Tommy Fleetwood denied first PGA Tour win on last hole at Travelers Championship

By PA Sport Staff

Tommy Fleetwood suffered a heart-breaking one-shot defeat at the final hole of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut as American Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley denied the Englishman a maiden PGA Tour victory.

Fleetwood had been defending a three-shot lead following his flawless 63 on Saturday, sitting at 16 under par ahead of Bradley and Russell Henley.

However, a couple of early bogeys threatened to derail his bid to end his record of the most top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour since 1983 without claiming a title.

The 34-year-old, though, steadied himself around the turn to edge back ahead of Bradley with birdies at the 11th and 13th.

Having found a path on the right of the 15th before going on to save par, Fleetwood looked to be on course once again – only to drop another shot at the 16th.

Fleetwood then came up short of the green with his second shot on the 18th.

Spurred on by a partisan home crowd, Bradley promptly sent his follow-up to within a few feet.

Fleetwood’s birdie attempt fell short just behind Bradley’s marker, with the Englishman then missing his par putt, having to settle for a bogey and a two-over final round.

The American – who could yet qualify as a playing captain at Bethpage Black in September – then nervelessly rolled in a birdie to finish at 15 under, sparking wild celebrations around the 18th green.

“I feel like from where I was, I should at least be in a play-off,” Fleetwood said.

“I didn’t really feel like I hit that many bad shots execution-wise, just sort of a couple of bad decisions and didn’t clean ’em up, which is pretty poor and things that I have to work on.”

Fleetwood added: “I haven’t been in this situation for a while. When it sort of calms down – I am upset now, I am angry – but when it calms down, I will look at the things that I did well and look at the things that I can learn from.

“I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, but I didn’t do that and it hurts.”

Henley chipped in from the edge of the green on the 18th to secure a tie for second with Fleetwood at 14 under.

Harris English and Australian Jason Day finished at 13 under in a tie for fourth.

World number one Scottie Scheffler and Masters champion Rory McIlroy both shot five-under-par final rounds to get to 12 under and finish in a share of sixth place.

Newly-crowned US Open champion JJ Spaun had the best round of the day, starting off at the 10th, as he carded a seven-under 63 to climb up into the top 15.

Viktor Hovland had earlier withdrawn on the third hole of his final round because of a neck injury.