Sign up every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in sports and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss another Tommy Fleetwood victory, a unique tournament venue, the latest LPGA champion and more.
Tommy Fleetwood won the India DP World Championship to earn his second win in his last four starts (not to mention his Ryder Cup dominance). Now no longer concerned with securing his first PGA Tour win (and save the World No. 1), is there any player poised for a more dominant 2026 than Fleetwood?
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): The stars certainly seem to be aligning for a breakout at Fleetwood. He had some close calls even before he finally won the tour championship, so it’s not like the last few months have been a fluke. The guy can hit the ball with the best of them, which is a good way to always stay in contention. But it’s also important to remember that guys have gotten hot and looked ready to destroy the golf world before, only to disappear. (Viktor Hovland won back-to-back playoff games in August 2023 and didn’t win again for 19 months.) I don’t expect a Scottie-like 2026, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Fleetwood picks up two or even three wins next year.
Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Amazing how wins so often lead to more wins. Fleetwood is the latest case in point, and not necessarily because his game is better than it was a year ago – but more because he’s leading the Tour in SG: Confidence. We’ll see if that magic stays with him through the offseason. As he himself said on Sunday, “I know form doesn’t last forever, but I’m trying to make myself the most consistent player I can be.” But, yeah, to answer the question, he’s positioned extremely well for 2026. Another guy I’m excited to see in action next year: Cameron Young. Curious if his impressive Ryder Cup will give him a shot of lasting confidence.
Jessica Marksbury, Senior Editor (@jess_marksbury): It’s always interesting when players heat up in the fall and winter to see if they can carry the momentum into the upcoming big summer season. Although, as Josh mentioned, it doesn’t seem like Tommy is coming out of nowhere. He has been a favorite in the majors even before his breakthrough on the PGA Tour. But Tommy seems to be particularly strong in the Ryder Cup years. So let’s revisit this in 2027! As for next year, I look forward to keeping an eye on another strong European: Alex Noren, who won two DP World Tour titles this year and is projected to earn his PGA Tour card next season.
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Fleetwood beat a handful of stars to win at a tight Delhi Golf Club where it was reported that 42 percent of the field played without a driver. Should the PGA Tour visit more courses where players are forced to be more strategic off the tee? And how often?
Berhow: Delhi Golf Club is a pretty extreme example – I don’t want Rory to hit zero drivers! — but it definitely needs to happen more, as the teeing, strategic golf and club hitting that the course can require is as much a skill as it is to bomb the driver around the property. It also gives more players a chance. Years ago I remember Kevin Kisner jumping off a list of courses he thought he couldn’t win simply because of the required tee distance. However, how realistic this is is another question. A lot of logistics go into choosing a tour venue – a sponsor, TV production, etc. – and sometimes the type of golf course isn’t always the main focus.
Bastable: Power should be a competitive advantage in golf, so, yes, it would be unfair to suddenly inject the tournament schedule with a bunch of tighter, tree-choked courses. Still, this week in New Delhi was a fun reminder that there’s more than one way to test elite players who can hit a driver 330 yards, and some of the players seemed to really dig the challenge. “I like courses like this a lot more because you just hit a bunch of different clubs more often,” Ben Griffin said earlier in the week, “whereas in America we’re used to maybe hitting drivers and wedges a lot more.”
Marksbury: Playing a round of golf without a driver is something I will never be able to relate to! Years ago, a USGA official told me that the objective for setting up the course for the US Open was not necessarily to provide the hardest test, but to have the players use every club in the bag during the tournament. I like this idea and am definitely in favor of promoting more courses (or organizations) where possible. Six or seven times a year would be fine.
Rory McIlroy was among the players to keep his driver out of the bag and tie for 26th in India. When the course setup limits the drivers, is McIlroy at the biggest disadvantage?
Berhow: Although Scottie Scheffler leads the tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, I think most would argue that McIlroy with a driver in hand is one of the best shows in golf and may be the one club that gives one player an advantage more than any other (Scottie with an iron a close second?). That said, Rory didn’t win a career Grand Slam just by hitting driver, but he probably does the most with it.
Bastable: I think it was probably less a case of the setup not suiting McIlroy’s skill sets and more a case of the intended style of golf really suiting the other players, especially Tommy Fleetwood, who said the course “designed perfectly for me”. Interestingly, if you look at McIlory’s 10 bogeys from the week, most were not caused by loose tee shots, but by missing the green or pins on the wrong side.
Marksbury: I agree with both my colleagues here. Eliminating the driver is a shame for a player with so much skill off the tee. But at the end of the day, you’re hitting a lot more approaches and putts than tee shots. So whatever advantage McIlroy was losing was still somewhat minimal, in my mind.
Se Young Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship to become the 27th different winner on the LPGA Tour this season, where there has only been one winner twice a year (Jeeno Thitikul, who won her second LPGA Shanghai event a week ago). With just five tournaments remaining, how do you analyze the current player of the year race?
Berhow: Jeeno Thitikul is the clear winner as the only player with multiple wins and her season has been great beyond those weeks. She has missed just one cut all year and has 12 top-10 finishes. Since this is decided based on points, the CME Group Tour Championship could end up deciding everything. We didn’t have that drama last year with Nelly Korda getting away with this one.
Marksbury: Okay, Josh. The stats of 27 first-time winners are incredible. It really speaks to how deep the talent runs on the LPGA Tour, and as you mentioned, Jeeno may only have two wins, but she’s put up a fight almost every time she’s beaten her, has posted four runner-up finishes, and would be very deserving of the crown, even without a major title this year.
Bastable: To put Jeeno’s consistency into perspective, she is 120 points ahead of second-ranked player on the Rolex list, Nelly Korda – while Korda is just 20 points ahead of third place, held by Minjee Lee. In other words, Thitikul is miles ahead of its peers. The only blemish on her 2025 resume came at the US Women’s Open, where she missed her only cut of the year.
Playing for the first time since withdrawing from Sunday’s singles and evoking the now-controversial “envelope rule” at the Ryder Cup, Viktor Hovland called the situation “disturbingBut he added that he doesn’t see an easy fix for the rule. OK right. But what Ryder Cup rule would you change?
Berhow: Easy – select matches like in the Presidents Cup, where the captains alternate their selections. That way, as long as the captains are playing ball, we can get a little more drama in the event. (And drama that doesn’t involve die-hard fans.)
Bastable: In the event of a tie at the end of the singles matches, create a three-hole aggregate score playoff, placing one player from each team selected by their respective captain. However, unlike the envelope rule, playoff replays would be decided in advance. The captains would pick them on the spot, so if they wanted to, they could nominate not necessarily their best player, but the hottest one.
Marksbury: The Ryder Cup is almost perfect, but I don’t like the “hold” rule if there’s a tie. We need a result! The envelope must be used to nominate one player from each team to face off in a sudden death playoff for everyone.
