Fleetwood Clinches Debut Crown

Tommy Fleetwood ran up four birdies in a row in the middle of the round to take a decisive lead and then never looked back to take home the inaugural DP World India Championship at the Delhi Golf Club, which was teeming with fans on either side of the fairways.

Fleetwood walked onto the 18th green with a two-shot lead and could afford to miss a birdie and still win by two. Fleetwood finished at 22-under as Keita Nakajima, whose record in India has been fantastic with one win and two seconds in three starts, carded 69 and finished 20-under.

Fleetwood, also the Brand Ambassador of DP World, received the specially crafted Lotus Trophy from Yuvraj Narayan, Group Deputy CEO and CFO of DP World. He also won $680,000 from the $ 4 million prize purse.

The top Indian was the local DGC lad, Shiv Kapur (68), at 9-under in Tied-32nd place. The other Indians were Dhruv Sheoran (72) at 8-under and in Tied-36th place, while Anirban Lahiri (71) and Shubhankar Sharma (74) were Tied-56th. Abhinav Lohan (72) was Tied-63rd at 1-under.

Fleetwood, who started the final day two shots behind third-round leader Keita Nakajima, closed the gap with an opening birdie but gave the shot straight back at the second. He returned to 16 under with a 14-foot birdie on the fourth hole before taking advantage of the par-three seventh to get within two shots of new leader Hillier.

A tap-in birdie at the eighth and an eight-footer on the ninth saw Fleetwood sit one shot off the lead at the turn. He made it four birdies in a row from range on the tenth to join Hillier at the summit.

With Hillier slipping down the leaderboard after following up a double bogey on the 14th with a bogey at the next, Fleetwood opened up a two-shot lead thanks to a 12-foot birdie on the 14th before picking up another shot at the 17th to reach 22 under.

Leading by two at the 18th tee, Fleetwood gave himself another birdie chance on the last but had to settle for a closing par.

Fleetwood was joined on the green for the celebrations by his son Frankie, who had scored a goal the pair had set last week.

Nakajima, who went bogey-free in the final round, was, however, unable to create chances that came his way except on the 3rd and the two Par-3s on the back, the 12th, and the 17th.

Fleetwood, who was 68-64-69 after the third round, added a 7-under 65 to finish at 22-under, and Nakajima (69) was left at 20-under.

About his son running onto the 18th green, Fleetwood said: "We were at home last week and we were driving the buggy. I think we were playing golf together, and he just said randomly, 'Do you know what you've never done?'. He said, 'You've never won a tournament and I've been able to run on to the 18th green'. I was like, 'I'm writing that down'.

"I had that written down all week. Like I say, it was just another opportunity, really.

"There's going to be many more times where I hopefully get the chance to do that. But all day today, I had in my mind, could I put myself in a position where I can actually make that moment happen?

“It's just one of those little things, it means a lot to me. It means so much to me. That was really cool. That's what I wanted to do all day.”

Kapur, who shot his best round of the week on Sunday, saw all the action on the front nine with five birdies against one bogey. He parred the entire back nine. Kapur said, “It was an amazing week. Who would have imagined such a star cast on my home course for so big a purse? And the winner, Tommy (Fleetwood), is a great champion.

“As for me, I was happy I was able to get a good round before the week ran out. The course presented a good challenge, and I am sure the crowd loved it, and hopefully all the stars and more will be back next year.”

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