New Delhi: Tommy Fleetwood ran four straight birdies midway through the round to grab the decisive lead and then didn’t hold back for a second to win the first DP India World Championship at the Delhi Golf Club, which was packed with fans on both sides of the fairways.
Fleetwood entered the 18th green with a two-shot lead and could afford to miss a birdie and still win by two shots. Fleetwood finished at 22 under, while Keita Nakajima, whose record in India was fantastic with one win and two seconds in three starts, scored 69 to finish at 20 under.
Fleetwood, also a DP World brand ambassador, received the custom-made Lotus trophy from Yuvraj Narayan, deputy CEO and CFO of DP World. He also won $680,000 from the $4 million prize pool.
Shiv Kapur (72-69-70-68) shot a final round of 68 to finish as the top Indian in 32nd place with a total of nine under 279.
Dhruv Sheoran (68-73-67-72) was the second-highest Indian after scoring 72 in the final round and ending the week tied for 36th with eight under 280.
Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri finished 56th at three-under 285, while Abhinav Lohan finished 63rd at one-under 287.
Fleetwood, who began the final day two shots behind third-round leader Keita Nakajima, closed the gap with an opening birdie but gave the shot right back in the second round. He returned to 16 under with a 14-foot birdie on the fourth hole before taking advantage of the par-3 seventh to move within two shots of new leader Hillier.
A tap-in birdie on the eighth and an eight-footer on the ninth kept Fleetwood just one shot away from the lead at the turn. He made four straight birdies from distance on the tenth day and joined Hillier at the summit.
While Hillier slipped down the leaderboard after a double bogey on the 14th and a bogey on the next, Fleetwood built a two-shot lead thanks to a 12-foot birdie on the 14th before grabbing another shot on the 17th to reach 22 under.
With a lead of two on the 18th, Fleetwood gave himself another birdie chance on the final tee but had to settle for a final par.
Fleetwood was joined on the green for the celebrations by his son Frankie, a goal the couple set last week.
However, Nakajima, who went bogey-free in the final round, was unable to create chances except on the 3rd and the two par-3s behind it, the 12th and 17th.
Fleetwood, who had 68-64-69 after the third round, added a 7-under score of 65 to finish at 22-under, and Nakajima (69) remained at 20-under.
Of his son running onto the 18th green, Fleetwood said: “We were at home last week driving the buggy. I think we were playing golf together and he just happened to say, ‘You know what you’ve never done before?’. He said, ‘You’ve never won a tournament and I could run to the 18th green’. I thought, ‘I’ll write that down’.”
“I’ve been writing this down all week. Like I said, it was really just another opportunity.”
“There will be many more opportunities where I’ll hopefully get the chance to do that. But all day I’ve been thinking about, can I put myself in a position to actually make this moment happen?”
“It’s just one of those little things. It means so much to me. That was really cool. I wanted to do that all day.”
