Tommy Fleetwood is one again coming up short.
Fleetwood, after holding a two-shot lead briefly on the back nine, fell apart late to completely let the FedEx St. Jude Championship slip away on Sunday afternoon. That left the door open for Justin Rose, who made four straight birdies late to force a playoff with J.J. Spaun at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
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Rose narrowly avoided landing in the water along the left side of the fairway to open the playoff, but he still managed to stick his approach to just 13 feet. But both guys ended up two-putting for par, however, which sent them back to the tee to run it back. The second playoff hole didn’t settle anything, either, after Spaun made a very similar birdie putt to keep it alive.
Finally, Rose sank another birdie putt on the third playoff hole to officially grab his win. Spaun had a 7-footer of his own to extend it, but he sent it flying past the cup. Rose ended up birding six of his last eight holes.
Rose, who finished in second at the Masters earlier this season, is now the oldest winner on Tour since Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship in 2021. He’s also the oldest player from Europe to win on Tour in the modern era. Rose turned 45 earlier this summer.
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Fleetwood entered Sunday with a one-shot lead over the field, thanks to his 1-under 69 on Saturday — which should’ve been bigger had he not made a bogey at the last and carded a double early. He was very slow out of the gate on Sunday, too, and left the door wide open for Scheffler and the rest of the field after he opened the day with a bogey.
Fleetwood made 10 straight pars after his bogey while Scheffler and J.J. Spaun caught right up to match him in the lead. But finally, Fleetwood found his swing again and took off. He sank a 33-footer for birdie at the par-4 12th, which marked his first birdie in 15 holes.
Fleetwood then birdied the next hole, too, after draining a 15-footer. That gave him the solo lead once again. He went on a remarkable run where he made six one-putts in a seven-hole stretch, too, capped with a third birdie at the 15th
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But that’s when Fleetwood stalled out, and then he missed a brutal look for par at the 17th to fall one back once again. He ended up finishing with a 1-under 69 for what was his 29th top-five finish on Tour. That’s 11 more than any other player without a win over the last four decades, according to The Athletic’s Justin Ray.
While that was happening, Rose was surging alongside him.
Rose, who started the day one back, went on a tear where he made four straight birdies to suddenly get right back into the mix. It actually marked his longest birdie streak on Tour this season.
Rose had a great look for birdie at the last, but he just barely sent his putt right of the cup. That set up the playoff with Spaun — who also jumped right back into it with a pair of late birdies.
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Spaun has now finished in second three times this season. He picked up his first major championship win earlier this summer at the U.S. Open, too.
Scottie Scheffler finished in a tie for third with Fleetwood at 15-under. Scheffler had to turn to Brad Payne, a chaplain to PGA Tour players, on Sunday to fill in as his caddie. Scheffler’s usual caddie, Ted Scott, had to return home after the third round due to an undisclosed family matter. Payne has caddied for several players on Tour in the past, and he actually stepped in for Scott during the third round of the 2024 PGA Championship. Scott left Scheffler during the third round of that major championship to attend the high school graduation ceremony of one of his children.
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Rose has now won 12 times in his career. He now has five top-10 finishes this season, and he entered the week at No. 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He fought his way into a playoff at Augusta National earlier this season, but he fell to Rory McIlroy.
Fleetwood has been a dominant force on the world stage for years. He’s been a staple on the European Ryder Cup team and has won seven times on the DP World Tour. He entered this week at No. 15 in the OWGR, too. But the 34-year-old Englishman just couldn’t break through in the United States. He’s had five top-10 finishes this season on Tour and he finished T2 at the Travelers Championship earlier this summer. That was the sixth runner-up finish of his career, too, two of which have come at major championships.
With how he’s playing, Fleetwood is sure to break through on Tour at some point. But with how rough Sunday’s finish was, it’s unclear when that will actually happen.
“I’m obviously going to be disappointed,” Fleetwood said. “I said last time, there’s a lot of positives to take … I won’t feel like that right now.”