At some point, it’s hard not to feel bad for Tommy Fleetwood, who once again was positioned to win his first career PGA Tour event … and once again came up painfully short.
Fleetwood carried a one-stroke lead into the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of the Tour’s three playoff events. All he had to do was hold off his countryman Justin Rose, who he led by one stroke and Scottie Scheffler who trailed by two strokes.
Certainly there’s no shame in being run down by one of the world’s best, but Fleetwood seemed close enough to taste it late in the St. Jude. He birdied the par-4 15th hole to give himself a two-stroke lead over Rose. The par-5 16th — a birdie hole — followed and looked like a golden opportunity for Fleetwood to put things away.
Instead, he went par-bogey-par (scrambling his face off to save par at 18th), and missed out on a playoff, as Rose surged to 16-under, as did reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun.
Fans of Fleetwood and even casual viewers aren’t likely to be surprised by what sure could be described as the latest choke from the Englishman.
Here’s a few more of Fleetwood’s most painful finishes.
2025 Travelers Championship
Fleetwood carried a three-shot lead into the final round the Travelers Championship. An easy New England Sunday stroll through TPC River Highlands should have gotten Fleetwood over the line.
He stumbled out of the gate, making bogeys on three of the first four holes, giving Keegan Bradley a second chance on the tournament. Yet he still managed to build a two-stroke lead on the back nine and once again made a mess of it, starting with a drivable par-4 15th.
Then, on 18, he still had a chance to put it away. Instead, his approach shot from the fairway short of the green and made bogey … while Bradley canned a walk-off birdie putt.
That led to this improbably depressing stat from the PGA Tour communications department.
Fleetwood owns five runner-up finishes on TOUR (most recent: 2023 RBC Canadian Open where he lost in a playoff to Nick Taylor).
2023 RBC Canadian Open
The 2023 Canadian Open will be remembered mostly for Nick Taylor’s walk-off 72-foot putt in front of the home crowd. It was, of course, Fleetwood, who allowed him to get into that spot. Fleetwood had three chances to win the tournament both in playoff and a regulation … and he missed all of them.
2020 Scottish Open
Another playoff, another heartbreaker. Fleetwood had a chance to knock off Aaron Rai in Scotland, but he three-putted from the fringe, including this brutal miss to cost himself the tournament.
2020 Honda Classic
A similar script: Fleetwood was in contention going into the final round and built himself a two-shot lead with a hot start to the afternoon. That lead evaporated over the span of 14 holes, but a birdie at the 17th got him within one of Sungjae Im. As Fleetwood walked to the 18th tee, he had a decision: He could either go for the par 5 and try to make a tournament-winning eagle (or settle for a playoff-forcing birdie) or play it safe.
After hitting it in the fairway, the decision was clear: go for it. The problem? Fleetwood misplayed his second shot, and it faded off line and into the water.
His approach landed in the water and he made bogey to finish solo third.
“The game switches pretty quickly,” he told reporters after the tournament.
At this rate, no one knows that better than Fleetwood.
Tommy Fleetwood Chokes Away FedEx St. Jude For Latest Close Call