Was this a choke too far for Tommy Fleetwood?

You must be honest with the ones you love the most.

It is another huge disappointment that we can’t explain away. I and thousands of others watched Tommy Fleetwood choke a huge chance of a PGA Tour win through the cracks of our sweaty fingers.

He showed class in defeat when he lost the Travelers Championship to Keegan Bradley, and and he’ll show the same grace after this year’s FedEx St Jude Championship which fell from his grasp too. But it was all just so unnecessary and a concerning indictment of his competitiveness at the highest level.

He’s been a top 20 player (thereabouts) for almost a decade, developed a superb Ryder Cup record and endeared himself to crowds on both sides of the pond with both his distinguished look and his incredibly satisfying swing.

But despite his success in Europe, you can’t forget those brutal words of major winner-turned-broadcaster Paul Azinger five years ago, who oversaw another failed Fleetwood attempt in the States.

“These guys know you can win all you like on that European Tour, the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour,” Azinger said at the 2020 Honda Classic.

“Well, it’s not on the PGA Tour,” Azinger added in reference to Lee Westwood winning over 40 times worldwide. “And they know that, and I think Tommy knows that. It puts a bit of pressure on Tommy.”

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Five years later, Fleetwood has the most top-10s without a win on the PGA Tour (43).

Azinger got heat from who you’d expect: Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and even Fleetwood clapped back.

Following the anguish of the Travelers, Fleetwood found himself with another golden opportunity at TPC Southwind, the first event of the 2025 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

With birdies on 12, 13 and 15, Fleetwood was finally showing conviction and decisiveness to take victory. He had even seen off Scottie Scheffler and led with three holes left. But he scraped a par on the par-5 16th hole in Memphis, then started walking to the hole with a seven-footer for par on 17, knowing it hadn’t gone in as soon as he hit it.

The dejection was back. One more drive in the fairway bunker on 18 virtually ended his chances of making the birdie he needed to get into the playoff with Justin Rose and US Open champion J.J. Spaun.

The playoff pair played excellent golf during the back nine, but it is a level of golf that Fleetwood is definitely capable of, which makes every stumble so frustrating.

Fleetwood mistakes in Memphis reminded us all of the Travelers two months ago

The final round of the 2025 Travelers Championship and the agonising experience from the perspective of a Fleetwood fan only served to support Azinger’s point.

Why look so dejected, and why does everyone want this so badly for you if winning on the PGA Tour wasn’t important?

A football fan winces at every passing action watching their favourite team, and this was the state I was in watching the Southport man stumble his way around TPC River Highlands, and in the week just gone at the St. Jude.

He hit every fairway in round three and made one bogey all tournament before playing in the final group in the final round back in June. Fleetwood three-putted, he missed fairways, and he hit long putts to knee-knocker length. He would’ve been beaten out of sight if Keegan Bradley or Russell Henley were on their game.

He was one up on Bradley in the middle of the 18th fairway and missed the green, then three-putted. When Bradley was over his ball in the same vicinity, a multi-time winner on the PGA Tour and major champion, there was no doubt where the ball would finish: next to the pin.

On the PGA Tour and at the majors, Fleetwood has never been that guy, and the fear is he never will.

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Azinger’s comments leave more sting when you consider further who we’re talking about. Having spoken to Fleetwood many times myself, he is engaging, thoughtful and honest. He is a funny and smiley family man who is supremely talented, and he is the name I look for every week in the hope we get weekends like this.

But his constant looks of nerves in Connecticut mirrored a rabbit in the headlights. Among the moments of brilliance, like the fairway bunker shot on 17, the up-and-down on 5 and the birdie on 11, this horrific sense of dread and inevitability lingered behind him with every step.

He somehow reached the 18th tee with a one-shot lead, but the most twisted maniac couldn’t have conjured what would happen next. Not only did Fleetwood grimly leave his par putt 6 feet from the cup on the 72nd hole, but his subsequent miss gave Bradley the read he needed to knock in the winning putt.

Tommy isn’t a killer. He never will be. It isn’t in his nature. I’ve been fine with that under the assumption everything would come together in one single week at some point on the big stage. Perhaps similar to Cameron Young, who recently won the Wyndham Championship after many near misses.

But time is ticking, and for those who still believe, what we witnessed at the weekend was extremely discouraging and amplified the cynics.

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