Ageless Justin Rose rallies by J.J. Spaun in playoff to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship

Daily Mail​

19 hours ago

THE ageless brilliance of Justin Rose was epitomised on Sunday evening by a 12th PGA Tour victory at the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis. Much as his quality endures to mind-scrambling places, so too does the stateside curse of Tommy Fleetwood.
We can come to the latter's difficulties in a moment, and particularly the galling loss of another lead on the home straight, but first we must go to Rose and an astonishing career that refuses to wilt.
The bloke turned 45 less than a fortnight ago and it is hardly trivial that no one aged 40 or more has won on the game's prime circuit this season. He blew such a statistic out of the water by winning on the third extra hole at TPC Southwind against the reigning US Open champion JJ Spaun, having already held off the world No 1 Scottie Scheffler in regulation play.
If there is any arthritis in those old joints, it was neither apparent in Rose's scorching back nine in a 67 to force the play-off at 16 under par, nor the way he punched holes in the sky after dropping the 10-footer that ultimately gave him the $3.6million first prize.
'That was an amazing last 90 minutes,' he said. 'I never stopped believing. I played unbelievable golf down the stretch. It was a lot of fun. That is why I play and why I practise. I know when I bring my best I can win.
'I get nervous with the best of them but I know when I get nervous I have still got it. I feel like I am moving well and there could be a good run of golf in me. I cannot let my age become too much of a story.
'This is going to be a fun one to celebrate.'
It was Rose's first win in more than two years, with the intervening period including runner-up positions at the 2024 Open Championship and the Masters in April. Ice baths, a portable gym in a customised motorhome and a textbook swing have prolonged once of the great British sporting careers.
A word on Spaun – his closing 65 was exceptional, built on birdies at the 16th and 17th that saw him overcome a two-stroke deficit in the same span to Fleetwood, who had led for most of the tournament.
The American has had a stellar year, illuminated by that victory at Oakmont, and was a tiny fraction away from winning the play-off with a putt that lipped out from beyond 30-feet on their first rerun of the 18th hole. Rose followed it with a similar near-miss from closer in, before both men birdied on their next visit. It was sublime theatre, peaking when Rose birdied it again on the third go, which preceded Spaun missing from seven feet. Counting a run of four birdies from the 14th in regulation play, Rose ticked off his final eight holes in a remarkable six under par – if anything, his response to pressurised situations is getting better with his advancing years.
If there was a sour point, it came from the boorish booing of locals when Rose in the heat of the duel. In a Ryder Cup year, and with both men certain to play at Bethpage Black next month, that is perhaps to be expected, but it was an unnecessary blot on a great encounter.
As for Fleetwood, the heartbreak will be both acute and familiar – he has not won in 162 starts on the PGA Tour and now adds a sixth third-place finish to the six he has collected as a runner up. The most recent of the latter was just seven weeks ago and this one will hurt deeply because he was two up with three to play. He battled well in a 69, but was some way short of what he showed across the previous three rounds, which will sadly heighten what folk say about his ability to close in tournaments.
The signs were ominous from the start, when he drove into sand on his way to bogeying the opener before a run of 10 straight pars.
His overnight lead of one shot was lost to the inertia and so was his rhythm – three missed fairways in the first nine holes was hardly a disaster, but nor was it a match for missing only five in the previous 54.
The recovery began at the 12th, when he rolled in a 33-foot monster for birdie, and another followed from mid-range at the next. Given he had been hauled in by Scheffler, Rose and Spaun, it was an impressive response that aged even better when he moved to 16 under on the 15th.
Standing on the 16th tee, he was two clear, but then came the unravelling. First, he pushed his approach to the par five up against the foot of the greenside grandstand and failed to benefit from a free drop – he pitched through the putting surface from the kinder lie and could only par. A few minutes earlier, Spaun, in the group in front, had birdied that same hole and then gained another stroke at the 17th to tie the lead.
That was a key blow for Fleetwood, who then compounded the error substantially by bogeyed from the fairway on the 17th. Most players would trade for his career in a heartbeat, but the near-misses clearly weigh heavily on the Englishman.
'I did a lot of good things… I am getting close,' said Fleetwood. 'That is the good side of it. I managed to get myself ahead on that back nine and I didn't do quite enough. I am obviously disappointed. Looking at the positives, I was in there again and just didn't get it done.'
While Fleetwood's demise stole the attention, his playing partner pinched the strokes. An approach into water at the ninth had dropped him back to 12 under, but his run of birdies from the 14th through the 17th was immense, bookended by putts from 34 and 15 feet. In the end, it was a shorter one that proved his class.