It happened again.

Tommy Fleetwood had another shot at earning his first PGA TOUR victory late on a Sunday afternoon. He stood on the 16th tee at TPC Southwind with a two-shot lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, his most dangerous pursuer Scottie Scheffler fresh off a bogey and seemingly just out of striking distance. Fleetwood was driving and putting the golf ball as well as he had all season. He was in control.

And once again, he left without the trophy.

“I’m obviously going to be disappointed,” Fleetwood said Sunday after a bogey-par finish left him one shot out of the playoff. “I said last time, there’s a lot of positives to take, as much as I don’t really 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. You know, 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.”

This time, his Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose took the win, outlasting J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff to become the oldest TOUR winner since 2021.

Fleetwood’s Sunday started with a nervous bogey on the opening hole, cutting his cushion over Scheffler and Rose. He failed to make another birdie until the 12th hole, when a 33-foot putt energized the Memphis crowd and seemed to unleash a surge. He followed with birdies on Nos. 13 and 15, posting five consecutive 3s on his scorecard to restore a two-shot edge heading to the 16th tee.

The par-5 16th, the second-easiest hole of the week, proved a cruel turning point. While Rose, Spaun and Scheffler all made birdie, Fleetwood made a ragged par after blasting his approach into the grandstands and missing the green with his third shot from greenside.

The cracks widened at the 17th. After a solid tee shot, Fleetwood watched his approach sail wide left, club falling to his side with one hand in frustration. His chip ran to just beyond 7 feet, and the ensuing missed par putt dropped him to 15-under, one shot behind Rose and Spaun.

Fleetwood’s last hope ended quickly at the 18th, when his drive found the right bunker. The birdie he needed to reach the playoff never materialized.

It was another chapter in what is becoming one of professional golf’s great modern tragedies. The difference between the "Folly of Fleetwood" and Shakespeare’s "Othello" and "Macbeth" is that those stories had a final page. Fleetwood’s journey, full of promise and heartbreak, is still being written.

The numbers have become their own haunting refrain. The 34-year-old Englishman has now made 161 PGA TOUR starts without a win. He has six runner-up finishes, six third-place finishes, 29 top fives and 42 top 10s. He has eight wins worldwide, but none on American soil.

By almost every measure, 2025 has been his finest season. He ranks fourth on TOUR in total Strokes Gained, sits eighth in the FedExCup standings and is considered the fifth-best player in the world by DataGolf’s statistical models. He had held the 54-hole lead only twice before this week, and this time, he even built a five-shot advantage midway through Friday’s round.

“It hasn’t happened for me yet out on the PGA TOUR,” Fleetwood said after Round 2. “But I would much rather be up there and not quite get it done than not there at all. And who knows? Maybe this weekend is the weekend and we’ll see, and we’ll crack on from there.”

This was not even the first time in 2025 that Fleetwood’s Sunday anguish played out in full view. At June’s Travelers Championship, he stood on the brink until a stunning reversal, three putts from just short of the green for bogey, while Keegan Bradley birdied to win.

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

When asked where he finds the optimism that fans have come to admire, Fleetwood didn’t hesitate. “Well, as long as they stay with me and stay on my side, then we can all look for the positives. Kind of on this journey together here,” he said.

“All these experiences and these close calls, there’s no point in making or allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next. What would be the point? It was a great week. I did a ton of good stuff, and as disappointed as I am, I have to try to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time go again, put myself in that position again and we just go again.”

Another week, another Sunday where Fleetwood stood on the verge and another chance that slipped away. His wait for a first PGA TOUR win, once merely a curious footnote, now feels like one of golf’s most compelling and bittersweet sagas.