Seven weeks ago, Tommy Fleetwood let his first career PGA Tour win slip through his fingers as Keegan Bradley stormed back during the final three holes to pry the Travelers Championship from his grasp.
After the heartbreaking defeat, Fleetwood stepped to the microphone and answered questions. The 34-year-old didn’t sulk about the three-putt bogey on the 72nd hole that gave Bradley the win. Instead, he vowed to dust himself and go again. To Fleetwood, the loss at TPC River Highlands was just the latest step on the path to victory. Resolve was the theme of the gut-wrenching loss in Connecticut.
“I would love to just go and sulk somewhere, and maybe I will do,” Fleetwood said then. “But there’s just no point making it a negative for the future really, just take the positives and move on.
“I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, I didn’t do that, it hurts. [But] when it calms down, the most stupid thing to do and the worse thing to do would be to make a week like this a hindrance to what you do going forward. I obviously played great, I put myself in a great position, I was leading the tournament for 71 holes. I just want to make sure that I can put myself in this position as soon as possible again and try and correct what I did this time.”
As if he spoke it into existence, Fleetwood is back in that terrifying position this week in Memphis, Tenn., at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Fleetwood opened with rounds of 63 and 64 at TPC Southwind, and backed it up with a one-under 69 on Saturday. He will take a one-shot lead over good friend Justin Rose into Sunday’s final round, with Scottie Scheffler lurking two shots back.
Sunday will be another opportunity for Fleetwood to snap his PGA Tour 0-for streak. There will be pressure and nerves. He welcomes them because he’s already done what he set out to do.
“I played well last time,” Fleetwood said Saturday when asked about what he learned at Travelers. “I came very close. I led the tournament for such a long time and it didn’t happen, and I said then, yeah, there’s an element to me, sort of it’s taken me a long time to win out here, and I still haven’t done it, but best possible scenario at that Travelers straight away was can I put myself in that position again sooner rather than later.
“It’s just another opportunity for me to go out and try and have the best round of golf I can, enjoy being in that position. The more I put myself there, the more chance there is of it happening, and just go out and keep learning from every experience. But tomorrow might be my day, it might not, but being there is the most important thing, and I’ll continue to try and do that.”
It was then that Fleetwood was confronted with the question of perspective — about the optimism that seems to flow so freely and is never dammed up, no matter the heartbreak.
The Englishman smiled and looked upward before revealing something about himself — something that will serve him well Sunday, whether he bests his good friend Rose and holds of Scheffler or not: a perspective that calms the mind and soul and allows for disappointments to be turned into a productive force even while the hurt is still fresh. Something few possess in golf, let alone life.
“Probably,” Fleetwood said, when asked if he’d always been an optimist. “I think so. Yeah, I just think I would way rather be there and fail than not be there at all. So either way, like, it’s a good thing. Yeah, it hurts when it doesn’t happen for you … Obviously, it’s not my favorite time, like walking off the 18th at that point. But I practice so hard at my game, and I work so hard and I enjoy being out here for days like this, Sunday going tomorrow. All the times when you’re in 40th place going into Sunday, 30th, 20th, you might have a great day and you might feel good, but it’s just not the same as being in contention.
“As I say, I just look forward to the opportunities and continue to give myself a chance, chasing my dreams, and whether they happen or not tomorrow or the next week or the week after, that’s another story. But I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.”
Tommy Fleetwood will arrive at TPC Southwind on Sunday ready for an 18-hole walk toward his dreams. Perhaps Sunday will be the day everything aligns for Tommy Fleetwood. But if not, Fleetwood, the eternal optimist, will absorb the hurt, shake it off and use it to move toward what comes next — toward the dreams that one day he’ll catch and hold in the palm of his hands.
Because for those with a believer’s soul, there is no other way to see it.
