Justin Rose produced a sensational final round finish to defeat reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun to win the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first of the FedExCup playoff events.
The 45-year-old Englishman, who had lost his previous play-off battle against Rory McIlroy at this year’s Masters, came into the final round at TPC Southwind a shot behind overnight leader Tommy Fleetwood. But Rose looked to be completely out of the running after a dropped shot at the 12th with the likes of Fleetwood, Spaun, and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler all ahead of him. However, the World No. 20 produced a sublime late run of four consecutive birdies to propel him to the summit of the leaderboard with a final-round 67 and conclude on 16 under. Spaun joined him on 16 under with back-to-back birdies in his final two holes to force the play-off.
The pair returned to the 18th for the play-off and were unable to be separated after both parred the first and birdied the second. But at the third time of asking, Rose came out on top as he sank another birdie putt which Spaun was unable to match to claim his 12th career PGA TOUR title and first since the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Rose’s victory means that he has become the oldest player to win on the PGA TOUR, at the age of 45.
“That was an amazing last 90 minutes. I never stopped believing,” Rose said following his victory.
“I played unbelievable golf coming down the stretch and had so much fun with it. When I bring my best I know I’m good enough to play against the best players in the world.
“Everyone calls me meticulous, precise, prepared – but I’ve always known I’ve got it inside. I get nervous like anyone, but when it matters, I still rise to it.
“I get fitter, feel better as the pressure builds. That’s hard to practice, hard to teach. It’s nice to know it hasn’t left me at this ripe old age.
“I don’t want age to become too much of the story. I’m moving well, body feels good, training well. There could be a good run of golf still ahead.
“Today’s huge for me. Very gratifying – a lot of hard work coming to fruition at 45 years of age.”
It was yet further heartbreak for Fleetwood as the Englishman once again came up short of a long-awaited maiden PGA TOUR win. He looked to be on course to ending his drought after finding himself with a two-shot advantage for a short period of time on the back-nine but the Englishman fell away in the latter stages due to a par-bogey-par finish to end with a disappointing final-round 69 and finish in a tie for third alongside Scheffler.
“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?” said Fleetwood afterwards.
“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.”
Fleetwood remains the highest earning player on the PGA TOUR without winning an event collecting over $32.5 million in prize money over his 162 tournament appearances.
Those placed within the top 50 of the FedExCup standings now advance for the second event of the FedExCup Playoffs.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the BMW Championship taking place between 14-17 August at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland.