For all his familiarity with near-misses on the PGA Tour, none will sting as much as the collapse that saw Tommy Fleetwood leave the Travelers Championship without the title on Sunday night.
He held a three-shot lead on the first hole and briefly again on the 13th, but both times he was chased down by Keegan Bradley.
The last of those chases was brutal for its finality, because it is necessary to know that even when they stepped onto the 18th tee, the US Ryder Cup captain was trailing by one.
But what galling drama was to follow when Fleetwood, needing to two-putt from 50 feet to guarantee at least a play-off, instead dragged a six-footer to bogey. Bradley, having been shown the line, then sank his from a fraction inside for birdie and a killer two-shot swing.
With it, Fleetwood drifted to 14 under after a 72 and Bradley jumped to one better via his 68. Fleetwood was ready to sink into the ground.
The numbers that made it so crushing extend far beyond what played out at TPC River Highlands. Because this was Fleetwood’s 159th start on the circuit and five times previously he had been a runner up he and had a further five finishes in third. Top-10s? He had 41 one of them, which was the most any PGA Tour golfer had acquired in the modern era without winning.
In Europe, he has won seven tournaments; in the States, he was merely a very good golfer with a reputation for not getting it done. On the back of what played out in Connecticut, such a status will only grow. Horrible game.
Fleetwood said: ‘I am pretty gutted right now.
‘Leading by one on the last and not even making a play-off is probably the worst way it can go. Gutted. I will just go home and start practising again.’
Elsewhere, there was a return to form for Rory McIlroy, who shared sixth with Scottie Scheffler on 12 under after matching 65s, but this final day wasn’t about them.
It was meant to be about Fleetwood, but instead it went to an American who, surely, will qualify for the Ryder Cup team he is supposed to be captaining. What a strange dilemma the PGA of America have brought on themselves, because in this form Bradley is comfortably one of the best 12 for the US.
As for Fleetwood, there are wounds to lick, because he let this one get away.
Opening on 16 under, he quickly supplied proof of what a nervy mind and a breezy wind can do to a lead. In missing four of the first five fairways, having hit 21 in succession across the end of his second round and the entirety of his third, Fleetwood’s advantage was gone.
Thee bogeys and a solitary birdie in that stretch from the Englishman had given Bradley the leeway needed to go level on 14 under, one better than he had through 54 holes, before the American gave the stroke back by making a mess of the par-five sixth.
Fleetwood was back in front, and stabilising off the tee, but was then slammed by a Bradley 65-footer on the ninth. Once again, they were neck and neck, with the complication that just behind Russell Henley and Jason Day on the board was Scheffler.
Through 11 holes, the world No 1 had picked up four birdies without loss and at 11 under par was only three back – enough to inspire a few anxieties?
Well, Bradley bogeyed the 10th, but Fleetwood held firm. He flew a short iron to 14 feet at the par-three 11th and the birdie stretched the gap out to two. Another birdie at the 13th returned him to 16 under, three ahead of Bradley, but by then Day and Henley had passed Bradley as the prime chasers, two behind.
Further twists were to come long before the final one.
First, Fleetwood made a minor drama of the driveable 15th, a hole he had played in four under across three previous rounds, by carding a par. That opened a door for Bradley, who birdied via the sand, and now three men were only a couple back.
Fleetwood then missed the green at the par-three 16th, setting up a bogey that took his edge down to one, before he undertook an adventure on the 17th. With Bradley in the fairway, Fleetwood yanked into a bunker, leaving him 170 yards from the pin, but mostly over water. He took on the shot and found the heart of the putting surface, somehow escaping with the same score as his playing partner.
Onto the last and the gut punch.
Both men found the fairway, but Bradley hit a brilliant approach to six feet and with Fleetwood on the fringe, a play-off seemed certain. Alas, with Fleetwood in the US, it is regrettable that there no certainties – the first putt came up short, the second went long, and only the third would drop. Bradley, as steady as Fleetwood was nervous, didn’t let him get away with it.
