Fleetwood’s heartbreak comes with Ryder Cup wrinkle | Monday Finish

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re desperate for Tommy Fleetwood to pass us in PGA Tour wins. To the news!

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Running it back.

Earlier this year it felt like the 2025 European Ryder Cup team would look significantly different than 2023.

That’s normal. Golf is a fickle game and two years can be a long time. Stuff happens. After all, in the offseason post-Rome Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton jumped ship for LIV Golf, throwing their eligibility into limbo. Ludvig Aberg got surgery and his form ebbed and flowed. Viktor Hovland admitted he felt lost. Matt Fitzpatrick admitted the same. And Justin Rose alternated brilliance with disappointment; this year he nearly won the Masters and then in six tournaments over the next two months he fared no better than T42.

But now, as we reach Ryder Cup team-picking time, the band seems to be coming back together.

Legal limbo means Rahm and Hatton will be eligible for this year’s team, no problem. Aberg is on the upswing; after a middling spring he’s finished T16 or better in four of his last seven starts. Hovland found enough form to win Valspar, contend at the U.S. Open and make every cut since the Players. Fitzpatrick showed signs with a top-10 at the PGA and then put together several strong starts in a row: T8 at the Rocket Classic, T4 at the Scottish, T4 at the Open, T8 at the Wyndham. And then Rose, who’d showed signs at the Scottish and the Open, did something special down the stretch this weekend in Memphis.

When he dunked one in the water at No. 9 on Sunday and made bogey it seemed like he was done; you can’t cede penalty shots to a leaderboard that includes the No. 1 player in the world. But Rose bounced back with birdie at No. 10. Still, his bogey at No. 12 again seemed to put him far back — but then he reeled off birdies at 14-15-16-17 to seize a share of the lead. He nearly birdied 18 for the outright win; he’d settle for making birdie on 18 on the second and third playoff holes to best J.J. Spaun and claim his first victory in more than two years. Now he’s an auto-qualifier for Team Europe. And it seems all but certain that 11 of the 12 teammates from that electric 2023 team will be back for 2025.

As for No. 12? That remains an open question. Nicolai Hojgaard was that 12th player in 2023; he’s still in the mix for the final spot this season despite missing the FedEx Cup playoffs, as he’s leading a contingent of last-gasp hopefuls at the Danish Championship this week. (Those other hopefuls: Nicolai’s twin brother Rasmus, who’s been in mixed form but remains No. 8 in the team standings, Matt Wallace, who’s No. 11 on that list, and then other dark-horse options in strong form like Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Kristoffer Reitan. Aaron Rai is out of the playoffs but still in the conversation at No. 53, while one other strong option, Harry Hall, will tee it up at this week’s BMW Championship. (The only other Euro to land a spot in the top 50 is Thomas Detry, whose runaway win at the WM Phoenix Open win feels like a very long time ago.) In short: 11 spots on Team Europe feel settled, while the final golden ticket feels very much up for grabs.

When Luke Donald took the helm in 2023 it was a changing of the guard; the era of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey gave way in real time to McIlroy, Rahm, Fleetwood and the rest. Now it’s clear that wasn’t a one-off — it was the beginning of something special for Team Europe. Donald’s back for more and so is his electric squad, 45-year-old Rose included. We’re just one step closer to a rip-roaring weekend on Long Island next month. That’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Justin Rose won his way onto the Ryder Cup team, into another multi-year PGA Tour exemption, into the Tour Championship and into the hearts and minds of golf fans everywhere. And he proved that he’s been right, all these times he’s insisted on his readiness to win again. Good on ya, Rosey.

Dean Burmester won on the first playoff hole at LIV Chicago, beating out Jon Rahm and Josele Ballester in the process. The three had played in the same leaders’ group all day but it took a 19th-hole birdie from Burmester to seal the deal.

Grant Forrest won the DP World Tour’s Nexo Championship by four shots, a particularly meaningful victory given he was on home soil. The win was Forrest’s first in four years; his previous victory also came in Scotland at the 2021 Hero Open at Fairmont St. Andrews.

