Top 20 Players to Watch in 2019: No. 13 Tommy Fleetwood

Tommy Fleetwood is coming into his prime, and in his second full season as a PGA TOUR member, he’s ready to prove that his game is a winner anywhere in the world.

There are plenty of rising stars in the game of golf today, but perhaps none ready to take a leap in 2019 quite like Tommy Fleetwood. The soon-to-be 28-year-old English star has become a proven star on the European Tour, and he’ll look to take up residence in winner’s circles Stateside in the year to come.

Fleetwood’s American voyage began back in 2017, even though he was a full-time member of the European Tour. Primarily playing in the four majors and the World Golf Championships events, Fleetwood earned enough money to take up PGA Tour membership for the 2018 season. It was admittedly a big step forward for a young player, but one he was ready to embrace fully.

It’s pretty safe to say, this is one gamble that worked out quite in Fleetwood’s favor. In 18 official starts (not counting the Hero World Challenge, where he finished in third place), Fleetwood made 17 cuts, and finished inside the top ten six times, along with top-25s in three of four majors. His best finish of the season came at the U.S. Open, where his Sunday round of 63 – by far the lowest of the week – nearly allowed him to catch Brooks Koepka to claim his first major championship.

Now, Fleetwood appears to be fully acclimated to the different courses and conditions on the PGA Tour, and he’s looking forward to continuing to improve. That’s a scary proposition for someone who has already done quite well by pretty much any standard.

"“I love it, I really do,” Fleetwood said in an interview with Golf Channel’s David Feherty this summer. “It’s – you never know how that transition’s gonna go, and you never know for us from Europe. It can always go either way, some people like it, some people struggle and want to go back to Europe because that’s where we’ve always been. But I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve really enjoyed the test and seeing new courses. I feel like it’s really helped my game; I feel like a lot of it suits my game, a lot of the courses. But I feel like it’s helped me as well, as a golfer, trying to step up and bring myself to the next level.”More from Pro Golf NowGolf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning dealFantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player SelectionsBrutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at ConcessionFantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament"

What does that “next level” entail? For starters, Fleetwood appears to be more than ready to record his first PGA TOUR victory in 2019. In a relatively short time, his game has adapted to some of the toughest courses in the world – and the absolute best of the best in terms of competition.

Of course, I don’t foresee any scenario in which Fleetwood abandons the European Tour entirely. In fact, I think that will be an even bigger benefit to him on both sides of the globe. He’s scheduled to host the 2019 British Masters at Hillside Golf Club, not far from where he grew up in Merseyside, England. Last season, he also played some of the European Tour’s biggest events, including the BMW PGA Championship (his last start before the U.S. Open) and the Open de France, his final tune-up before The Open Championship.

We saw what Patrick Reed was able to do in the Race to Dubai last year, with limited European starts. Who’s to say that Tommy Fleetwood can’t do the same thing?

We’ve long enjoyed a strong contingent of European stars making their marks on the PGA TOUR. Look for Fleetwood to become perhaps one of the biggest international players of this new generation over the year to come.