Tommy Fleetwood broke through in 2025. But his defeats told the story

The past 12 months had a little of everything — a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and so much more. With 2026 on the horizon, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.

No. 15 — The zero-torque putter movement
No. 14 — Happy Gilmore 2 takes golf world by storm
No. 13 — Joaquin Niemann’s big 2025 (and crucial 2026)
No. 12 —
No. 11 —
No. 10 —
No. 9 —
No. 8 —

Biggest golf moments of 2025 No. 7: Fleetwood breakthrough season defined by losses

Would Tommy Fleetwood have made our “Biggest Golf Moments of 2025” list … if he hadn’t won?

The argument is at least compelling, should character be your compass. While victory shows what you’re made of, defeat tests it, and maybe no one this year was sturdier in misery’s face than Fleetwood.

Four moments come to mind:

– Sunday, June 22, 2025, Travelers Championship final round: Fleetwood, after leading by three shots entering the day and by a stroke on the 71st hole, ties for second. While he’s had success across the world, his PGA Tour winless streak stretches to 159 starts.   

And yet, here’s what he said afterward:

He was upset. But he’d reflect. 

“I haven’t been in this situation for a while,” Fleetwood said. “I think when it sort of calms down — I’m upset now, I’m angry — when it calms down, look at the things that I did well, look at the things that I can learn from.

“I said yesterday I haven’t been in this position all year, so it’s been awhile. Felt like I did a lot of good things, but there was things that I definitely can do better, and I have to do better. So I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, I didn’t do that, it hurts. When it calms down, the most stupid thing to do and the worst thing to do would be make a week like this a hindrance to what you do going forwards. I obviously played great, I put myself in a great position, I was leading the tournament for 71 holes. I just want to make sure that I can put myself in this position as soon as possible again and try and correct what I did this time.

“But like I say, right now I would love to, you know, just go and sulk somewhere and maybe I will, but there’s just no point making it a negative for the future really. Just take the positives and move on.”

– Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, FedEx St. Jude Championship final round: Fleetwood, after leading by a shot entering the day, ties for third. Another non-win. 

And yet, here’s what he said afterward, after a reporter noted that his optimism is something that fans continue to admire:

Fleetwood said he was going to find a positive — again. 

“Well, as long as they stay with me and stay on my side, then we can all look for the positives,” Fleetwood said. “Yeah, I’m lucky with the support that I get, and I have enjoyed — I haven’t been in contention much this year, and then Travelers obviously leading and I felt like it was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed playing in that atmosphere and then today again I get the crowd on my side and I love their support. I’m so appreciative of it. Kind of on this journey together here.

“You just have to keep — all these experiences and these close calls, like I say, there’s no point in making or allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next. What would be the point?

“It was a great week. I did a ton of good stuff, and as disappointed as I am, I have to try to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time go again, put myself in that position again and we just go again.”

– Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, Tour Championship pre-tournament press conference: Fleetwood talks with reporters. He knows the near-miss question is coming. 

And yet, he answers it this way:

“I work really hard on making sure that I make it all into a positive,” Fleetwood said. “Of course, I’m not going to feed you lies and say, oh, Memphis, I thought I did everything great, or Travelers, I didn’t do anything wrong. Of course I got things wrong down the stretch and it didn’t happen for me.

“But you just learn from those experiences, and I think the overriding emotions are a lot of positives. I would rather you be questioning me about not finishing tournaments off than not questioning me at all about anything. So I’ve obviously shown a lot of really good stuff and put myself in great positions.

“I’ve said every single time that I just want to put myself there again. I want to give myself another chance. I’ll finish it off at some point. I’ll get it right and I’ll get it right more than once. But being there is actually the hard part in a way.

“I think there’s so many — I don’t feel like I have to rattle off all the good stuff about it. I just need to be aware of it, know that I’m doing the right things, and know that there’s still things that I can get better.

“You use them both in a good way. I would use the disappointments as motivation, and I would use the good stuff as confidence boosting for me.

“Again, best-case scenario coming down the stretch at East Lake with a chance to win, whether I get it right or not, whether it happens or not, whether someone plays better or not, I’ll talk about that at the time, but I would love to get there and give myself that chance again.”

– Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, Tour Championship final round: Fleetwood wins. Finally. 

And yet, he sounds the same. 

Appreciative. Ready for more. 

“Yeah, I think people have different ways of inspiring,” Fleetwood said, “and I guess that my — however big or small my inspiring story might be, it was just a story of perseverance and continuing to try and put myself in those positions. I think the easiest thing to do when it doesn’t go your way is to sulk a little bit or to let it affect you for a little while, then get back to it. Use excuses if you like, but I said every single time that it didn’t happen for me or where I’d let one go or where someone beat me, I just want to get there again. I just want to give myself another chance.

“I felt like I did that, and I felt like people — at the time, like, you just do it, but I think people have appreciated that side of it. I think people have, I guess, found it very positive that I’ve constantly tried to just get back on the horse, just go again, just go again.

“Like I say, again, it’s almost easy to say now I’m really pleased that it’s happened now, but if it didn’t happen today, I would have said the same things. I would have said, I just want another chance; I’m just going to go back and work and I’m just going to go again. I’ve had the opportunity to prove that, that if you just keep going, it can happen. 

“I guess that’s my story.”

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