Tommy Fleetwood decided to go for it on the final hole of the Honda Classic but the risk didn’t pay off.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tommy Fleetwood was feeling pretty good as he stepped up to his second shot on the par-5 18th hole of PGA National’s challenging Champion course Sunday.
His previous two shots not only got him back into the Honda Classic, a tournament he led by three shots after starting his final round with two birdies, but gave him a chance to walk away with his first PGA Tour victory.
Fleetwood rolled in a 24-foot birdie putt on the par-3 No. 17, the rowdiest hole on the course, sending the legions of Fleetwood followers into a celebration as he pulled within a shot of Sungjae Im.
He then smacked a 305-yard drive on the par-5 18th right down the middle with a chance to get up and down for the win.
“Seventeen was massive,” Fleetwood said. “Felt great walking to the 18th, ripped a tee shot, felt really good and …
“You know, the game switches pretty quickly.”
In one swing of the club.
Fleetwood, 29, has won in seven countries and entered the week ranked No. 12 in the world. But he has never won in the United States. Now, standing 239 yards from the pin on No. 18, the Englishman was looking for at least a birdie, which would have forced a playoff with Im, or better yet, carding that eagle for the outright victory.
The decision: Go left, where it was wide open, and then try to get up and down for the birdie.
Or go for the win.
Fleetwood, who has five wins on the European Tour, is one of the game’s best ball strikers. And he needed one more strike.
“There was only one shot, really,” he said. “Maybe at the time you’re looking, ‘I had the world left and I could have gotten up and down.’ You’re not playing for that. I could have easily bailed left and not got up and down and I would say ‘Why did I bail out left?’ You pick your shot and you hit and that’s it.”
Fleetwood sliced the ball and it never reached land, splashing down a few yards from the embankment in front of the hole.
“I think we picked the right shot 100 percent. I just didn’t pull it off.”
Fleetwood bogeyed the hole after taking his one-stroke penalty, finishing with a 71 for the round (his only round over par for the tournament) for a total of 4-under 276. He was third, his best finish on Tour since finishing runner-up to Shane Lowry in last year’s British Open.
Fleetwood made the right decision. You don’t get into the top 10 – he will move to No. 10 in world, bumping Tiger Woods to No. 11 – by playing conservative golf.
This time it didn’t work out. But it has in the past and will in the future.
Fleetwood is close to that breakthrough win in the States. Who knows? It could come this week at Bay Hill or the week after at The Players. He has four second-place finishes – two in majors, including last year’s British and the 2018 U.S. Open, which was won by Brooks Koepka – and three third-place finishes.
Though he repeated several times his disappointment of giving away an early three-shot lead Sunday, he is somewhat encouraged in the fact that he was one of just 16 players to shoot under par for the tournament and had a chance on the final hole despite not playing his best.
“It’s disappointing and I’ll be thinking about it,” he said. “Little things will come to your mind, ‘What if? Or what if that?’
“My game is in good shape where I actually feel like I can hit it better. I don’t feel like this week I’ve played some absolutely fantastic golf. I still feel like my game could have felt better at times and I think that’s something to look at. I feel like I can get sharper.”
Fleetwood had his moments off the tee (he led the field in strokes gained tee to green in round 2) and on the greens (he was third in strokes gained putting in round 3). Sunday, he slipped in both, 39th in tee to green and 25th strokes gained putting.
“I’ve just got to keep pushing,” he said. “Absolutely, I want to be a regular winner, but there’s no point in moaning and groaning about it now. It didn’t happen. I’ve just got to keep going and if I keep getting this close, it’ll happen.”
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