Tommy Fleetwood defeated Keita Nakajima by two shots to win the DP World India Championship. This is Fleetwood’s eighth career win on the DP World Tour.
Nakajima held a two-shot lead over Fleetwood after three rounds. Nakajima shot a bogey-free 65 (-7) to get to 17-under and atop the leaderboard. Fleetwood started round three with a one-shot lead but shot a 3-under-69 to lose his lead heading into Sunday.
On the final day, Fleetwood came out firing with five birdies in the first nine holes. He did have one bogey that led to him shooting a 4-under-32 to get him to 19-under for the tournament. He made three consecutive birdies on the final three holes of the front nine to get within one shot of the lead. Nakajima shot a 1-under-35 that included one birdie to get him to 18-under.
Fleetwood extended his birdie streak to four in a row after on the 10th hole. With this birdie, he tied with Daniel Hiller atop the leaderboard, who made seven birdies in his opening 10 holes to get to 20-under. He made two bogeys and one double bogey in his last five holes to fall out of contention. Nakajima cut Fleetwood’s lead to one shot after making birdie on the 12th hole but fell two behind after Fleetwood made another birdie at the 14th hole. Both players birdied the 17th hole and headed to the 18th tee with Fleetwood ahead by two strokes. A closing par by Fleetwood gave him a round of 7-under-65 to secure the win in India.
This win adds to what has been an incredible three-month stretch for Fleetwood. In August, he claimed his first PGA Tour win and the FedEx Cup, in September he was a part of the winning Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black – where he finished with a personal record of 4-1-0 – and now he adds his eighth career DP World Tour win to his resume. With this win, he moved up to fifth in the Official World Golf Rankings, the highest he has been in his career.
In his press conference after the final round, he said, “I just happened to play great. It was such an enjoyable round, and Keita [Nakajima], I have to give credit to him. I said to him afterwards that he played amazing. The par he made on the 16th, the putt he holed after me on the 17th, I think he did amazing, and he was a pleasure to play against today.”
The DP World Tour plays its final regular season event in South Korea next week. The Genesis Championship field is highlighted by South Korea’s own Si Woo Kim, Sungjae Im and last year’s champion Byeong Hun An.
