Tommy Fleetwood’s 72nd-hole heartbreak stirs ‘anger’ but also resolve

As Rory McIlroy clawed his way to a historic and emotional victory at the Masters in April, among the players to hang back and watch the closing moments was McIlroy’s old Ryder Cup pal Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman took in the action on a TV in Augusta National’s packed grill room, smiling after every holed putt and grimacing after every loose iron. When McIlroy sealed the deal and made the procession from the 18th green to scoring, Fleetwood was among the small group of well-wishers waiting to embrace McIlroy by the clubhouse.

Fleetwood, who is 34, knows better than most what McIlroy’s 0-for-16 winless streak at the Masters felt like. That’s because he has been trying to snap a cold spell of his own: not only at the Masters, but more broadly on the PGA Tour, where to that point in early April, Fleetwood was 0-for-152, as in zero wins in 152 starts. In the weeks since the Masters, Fleetwood’s winless run has extended to 0-for-159 — though not for lack of effort. Since his first PGA Tour start — the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in 2013 — Fleetwood has racked up 42 top-10 finishes, including a half-dozen runners-up. In the Tour’s modern era, no player has more top-10s without a win, a bittersweet record that Fleetwood holds by a wide margin (next on the list is Brett Quigley with 34).

So, on Sunday, when Fleetwood took a commanding three-stroke lead into the final round of the Travelers Championship — on the back of a third-round 63 — he knew much more was at stake than just a $3.6 million winner’s check and wheelbarrow full of FedEx Cup points; Fleetwood was playing to exorcise more than decade of close calls and what-could-have-beens.

His round did not start well with three bogeys and a birdie in his first four holes that allowed Keegan Bradley, who was in Fleetwood’s group along with Russell Henley, to gain a share of Fleetwood’s lead. But when Fleetwood closed his front nine with five straight pars and then birdied 11 and 13, he had seized back both the momentum and the lead (by two). “I didn’t feel like I was playing too poorly,” Fleetwood said after his round. “I felt like I was hitting a lot of good shots. I really feel like from 7 onwards the shots I was hitting — 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 — I was very much in control and playing very well.”

It was starting to feel like Tommy Lad’s day, even if it sounded like Bradley’s. All week the Connecticut galleries had been pulling hard for Bradley, their fellow New Englander and U.S. Ryder Cup captain, and on Sunday, their support grew only more vocal.

On the short par-4 15th, though, a blocked tee shot cost Fleetwood a chance at birdie. On the par-3 16th, he missed long and paid the price with a bogey. After a par on 17, Fleetwood arrived on the 72nd hole leading by only one over Bradley and two over Henley. After excellent drives from Fleetwood and Bradley, both players had only short irons left. Fleetwood played first, from 148. He chose a 9-iron and then moments before hitting swapped it out for a wedge, which proved to be a tactical error. His ball came up well short, settling on the front fringe, 50 feet from the hole.   

Bradley hit next and delivered one of the shots of his career: a wedge to 6 feet that sent the thousands of fans ringing the green into delirium.

Fleetwood’s birdie try pulled up short and in the worst possible spot, about a foot outside of Bradley’s mark, meaning Fleetwood would give his opponent a read. Fleetwood started his par attempt on the left edge of the hole. About halfway to the cup, it looked to be tracking until his ball struck what appeared to be spike mark or some other inconsistency in the green. The putt veered right and missed the hole. Bogey.

Bradley’s birdie attempt, which he started on a similar line to Fleetwood’s, looked good the whole way. And it was. Center of the cup. Birdie. TPC Highlands erupted. So, too, did Bradley. This wasn’t a Ryder Cup match, but it sure felt like one.   

Fleetwood didn’t have to talk the press after his round, but he did. Gamely and honestly and with a glaze over his eyes. He told CBS that he felt “gutted” and then, in a longer session with reporters, said his three-putt was a “crappy way to finish,” and that he was “upset” and “angry.”

“I would love to just go and sulk somewhere and maybe I will do,” he said. “But there’s just no point making it a negative for the future really, just take the positives and move on.

“I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, I didn’t do that, it hurts. [But] when it calms down, the most stupid thing to do and the worse thing to do would be make a week like this a hindrance to what you do going forward. I obviously played great, I put myself in a great position, I was leading the tournament for 71 holes. I just want to make sure that I can put myself in this position as soon as possible again and try and correct what I did this time.

According to Fleetwood’s schedule on his website, his next start is the Genesis Scottish Open, July 9-13, followed a week later by the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.  

“Search goes on,” he said Sunday evening. “When it happens it will be very, very sweet.”