The FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind served up the kind of Sunday drama that’s becoming uncomfortably familiar for Tommy Fleetwood. Leading into the final round, cruising through most of the afternoon, looking every inch the man finally about to break his PGA Tour duck… and then, well, you know how this ends.
With just two holes to go, Fleetwood blinked. A bogey on 17 cracked the door, and Justin Rose – ice-cold, unflustered, and smelling blood – didn’t just walk through it. He brought the trophy with him. When Rose gets hot he’s almost impossible to stop.
🌹⏳ Rose Rolls Back the Years
At 45, Justin Rose is supposed to be the seasoned veteran, ticking off a few nice finishes before Ryder Cup season. Instead, he turned the closing stretch into a lesson in how to win golf tournaments. Four birdies in his last eight holes, a three-hole playoff against J.J. Spaun, and a dagger of a putt to seal it.
The win makes him the oldest European to claim a PGA Tour title in the modern era. It also locks up a Ryder Cup spot and serves as a sharp reminder that class never really fades, it just waits for the right Sunday.
While Fleetwood is a favourite of all of us here at B.A.G. and we were all rooting for him, we’re big fans of Team Rose too so if Tommy had to fumble the ball on his way into the end zone again, we’re glad it was Rose who picked up the loose ball and carried it in for the score.
🥶⛳ Fleetwood’s Familiar Fade
Fleetwood’s game looked solid all week. He kept the ball in play, handled the heat, and controlled the scoreboard. But as the pressure ramped up, so did the nerves. A par on 16 when everyone else was making birdie was the start of it, then he bogeyed 17 and – needing a birdie on the last – went with 5 wood off the tee and found a fairway bunker. It was all painfully on-brand. It isn’t so much Tommy’s swing that fails him in these pressure situations, it’s his decision making (and, whisper it, possibly his caddie?).
That’s now 43 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour without a win. You can frame that as “consistently excellent” or “permanently stuck in neutral,” depending on how generous you’re feeling. Either way, it’s a stat he’ll be desperate to erase, and as ever we’ll be pulling for him to eventually do it.
🇺🇸🔥 Spaun’s Statement Week
J.J. Spaun didn’t win, but he might have won something just as valuable; Ryder Cup security. The U.S. Open champion showed his major-winning grit again, refusing to fold under Rose’s charge and Fleetwood’s early lead. His playoff loss still earns him a mountain of FedExCup points and all but guarantees his place on Zach Johnson’s U.S. team this autumn. With his short game humming and his confidence sky-high, Spaun looks set to be a dangerous match-play asset.
📊💪 The Rest of the Top Ten
It wasn’t just the leading trio providing fireworks. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler kept himself in the mix with another metronomic top-three finish. The terrifying thing is that his worst golf still looks like everyone else’s best. Cam Young’s good form continued with a top five finish, Rickie Fowler is showing signs of life and tied Andrew Noval and Akshay Bhatia for sixth, while ‘Pat in the Hat’ is making a late run for a Ryder Cup spot and cracked the top ten. When Cantlay smells money he’s a tough man to stop.
🤔📈 Final Thoughts
For Fleetwood, this wasn’t just another “so close” week. It was a masterclass in how to keep your name in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The man looked in control, handled the pressure for 68 holes, then watched it all slip away in the space of a single bogey and a nervous meltdown. If and when he finally gets over that mental hurdle he could go on a complete tear as he’s playing some incredible golf. He just can’t finish it off. Maybe when he gets the monkey off his back that will free him up to do it more and more.
Justin Rose, on the other hand, has no such worries. He showed exactly what you get when you mix stubborn belief with an ice-cold putter. He smelt blood, reeled in Fleetwood and Spaun, then closed the door like a man who’s been there a hundred times before. Oldest European winner on the PGA Tour in the modern era? Tick. Ryder Cup spot secured? Tick. Reminder that he’s still got the game to ruin your Sunday? Big tick.
In short, Fleetwood blinked, Rose didn’t. And that’s why one will spend the week answering questions about “when” and the other will be polishing a trophy.
🥄😏 Bang Average Moment of the Week
Tommy Fleetwood, 17th tee, one-shot lead. He’s been here before, he’s heard the whispers, he knows what people are thinking, and then he goes and does exactly what they’re thinking. A loose swing, a bogey, a thousand groans from the gallery, and the door swings wide open for Justin Rose to stroll through with a smirk and a birdie putt.
It wasn’t a blow-up in the grand sense. There was no triple bogey, no shank into someone’s pint, but it was bang average in the most cruelly predictable way possible. Fleetwood fans have seen this film before, and Rose happily played the role of plot twist.
