Justin Rose refuses to surrender.
Seemingly out of contention on the final nine holes of the FedEx St. Jude Championship Sunday and potentially buried by J.J. Spaun’s long birdie putt on the second playoff hole, the 45-year-old Englishman kept grinding and came away with a stirring victory in the first playoff event of the PGA Tour’s end-of-season sweepstakes.
Rose birdied six of his final eight holes Sunday – four of the last five in regulation then two in a row after starting the playoff with a lip-out par – to beat Spaun on the third extra hole and cap a dramatic final round at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
“That was an amazing last 90 minutes really. Seemed to be the way it got this week. When I got myself a few back, something good would happen. Never stopped believing,” said Rose, who won for the 12th time on the PGA Tour.
Having lost the Masters in a playoff to Rory McIlroy, Rose said his performance at Augusta reinforced his self-belief. He will be a key figure on the European Ryder Cup team and sits in fourth place in the playoff race, chasing his second FedEx Cup.
“I’ve been saying for some time now, obviously Augusta, when I bring my best, I know I’m good enough to play and to compete, and to now win against the best players in the world. Very gratifying day for me and a lot of hard work coming to fruition,” said Rose, who finished regulation tied with Spaun at 16-under-par 264.
For Spaun, it was a second playoff loss in a big event this year. McIlroy beat him in the Players Championship in March before Spaun won the U.S. Open in what has been a career-defining season.
A 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole in regulation got Spaun into the playoff but he missed a 7-footer that would have forced a fourth extra hole.
“It sucks to miss a 7-footer, but tricky read and pulled it a little bit. But yeah, I hung in there the best I could, and he beat me to the hole first. Just wasn’t meant to be,” said Spaun, who nonetheless clinched a berth on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
As much as the attention focused on Rose and Spaun, it was Tommy Fleetwood’s latest near-miss that siphoned away some of the emotional energy.
Leading by two strokes with three holes remaining, Fleetwood saw what could have been his first PGA Tour victory slip his grasp with a scratchy finish combined with what Rose and Spaun did. Fleetwood failed to birdie the easy par-5 16th and a sloppy bogey at the 17th proved costly.
Fleetwood’s T3 was his 14th top-three finish without a win, his 29th top-five and 43rd top-10.
“I’m obviously going to be disappointed. I said last time, there’s a lot of positives to take, as much as I don’t really – I won’t feel like that right now. I’m just going to look at what I feel like I could have done and how close it was,” Fleetwood said.
“We move on. There’s another week that’s next and I’ve just got to reflect on today and obviously keep pushing forward and try and put myself in that position again.”
Scottie Scheffler had the lead briefly on Sunday but finished tied with Fleetwood, one stroke out of the playoff.
Scheffler’s regular caddie, Ted Scott, was not on the bag Sunday due to a family situation. Brad Payne, who subbed for Scott at the PGA Championship last year, stepped in for the final round but Scheffler came up one stroke short.
“I felt like I did some good things out there. I felt like I hit a lot of good putts. Just hit a lot of lips. I did enough to have a really good round. Just putts weren’t falling today for some reason,” said Scheffler, after his 12th consecutive finish of eighth or better.
As for the tournament within a tournament, five players moved into the FedEx Cup top 50 and, consequently, five dropped out. The top 50 not only qualify for the BMW Championship this week, they also secure spots in the signature events next year while those on the outside will be forced to play their way in next year or receive sponsor exemptions.
Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley, Rickie Fowler, Jhonattan Vegas and J.T. Poston climbed into the top 50 while Aldrich Potgieter, Jake Knapp, Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark and Min Woo Lee dropped out.
Ron Green Jr.