at $18,496,239 (£13m), far exceeding his previous best in 2023 when he earned $5m (£3m).
This year, Fleetwood clinched his first major after winning the FedEx Cup in Atlanta, breaking an unwanted record of having 30 top-five finishes without a win, a feat not matched since 1983. His victory in the inaugural DP World India Championship marks another milestone in what has been an extraordinary season for Fleetwood.
His weekend exploits further justified the decision to reject LIVGolf, a move orchestrated by his wife Clare, who is 23 years older than the champion golfer. The decision appears to be paying off, as a report in the Daily Mail last week highlighted the staggering losses suffered by the breakaway golf league.
Despite recording record revenues of £64.9m for 2024, the accounts still showed a deficit of nearly £462m. Fleetwood has rejected three offers to join LIV Golf, where several of his Ryder Cup teammates and rivals have pocketed extraordinary sums, and in 2023 he explained: “Most people – most sportsmen really, don’t actually do it for the money.
“I never really played for the money. I can look at what I’ve earned at any given time on any week. But really it’s much more about myself, satisfaction and how I perform, can I win the tournaments? That (money) didn’t come into the equation for me but definitely for some people, and you can see how appealing it is. For sure, there’s a lot to be said.
“Play poorly and I’ll get paid, that would be great. But I also think that’s where for me, I would turn to Clare – and we did at the time, that’s the kind of thing you talk about, because it’s not just you that’s involved in it.
“It’s my passion obviously, but you have a family as well and there’s a lot more decisions that go into it. But ultimately, Clare always says to me ‘it’s what makes you happy and it’s what you feel is best for you’. That was pretty much it wasn’t it? You said ‘will it actually make any difference, is it going to change your life?’
“And it doesn’t really. Everything that I do is to play as well as I can and get the most out of myself as a golfer, as a sportsman and as an athlete.
“And that’s all I’ve ever thought about. Whether that’s playing where I am now or playing somewhere else, I would make a decision based on that and not on the money.”