Tommy Fleetwood's fairytale 2025 added another chapter with DP World India Championship victory - the latest success in what had already become a career-defining season.
The Englishman finished his long wait for a breakthrough PGA Tour victory in August, ending a run of 30 top-fives and a string of near-misses by securing the FedExCup title at its season-ending Tour Championship.
He played a key role in Team Europe's historic Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black a month later, top-scoring with four points and winning each of his first four matches during a famous title defence on American soil.
Fleetwood then joined several of his victorious Ryder Cup team-mates at the inaugural DP World India Championship, where he claimed a two-shot win before celebrating victory on the 18th green with his son Frankie for the first time.
The 34-year-old is inside the world's top five after two wins in a little over two months, following on from a consistent PGA Tour season, with his latest trophy his eighth DP World Tour title and first since January 2024.
"I apply myself in trying to achieve the best possible at all times, and there's plenty of times where things haven't gone my way," Fleetwood said after his win. "The last two tournaments I've been in contention, I've won, so maybe things are starting to even out a little bit."
Fleetwood had finished outside of the top 20 in his previous four regular DP World Tour appearances this season and failed to contend in the majors, initially leaving him in danger of failing to qualify on merit for the season-ending play-offs.
A loophole enables all of Team Europe's players to feature in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, regardless of whether they are in the top 70 or top 50, but Fleetwood's win secures his spot via the rankings.
"Not being where I want to be, in terms of the Order of Merit and things and how I've played when I have played this tour, was something that was bothering me," Fleetwood said. "This means a lot, this win.
"I'm really looking forward to getting home and practising and preparing for those last two events and seeing what we can do in those. I really wanted to qualify for those last events and there was that sort of added pressure as well."
Fleetwood has also earmarked his performances in the majors as an area for improvement, having finished no higher than 16th in any of the four this year - the first season he has failed to post a top five in one since 2021.
"It [winning a Green Jacket] would be nice," Fleetwood admitted. "I imagine those things all the time, it's just about making it a reality. That's something we'll look at. When the season finishes you look at sort of targets and goals for the following season.
"I still have two tournaments to go. I still have things that I want to complete in those two tournaments that I'll strive for, and then when eventually we get that done with, we'll look towards 2026 and see what we can do.
"I did say the two things that disappointed me this year were my major performances and where I stood in the DP World Tour ranking. Those are things that I'll look at for next year.
"For us all as golfers, those are the events. Those four events a year, those majors, mean so much that we try and prepare for and play our best. I'll be always trying to make my game be able to suit those."
Fleetwood's consistent ball-striking and iron play is an asset at The Masters, where he finished tied-third during Scottie Scheffler's win in 2024 among four other career top 25s at Augusta National.
The PGA Championship will be held at Aronimink Golf Club, where Fleetwood carded back-to-back 62s - albeit on a saturated course - when the Pennsylvania course last hosted a PGA Tour event - the 2018 BMW Championship.
That year was also when Fleetwood carded a Sunday 63 in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, having missed a birdie putt on the last to post the lowest final round in major history, with the 2026 edition returning to the same course.
And that is without The Open being held in his hometown of Southport, with Royal Birkdale a course he 'snuck on' to with his dad to play as a child and where Fleetwood will likely be the fans' favourite.
"I can just see great things down the next couple of years," Jamie Spence, Fleetwood's former short-game coach, told SportNews. "Now he's learning how to close it out - he's feeling comfortable in these situations and the whole game's working.
"He's becoming a serial winner, isn't he, instead of the nearly man for so long. He's had quite a few special moments in his career, but they're getting more and more for Fleetwood. I'm very optimistic [about major hopes].
"Whenever somebody wins a big tournament, the talk is always 'they're going to win more'. Sometimes it doesn't happen, but that [Fleetwood's] is a very good resume and I'm looking at him in the majors next year.
"I've got to think he's going to be very close to winning one of them [2026 majors], if not win them. Rather than just be sort of a possible contender, he's now a realistic challenger."
2026 will mark the 30th anniversary of Sir Nick Faldo winning The Masters, the last of his six majors. In the three decades since, Justin Rose, Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick are the only Englishmen to have tasted major success - could Fleetwood be the next?
The DP World Tour heads to South Korea for the Genesis Championship, the final event of the Back 9 schedule and last chance to qualify for the season-ending play-offs. Watch live on Thursday from 4am on SportNews Golf.
Fleetwood returns to action at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship from November 6-9 and the DP World Tour Championship from November 13-16, both live on SportNews. or
