Tommy Fleetwood Chokes Away FedEx St. Jude Championship, Still Chasing First PGA Tour Win
Fleetwood once again couldn't hold a 54-hole lead and made costly mistakes on the final few holes
Tommy Fleetwood is to the PGA Tour what Dan Marino was to the NFL or Charles Barkley was to the NBA. They are all arguably the best of all-time to never win a championship. Fleetwood put himself in position to end his dubious streak by opening up a three-shot lead following Round 2 of the FedEx St. Jude Championship and carrying a one-shot lead over Justin Rose into the final round.
But, yet again, Fleetwood just couldn't close it out. He made bogey on the first hole and immediately surrendered his lead before rattling off 10-straight pars. Birdies on 12, 13, and 15 put him back at the top of the leaderboard with a chance to finally get that first PGA Tour victory. Unfortunately, the Englishman could only muster a par on the relatively easy par-5 16th and followed with a bogey on the par-4 17th hole.
Tommy Fleetwood fell short again at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, extending his winless PGA Tour streak despite holding a 54-hole lead for the second time this year.
(Mike Frey/Imagn Images)
All the while, U.S. Open Champion JJ Spaun vaulted himself up the leaderboard with a sparkling final round 65 and Justin Rose bounced back from a bogey on 12 to make four birdies in his last five holes to finish in a tie with Spaun, both men one shot ahead of Fleetwood.
Fleetwood needed a birdie on 18 to get into that playoff, but hit his tee shot into the bunker, missed the green, and only managed to make par to finish in a tie for third with Scottie Scheffler. Not bad company for Fleetwood, but certainly not the result he wanted.
As far as the playoff, both Spaun and Rose lipped out their birdie putts on the first playoff hole and both settled for par and a second playoff hole.
On the second playoff hole, also played on 18 like the first extra hole, Rose put the pressure on by throwing a dart onto the green to within 8 feet. But Spaun was up to the task, drilling a 30-foot putt to make sure Rose had to convert to keep the playoff going. Rose did convert, and the pair headed to the 18th tee for a third straight time. However, in order to give the players a slightly different look, Tour officials changed the hole location on the green.
On the third playoff hole, both players hit their approach shots tight onto the now-back-right hole location, But Rose found himself a little farther away than Spaun. That meant Rose had to go first, which allowed him to put the pressure on Spaun. That's exactly what he did, sinking the putt.
Spaun, unfortunately, appeared to pull his birdie putt and missed by a few inches left of the cup. Justin Rose claimed the victory, his first FedExCup Playoff win since 2011.
Poor Tommy Fleetwood
Back to Fleetwood; he's been knocking on the door of victory his entire career, but particularly this season. He had a heartbreaking loss at the Travelers Championship in June, finishing as runner-up despite leading going into the final round, and has piled up five Top 10 finishes this year. He now has six second-place finishes and six third-place finishes in his PGA Tour career. Fleetwood is far too good a golfer to never win, but it's worth questioning his mental toughness coming down the stretch. Twice this season he's choked away 54-hole leads with disastrous holes late in tournaments.
Statistically, Fleetwood is 4th on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Total. All three players ahead of him – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Sepp Straka – have won multiple tournaments this season. The two players just behind him, Russell Henley and Justin Thomas, are also PGA Tour winners in 2025. But there sits Fleetwood, the 34-year-old golfer who turned pro in 2010, still seeking his first PGA Tour victory. He'll have two more chances this season, with his spot locked up in next week's BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.
Can he do it? He certainly has the game. But questions are mounting about what's going on between the ears. After going winless for this long, it starts to feel like it's never going to happen. If Fleetwood started to believe that, too, it might never happen.