Christo Lamprecht won his first Korn Ferry Tour title, claiming the Pinnacle Bank Championship with a walk-off bunker shot at the last. The win came from nowhere; Lamprecht had started the year with two top-fours in his first three starts but had gone 11 consecutive events without a top 20 before Sunday’s win. Now he’s up to No. 10 in the Order of Merit and in position to secure his PGA Tour card for 2026.

Megha Ganne won the U.S. Women’s Am at stunning Bandon Dunes, triumphing at the USGA championship some six years after she reached the semis as a 15-year-old. Ganne, a rising senior at Stanford, was 4 down with seven holes to play in this year’s semifinal before rallying to a 19th-hole victory. She never trailed in the final, beating Brooke Biermann 4 and 3 to seal the deal.

Steve Allan won the Boeing Classic just outside [my hometown of] Seattle, Wash.; the win was his third of this PGA Tour Champions season and came by a single shot over Stewart Cink.

NOT-WINNERS

A few notes on assorted others:

After a devastating 71st-hole bogey left him one shot outside Sunday’s playoff, Tommy Fleetwood now has 29 top-five finishes and has made $32.5 million on the PGA Tour, both by far the most without a win in PGA Tour history. Still, he was resolute post-round, shouting out the crowd and the opportunity while smiling through another layer of epic heartbreak. It’s easy to admire Fleetwood’s attitude.

“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?” he said. “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.”

We just go again. I like that.

Scottie Scheffler finished T3 alongside Fleetwood, continuing a string of 12 consecutive top-eight finishes on Tour; it’s been a full year since he finished outside the top 25.

And J.J. Spaun’s runner-up finish was his first top 10 since winning the U.S. Open; it’s also his third runner-up and fifth podium finish of a special 2025.

Kristoffer Reitan finished T3 in Scotland; he moved to No. 3 in the Road to Dubai rankings and could still make an outside case at a Ryder Cup spot.

Eddie Pepperell had gone MC-MC-MC-WD-MC-WD, mostly on the HotelPlanner Tour. But then a T8 at the German Challenge and a T18 at the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge set up this week’s T10 at the Nexo Championship; he’s showing signs of form as the DP World Tour season hits its final stretches.

And Jon Rahm’s T2 felt like another near-miss on LIV, while Josele Ballester’s runner-up finish was his best result yet as he’s improved each week from T50 to 48th to T23 to T7 to T2.

SHORT HITTERS

Five Tour pros who won’t be in the 2026 Siggies — but first, one who made it!

Rickie Fowler’s T6 in Memphis was his best result of 2025; it also allowed him to crack the all-important top 50 and qualify for next year’s Signature Events. This stirred up some discussion around sponsor invites into these tournaments, as Fowler accrued valuable points via exemption at this year’s big-money, limited-field stops. But it also served as a reminder of the big names who won’t be automatically qualified for the Siggies. in 2026, including:

Jordan Spieth (final FedEx Cup rank: 54) — He didn’t play poorly in 2025; he missed just two cuts and had four top-10s in 18 starts. But it requires a little something special to crack this top 50, and a T40-T31-T38 end to the season wasn’t quite enough.

Wyndham Clark (No. 56) — A T4 finish at the Open was encouraging but his T56 in Memphis wasn’t enough to advance to the next round.

Tony Finau (No. 66) — Finau beat just four golfers in Memphis and has just one top 10 in his last 25 starts; he’ll head to 2026 with his status secure but plenty to prove.

Adam Scott (No. 90) — An unspectacular year featured just four top-20s and zero top-10s; Scott’s putter needs to cooperate if he’s going to make another run at the game’s biggest events.

Max Homa (No. 111) — His iron play was encouraging to finish the season, as he gained strokes on approach in his final five starts. He’ll start fresh in 2026 (and perhaps with a couple fall starts first), now as a father of two.

RYDER CUP WATCH

Team USA taking shape.

Let’s tier out the Americans.

