PGA Recap: Fleetwood Among Three Big Tourney Winners

Three of golf's elite players won tournaments around the world last week. One triumph was by far the most impressive.

Heading from East to West, Sergio Garcia kicked off his 2018 by easily winning the SMBC Singapore Open, Tommy Fleetwood used a torrid finish to capture the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and Jon Rahm survived a long playoff to win the CareerBuilder Challenge in California.

Short takes:
– Garcia played for the first time since switching to Callaway clubs – no easy task when changing equipment – but the field was very weak and he won by five strokes.
– Fleetwood carded a 6-under 30 on the back nine to erase a five-shot deficit and emerge on top in an elite field.
– Rahm latest victory moved him past Jordan Spieth to No. 2 in the world, but he, too, faced a rather weak field.

Clearly, Fleetwood's win is the top headline in golf this Monday morning.

The Abu Dhabi event featured the strongest worldwide field since the WGC event back in October. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson was on hand, as was Rory McIlroy in his return from injury. A couple of top-10s in the OWGR, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, were also entered.

Fleetwood began the back nine on a windy Sunday five strokes behind Ross Fisher, but he birdied six holes coming home to win by two over his fellow Englishman. McIlroy impressively tied for third.

Serious golf fans need to know about Fleetwood, who not only is now up to a career-best No. 12 in the world, but he's coming to America. One of the sport's best ball strikers has committed to playing more on the PGA Tour – he has accepted membership this season – and we'll see a lot of him in the coming months. Reportedly, he will play stateside beginning at Riviera next month and continue into May.

Fleetwood will play other U.S.-based events after that, but this months-long commitment will tell him – not to mention other top golfers (and us) – just how far this rising star will rise. Don't be fooled that Fleetwood is already 27 and has played only 10 majors in his life, or that he's made the cut in only four of them. Fleetwood surely has found a new gear in the past year, since spending 2016 mostly outside the top-100 in the world.

In 2017, Fleetwood won the Race to Dubai, finished fourth in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills and was runner-up to Johnson at the WGC-Mexico. His also won last year at Abu Dhabi – fending off Johnson by one stroke.

The knock on Fleetwood's game is his putting. He was a whopping 150th on the European Tour in putting average last season. His ball-striking is so elite that he can win, and has won, despite his difficulties on the greens. But you don't get to No. 12 in the world by being a bad putter. On Sunday, he rolled in birdie putts of 5, 8, 12, 15, 30 and even 40 feet on the back nine.

"It's incredible," McIlroy said of Fleetwood, according to the European Tour's website. "He had a great year last year, won the Race to Dubai, No. 1 in Europe and then to just keep going. This week, defending champion, to put that round of golf together out there today, I mean, 65 in those conditions is seriously impressive."

Fleetwood's ascension, Rahm's continued rise and McIlroy's return to health certainly are changing the narrative for this year's Ryder Cup. Come September, the United States will face a far stronger European team than first anticipated.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy is coming off a lost 2017, one that saw him improbably tumble out of the top-10 in the world (he's 11th). But to finish tied for third in his first event since early October surely is impressive. McIlroy has been overtaken on the world stage the past few years, first by Jason Day, then Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and now Jon Rahm. We'll likely see McIlroy here in the States next month at Riviera.

Ross Fisher
Fisher's best days are long behind him. Or are they? The Brit is now 37, and he hasn't been in the top-20 in the OWGR in more than eight years. But he's getting close again. Fisher finished in the top-six in three of the four 2016-17 WGC events and now he's been runner-up in three of his past six Euro starts. These are not cupcake fields. Fisher is up to No. 27 in the world.

Chris Paisley
Paisley is another Englishman, and unknown to all but the most serious of golf followers (and University of Tennessee golf followers). Coming off his first career Euro win at the BMW SA Open last week, Paisley tied for fifth at Abu Dhabi. The 31-year-old finished last year – that's three weeks ago – at around No. 300 in the world. He's now inside the top-100, at 96th. Sure, these last two weeks could be an aberration. But better to be aware of Paisley and keep an eye on him than to dismiss him.

Jon Rahm
We didn't mean to relegate Rahm to second-tier status this week – overtaking Spieth for No. 2 in the world is remarkable, especially for someone even younger than the 24-year-old Texan. The 23-year-old Spaniard is on a meteoric rise, with four worldwide wins in the past year, beginning at Torrey Pines, where he will defend his title this week. But if we could temper things just a bit, this CareerBuilder field was weak, with only one other golfer in the top-20 in the OWGR – and that was No. 20 Brian Harman. And as we've stated before, Rahm didn't have a single top-25 in a major last year. He's caught Spieth in one way, but he still has yet to show up in the four biggest events.

Andrew Landry
Rahm almost didn't win, even in a weak field, because of this man. Landry is a 30-year-old Web.com grad – kind of old to be graduating from anywhere – but he has been quite good on the PGA Tour so far this season. Landry's loss to Rahm on the fourth playoff hole still gave him his third top-10 since the fall. Landry is now knocking on the door of the top-100 OWGR, just six spots behind Paisley at No. 102.

Scott Piercy
Piercy missed the second half of last season with an injury, interrupting the best stretch of golf in his career. He's now 39, not the best time to try to get back to where you were. But Piercy tied for sixth at the CareerBuilder, his best showing since he returned in the fall. He's five for five in cuts, with three top-25s. Yes, the fields are about to get a lot tougher. Piercy, however, has got to be pleased. He's back to 108th in the world, six spots behind Landry.

Brandon Harkins
No, Harkins is not six spots behind Piercy; he's still far back at No. 270. But that's a career best for 31-year-old Web.com grad, after he tied for eighth on Sunday. That gave Harkins his first PGA Tour top-10 and fourth top-25 in his past five starts. He's missed only one of seven cuts this season. Again, the fields are about to get stronger. But you have to play well in the weak fields to have any shot at competing in the good fields.

Phil Mickelson
Oh, Phil. Mickelson's much-anticipated return (not as anticipated as the guy who's returning this week, however), did not go well. Playing for the first time since October, Mickelson missed the CareerBuilder cut. This is a tournament he had finished top-25 the three previous visits. He's now down to No. 46 in the world, with no end to the drop in sight.

Sergio Garcia
Winning a professional tournament the first time playing with new equipment is nothing to be dismissed. Garcia's switch to Callaway began swimmingly, with a five-stroke win in Singapore. But this was a very weak field, far weaker than the CareerBuilder. Still, the victory moved Garcia back into the top-10 in the OWGR, at No. 9.

Pat Perez
Perez was in Singapore, where he tied for 21st, and not on the PGA Tour for the start of the West Coast Swing, which for years has been his wheelhouse. We don't know if it was a cash grab that led Perez to the Asian Tour last week, but he tweeted that he also will skip San Diego and Phoenix the next two weeks. He was fourth at Torrey Pines last year and runner-up in 2014. Perez said he will return for Pebble Beach and Riviera, but we'll see how this decision affects him going forward.