Fleetwood Wins Inaugural DP World India Championship At DGC

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Tommy Fleetwood of England 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.

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.

Shiv Kapur (72-69-70-68) shot a last round of 68 to finish as the best Indian in tied 32nd at a total of nine-under 279.

Dhruv Sheoran (68-73-67-72) was the next highest placed Indian after he posted a final round of 72 to end the week in tied 36th at eight-under 280.

Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri finished tied 56th at three-under 285 while Abhinav Lohan ended tied 63rd at one-under 287.

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, which was 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.

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.