Inside Track: Fleetwood wins to lift the Inside Track kibosh

God’s good to those who wait. Just ask Tommy Fleetwood, or, for that matter, the Louth senior footballers.

This year’s Leinster championship win was the first for a red-jerseyed brigade in 68 years. That would probably equate to the number of tournaments Fleetwood played without getting his hands on a PGA trophy.

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The Southport golfer was on his 164th outing in last weekend’s FedEx Cup at the East Lake course in Atlanta, waiting to break his duck. He’d been pipped the previous weekend, and about a month before that.

No-one was saying it in public, he was a choker, but it would have crossed many people’s minds. What better way to put the record straight than by winning the most valuable competition on the circuit, trousering a cool $10m in the process?

Fleetwood did it in style, finishing a couple of shots ahead of his nearest rival. He was in the vanguard from the start, and along the way had a few blips. Like on the 14th, on the third day, when he dropped two shots.

Then on the last day, he saw the chasers coming closer when he went over par at the 9th. But blips are all they were. He steadied the ship after that, leaving him with no need for heroics on the final stretch.

He probably said to himself after taking that final putt, “Well, that’s the Inside Track kibosh lifted.”
Fleetwood has been long pencilled for a place on the Europe team taking on the USA in the Ryder Cup, and that should be interesting.

The Yanks behind the ropes were shouting “Tommy, Tommy” at full-time on Sunday; but it’ll be a different story next month at Bethage, as the Europeans seek to defend their title.

Shane Lowry has failed to take one of the six automatic spots. There are 12 on a team, and captain, Luke Donald, tells us tomorrow afternoon who the other six are. If Lowry is not among them, IT will have something to say.