Tier 1: ALREADY LOCKS BEFORE MEMPHIS (3)

Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele

Tier 2: JUST NEEDED PROOF OF LIFE; NOW THEY’RE IN (5)

J.J. Spaun (second place), Patrick Cantlay (T9), Russell Henley (T17), Collin Morikawa (T22), Justin Thomas (T28)

Tier 3: FINISHED T48 IN MEMPHIS BUT STILL HAS TO BE IN (1)

Harris English

Tier 4: ONE MORE SIGN OF LIFE IN THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS COULDN’T HURT (1)

Keegan Bradley

Tier 5: TRENDING UP (2)

Cameron Young, Ben Griffin

Tier 6: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN (5)

Mav McNealy, Sam Burns, Andrew Novak, Chris Gotterup, Jordan Spieth

DARK, DARK HORSES

Akshay Bhatia, Brian Harman, Kurt Kitayama, and just for fun, Jackson Koivun

Tier 8: OFFICIALLY OUT

Wyndham Clark, Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Patrick Reed

SO IF YOU HAD TO PICK TODAY…

Scottie Scheffler
J.J. Spaun
Xander Schauffele
Russell Henley
Bryson DeChambeau
Harris English
–
Justin Thomas
Collin Morikawa
Patrick Cantlay
Cameron Young
Ben Griffin
Keegan Bradley

Ultimately all that chatter amounts to this: You’re skipping past Nos. 11, 12 and 13 on the below list and taking a hot hand (Young) and a proven killer (Cantlay). Up for debate is whether Bradley would like to sacrifice himself in the process…

TEAM USA RYDER CUP RANKINGS

1. Scheffler 2. Schauffele 3. Spaun 4. Henley 5. DeChambeau 6. English 7. Thomas 8. Morikawa 9. Griffin 10. Bradley 11. McNealy 12. Novak 13. Harman 14. Young 15. Cantlay

TEAM EUROPE RYDER CUP RANKINGS (As of July 7)

1. McIlroy 2. Rose 3. Fleetwood 4. MacIntyre 5. Hatton 6. Straka 7. Lowry 8. R. Hojgaard 9. Aberg 10. Hovland 11. Wallace 12. Fitzpatrick 13. Detry 14. Rai 15. J. Smith

Complete standings here.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

From Justin Rose.

On being “brave” down the stretch:

“It’s a strange balance of patience because obviously if you try too hard in anything in life it doesn’t seem to happen, so you’ve still got to let it come to you. But being committed, and I think being brave, trying to be brave I think is what [works]. Especially on the 14th hole, I hit a hold 6-iron to that back right pin. That was a pretty clutch shot, I suppose, to sort of take that one on and to pull it off.”

ONE BIG QUESTION

What’s up with the caddie carousel?

Collin Morikawa hired Mark Urbanek, now at least his fifth caddie of the season. Joe Greiner, who worked five events for Morikawa earlier this season, is now on the bag for Jake Knapp. Urbanek was caddying for Tony Finau until the Open Championship, and here’s where things really get fun.

Finau has now hired Tim Tucker — or at least hired him for this week’s event in Memphis. You likely know Tucker as the ex-caddie of Bryson DeChambeau. You may also know DeChambeau’s current caddie, Greg Bodine, as the ex-caddie of Finau. In other words, they’ve caddie-swapped — though DeChambeau and Tucker did reunite for one tournament in July.

More recently, though, Tucker was on the bag for Kurt Kitayama before the two split this summer. Kitayama has turned it on the last month-plus, finished T14 or better in four of five starts including a win at the 3M. His brother has caddied for him during his charge into the top 50.

The question, then: What’s up with the caddie carousel? And what makes the right fit for the right guy, anyway?

ONE THING TO WATCH

Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller.

Even in disappointment and defeat it’s fascinating to watch one of the Tour’s most compelling player-caddie duos at work:

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I stopped by the Boeing Classic and was particularly intrigued by two big-picture questions facing the PGA Tour Champions:

1. Should they get rid of Q-School to guarantee more spots for ex-Tour stars?

2. Is there any way Tiger Woods suits up for a couple events next year, in his 50-year-old season?

We’ll see you next week!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.