After Tommy Fleetwood suffered another disappointing end to a weekend of golf, this time at the St. Jude Championship, the British star offered a glimpse into his true personality
Tommy Fleetwood pledged to focus on the positives after his drought extended to an incredible 162 PGA Tour events without a victory. The 34-year-old finished tied for third with Scottie Scheffler at the St. Jude Championship, one shot behind eventual winner Justin Rose, who pipped J. J. Spaun in a tense play-off.
At TPC Southwind, Fleetwood shot to the top of the leaderboard with opening rounds of 63 and 64. He kept himself in the mix with back-to-back 69s and still looked on course to win in Memphis.
He would go on to birdie three of his last seven holes, but his bogey on the 17th gave Spaun and Rose an opportunity to overtake, which they both did.
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While it was not quite as devastating as his collapse at the Travelers Championship earlier this year, where he led the final round by three shots only to let his lead slip and lose to Keegan Bradley, his ill-timed bogey in Memphis ultimately cost him the chance of taking home an extra £1.8million in prize money.
However, Fleetwood showed his true colours in his post-tournament interview, where he did his best to remain positive and humble in the face of disappointment. When asked how he feels, he replied: “I don’t know really. I don’t know yet.
“I don’t know yet, I’m obviously going to be disappointed. I said it last time, there’s a lot of positives to take, as much as I won’t really feel like that right now.
“I’m just going to look at what I feel I could have done and how close it was. But, we move on, there’s another week next week and I’ve just got to reflect on today, keep pushing forward and try and put myself in that position again.”
When reporters pushed him on the crowd cheering for him throughout the weekend, he laughed, before replying: “As long as they all stay with me and stay on my side, then we can all look for the positives. I’m lucky with the support I get.
“I haven’t been in contention much this year and then at Travelers I was obviously leading and I feel like it was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed playing in that atmosphere. Today I got the crowd on my side.
“I love their support, I am so appreciative of it and on this journey together here. You have to keep all these experiences and these close calls. There’s no point in allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next.
“It has been a great week, I did a ton of good stuff and as disappointed as I am, I have to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time, put myself in that positive position again.”
While Fleetwood missed out on the £2.67m winnings for first prize, he did still manage to walk away with a cheque for £860,000. However, considering he is yet to register a victory on the PGA Tour, a win would have been priceless for Fleetwood.
He will be involved in the next FedEx Cup play-off event, the BMW Championship, which begins on August 14 at Caves Valley in Baltimore.